![]() ![]() ![]() The effect is utterly endearing, and a reminder of how endlessly enchanting language can be. This sweet otherworldliness is underlined by the way the puzzle solutions often sound like English learned as a second language, with sounds clipped off and cadences jumping like popcorn in the popper. Steig's doughy drawings, populated by people with expressive eyebrows who gesticulate helpfully, create an odd little world of their own. ![]() ![]() But the books quickly zoom into complicated statements like this one, said by a doctor to a nurse as they stand in a waiting room where a little girl and boy wait: This game is, of course, child's play when only a couple of letters form a sentence. Thus C D B translates to "See the bee!" -a meaning made clear by the drawing of a little boy and girl near a flower and a buzzing insect. Steig writes captions for merry little drawings, and these captions consist of letters and symbols that are the homophonic equivalents of words or syllables. The books have one swell joke, played out far longer than most of us would have thought possible. It's not something easily proven, but it seems likely that C D B!, and its successor, C D C?, were childhood favorites of many of today's computer engineers and LOLcats. IMHO, the world of texting and Twitter owes a huge debt to William Steig. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |