History Quotes / MeaninglessMeaningfulWords

->''"No one denies the need for a specialized vocabulary in biochemistry or physics or in technical areas of the humanities like linguistics. But among literature professors who do what they now call "theory" -- mostly inept philosophy applied to literature and culture -- jargon has become the emperor's clothing of choice. [...] The pretentiousness of the worst academic writing betrays it as a kind of intellectual kitsch, analogous to bad art that declares itself "profound" or "moving" not by displaying its own intrinsic value but by borrowing these values from elsewhere. Just as a cigar box is elevated by a Rembrandt painting, or a living room is dignified by sets of finely bound but unread books, so these kitsch theorists mimic the effects of rigor and profundity without actually doing serious intellectual work. Their jargon-laden prose always suggests but never delivers genuine insight [...] To ask what this means is to miss the point. This sentence beats readers into submission and instructs them that they are in the presence of a great and deep mind. Actual communication has nothing to do with it."''

-->-- '''Creator/MarkTwain''', ''Literature/FenimoreCoopersLiteraryOffences''

->[on characterizing [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} Ozpin]]]'' "I just made up the most nonsensical bullshit I could and took a step back and was like… Yeah, that’s it. That’s something this f-er would say."''

->I don't really know what he just said, but I think it sounded cool, so yay!

->''[on characterizing [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} Ozpin]]]'' "I just made up the most nonsensical bullshit I could and took a step back and was like… Yeah, that’s it. That’s something this f-er would say."

->''As a teenager [Marcus] Borg lost his faith in {{God}}, [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} Christ]], and {{the Bible}}. But a few years after graduating from seminary, he had a number of mystical experiences which gave him a new concept of God. He says, "I realized that ''God'' does not refer to a supernatural being ‘out there’ . . . . Rather God refers to the sacred at the center of existence, the holy mystery that is all around and within us." Now if you intone these words the right way, they might sound very meaningful and profound. But really this is pretty thin soup as an understanding of God. What does Borg mean when he says, "God is more than everything and yet everything is in God"?''

->''"The pretentiousness of the worst academic writing betrays it as a kind of intellectual kitsch, analogous to bad art that declares itself "profound" or "moving" not by displaying its own intrinsic value but by borrowing these values from elsewhere. Just as a cigar box is elevated by a Rembrandt painting, or a living room is dignified by sets of finely bound but unread books, so these kitsch theorists mimic the effects of rigor and profundity without actually doing serious intellectual work. Their jargon-laden prose always suggests but never delivers genuine insight [...] To ask what this means is to miss the point. This sentence beats readers into submission and instructs them that they are in the presence of a great and deep mind. Actual communication has nothing to do with it."''

->''"The songs of the dead are the lamentations of the living.\\
For gray-eyed Destiny now weaves apace, the first resounding note of war echoes across the land.\\
Movement flickered through it, like the swish of a bird across a clouded moon."''
-->-- ''Literature/InheritanceCycle''

->They talk. They speak as only the French can speak, as if it is not enough for a concept to be difficult, it must be impenetrable. No two real people in the history of mankind have ever spoken like this, save perhaps for some of [Director] Catherine Breillat’s friends [[EvenNerdsHaveStandards that even she gets bored by]].
-->--'''Creator/RogerEbert''' on ''Film/AnatomyOfHell''

->I hope that someday I can sick burn my girlfriend by telling her 'Well I guess '''[[NoYou you’re]]''' the Native American trickster spirit.' [[MicDrop Drop the mic]], I’m out.
-->--'''Chris Sims''' and '''Matt Wilson''' [[http://comicsalliance.com/comicsalliance-reviews-x-men-origins-wolverine-2009-part-o/ on]] ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine''

->Alfred, probably feeling the effects of his [[SoapOperaDisease Movie Illness]], lets off a total stream of non sequiters about how there's 'no defeat in death' because 'victory comes in defending what we know is right while we still live!' (Translation pending.)
-->--'''''Website/TheAgonyBooth''''' on ''Film/BatmanAndRobin''

->'''Spider-Man''': [[Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan He would say stuff like]], "If you could do good things for other people, you had a moral obligation to do those things" and "Ever since you were a little boy, you've been living with so many unresolved things. Those things send us down a road. They make us who we are."\\
'''Cracked:''' That advice sounds like something my drunk uncle would say, only translated into Fortune Cookie. I think your uncle might be something of a crazy person.\\
''Spider-Man opens and shuts his mouth several times, like he's thinking carefully about what he wants to say next.''
-->--''{{Website/Cracked}}'', [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-things-about-spider-man-that-dont-make-any-damn-sense/#ixzz31dVhqg00 "4 Things About Spider-Man That Don't Make Any Damn Sense"]]

->At this point I think that [Chris] Carter is so used to the words ‘Lies’ and ‘Truth’ that he just has his characters [[MadLibsCatchphrase repeat them ad nauseum]] until it sounds like something profound is happening. This is a particularly horrendous example. Even Creator/GillianAnderson looks humiliated.
-->--'''[[http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-x-files-season-five.html Joe Ford]]''' on ''Series/TheXFiles'', "Redux"

->Just about every square inch of dialogue was terrible. The engagement party was painful to sit through; everyone was speaking in platitudes (and just a note, when one character turns to another and says, "Well said" that's just the writer patting herself on the back a bit too much. It wasn't that good a line [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2603082/ Genevieve.]])
-->--'''[[http://www.supermanhomepage.com/tv/tv.php?topic=reviews/smallville10-ep11 Julian Finn]]''' on ''{{Series/Smallville}}'', "Icarus"

->See, in the end, all we can do is look at where we ''are'', and where we're ''standing'', and say we will not allow this ''here''. ''Over there'' has to stand for itself, has to ''speak'' for itself. Because it's only when ''over there'' becomes ''over here'' that we can stop this once and for all. And from now on, my eye will be right here.
-->--'''{{Superman}}''', ''Superman: Grounded'' (#701)

->'''WHAT IS THAT LUNATIC TALKING ABOUT?''' He’s arbitrarily chosen this neighborhood to keep an eye on, but the next neighborhood, [[{{Glurge}} well, it’s just up a creek]]. That neighborhood has to 'stand for itself.' What? How hard would it really be for Superman to, say, [[ReedRichardsIsUseless keep an eye on both neighborhoods]]?
-->--'''Jason Michelitch''' on ''[[Creator/JMichaelStraczynski Superman: Grounded]]'', [[http://comicsalliance.com/worst-comics-2010-superman-grounded/ "The 5 Worst Comics of 2010"]]

->''As a teenager [Marcus] Borg lost his faith in {{God}}, [[{{Jesus}} Christ]], and {{the Bible}}. But a few years after graduating from seminary, he had a number of mystical experiences which gave him a new concept of God. He says, "I realized that ''God'' does not refer to a supernatural being ‘out there’ . . . . Rather God refers to the sacred at the center of existence, the holy mystery that is all around and within us." Now if you intone these words the right way, they might sound very meaningful and profound. But really this is pretty thin soup as an understanding of God. What does Borg mean when he says, "God is more than everything and yet everything is in God"?''

-->-- ''{{Seinfeld}} Season 4 Episode 2 The Trip Part 2''

->They talk. They speak as only the French can speak, as if it is not enough for a concept to be difficult, it must be impenetrable. No two real people in the history of mankind have ever spoken like this, save perhaps for some of [Director] Catherine Breillat’s friends [[EvenNerdsHaveStandards that even she gets bored by]]. 'Your words are inept reproaches,' they say, 'and I bless the day I was made immune to you and all your kind.'

->I hope that someday I can sick burn my girlfriend by telling her 'Well I guess '''[[NoYou you’re]]''' the Native American trickster spirit.' Drop the mic, I’m out.

->Bruce says he's spent his entire life trying to defeat death, but unfortunately, 'I can't save you.' Then he adds, 'And with great power {{comes great responsibility}}. Oh, wait, wrong movie.' Alfred, probably feeling the effects of his [[SoapOperaDisease Movie Illness]], lets off a total stream of non sequiters about how there's 'no defeat in death' because 'victory comes in defending what we know is right while we still live!' (Translation pending.)

->[Terrence] Dicks and [Barry] Letts [[{{Anvilicious}} love a good moral.]] They develop patrician characters just so they can have people to say morals for them... so you'll get something like a character believing he is imminently going to die drunkenly trying to rape people, because it's dramatic to watch that, and [[CoronationStreet Corrie]] isn't on 24/7. And you'll get the square-jawed commander decking him, [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil because rape is bad]]. The only thing you won't get is anything resembling a human concern with the survivor, because she is neither an easily digestible moral statement nor a case of high human drama... Instead the episode just ends with Michael Gough intoning that a man can make a mistake, but mankind must never make one. Which is fairly typical -- instead of looking at the material conditions of an ethical or political problem, Letts and Dicks would prefer to craft a slogan, give it to a good actor to say in a serious voice, and leave it at that. See, you can make a mistake like raping someone, [[LostAesop just so long as you oppose pollution.]]
-->--'''Dr. Phil Sandifer''' [[http://www.philipsandifer.com/2011/09/pop-between-realities-home-in-time-for_14.html on]] ''Moonbase 3''

->''[=‘=]Your lying is on record, Agent Scully!’ ‘And what about yours?’ ‘As you compound the lies, you compound the consequences for them!’ ‘All lies lead to the truth, isn’t that right?’ ‘And what about your lie, Agent Scully? What does that lead to?’ ‘The Truth![=’=]'' – at this point I think that [Chris] Carter is so used to the words ‘Lies’ and ‘Truth’ that he just has his characters [[MadLibsCatchphrase repeat them ad nauseum]] until it sounds like something profound is happening. This is a particularly horrendous example. Even Creator/GillianAnderson looks humiliated.

->'''WHAT IS THAT LUNATIC TALKING ABOUT?''' He’s arbitrarily chosen this neighborhood to keep an eye on, but the next neighborhood, [[{{Glurge}} well, it’s just up a creek]]. That neighborhood has to 'stand for itself.' What? How hard would it really be for Superman to, say, [[ReedRichardsIsUseless keep an eye on both neighborhoods]]?...Read that sentence again. It means ''nothing''.