This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Working Title: Purple Prose: From YKTTW
Dark: Fast Eddie, is there a reason you killed the title in the first place, and are continuing to kill any subsequent changes that change what you wrote?
Sikon: I decided to just launch this rather than risk the YKTTW entry being lost. You're all welcome to apply Wiki Magic here, or maybe even rewrite it completely.
LO Rd: Hahaha, that is hardcore, but I think it just may be a little too much. I'd like at least one paragraph that makes sense, and the examples don't necessarily need to be framed with purple prose. But let's see if others have anything to say.
Sikon: Well, the entry text basically boils down to three sentences. "Report Siht wrote a thesaurus-raping entry on TV Tropes. He then complained that Purple Prose was becoming a Discredited Trope. Joseph Average complained that the use of purple prose makes the entry unreadable."
Puck: Truly, this trope description is fabricated of the stuff of victory!
Janitor: Nah, I wouldn't describe Wallace's stuff as purple prose. Not by a long shot. "Just at the edge of stream-of-consciousness", perhaps.
- David Foster Wallace writes nothing but the most pointless, endless descriptions of mundane objects and inane dialogue. (http://books.google.com/books?id=x-QH9K0y4F8C&dq=oblivion)
Inkblot: This article is too short. I want a novella! I've added all I can, but it's still not enough.
==Tolkien==
How does Tolkien get away with using so many descriptive details, and yet his works remain readable and engaging? Is he the only one who can pull this off? Anyone who tries to emulate his prose is doomed to fail.
Grimace: How does he get away with it, you ask? a) He's the mother f'n Tolkien; and b) Probably because LoTR was a literary experiment first, fantasy story second. Heck, many (ie. including myself, I have to admit) find reading his books like pulling teeth at times, but can't deny the sheer mind-boggling effort the man put into every chapter.
Etherjammer: Removed, because it completely misunderstands Chomsky and the actual quote has no bearing whatsoever on the trope:
- A particularly notable and unusual example arises from Noam Chomsky, no less: Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. He invented the sentence specifically as an illustration on why the English language needs a rules revision to avoid such confusing and meaningless purple prose.
- Because, of course, one could just say "clichéd plot bunnies cause nightmares."
- Huh? Chomsky was, and is, a linguist - linguists don't make value judgements about language (contrary to popular myth; a linguist doesn't give a flying noun about how you spell your words, punctuate your sentences, or Latinate your English infinitives, except in a purely academic sense. Many linguists go through an ideological phase where they look at English teachers in a kind of pitying loathing). Colorless Green Ideas is just The Classic Example that he made up to show that grammaticalness and meaningfullness are not interchangeable/connected.
Plasma Hydra: So I guess all the Self Demonstrating Articles are getting killed next? :/
Dark: I think so. Fast Eddie is the one who keeps removing any and all references to that fantastic original description, and I'm a bit confused as to why, since this is friggin' TV Tropes after all - can't we have a little fun, and at least let people know it existed? You won't allow it on the main description page, after all, so can't we have at least a sentence or so telling people where it is?
- This troper felt that Jacquline Carey overused purple prose to disgusting excess, and whether its "in character" or not did not justify pointless useless details for a book that should have been 300 pages shorter than it was.
- Could you elaborate? What details did you find useless?
- This troper felt that Jacquline Carey overused purple prose to disgusting excess, and whether its "in character" or not did not justify pointless useless details for a book that should have been 300 pages shorter than it was.
Shay Guy: Adding the original description here for great justice:
See Purple Prose Quotes.
Grimace: ...holy shit.
Inkblot: Just finished writing the damn thing. Now I am going find a corner somewhere and wait until my eyes cease bleeding.
Lord Seth: Query: Would "The Rape of the Lock" qualify? It's more a parody of Purple Prose than anything else (it's an intentionally overcomplicated description of simple things; it makes a card game sound like a battle!), but I'm wondering if it should be listed as a parody.
Koveras: How about making the font in this article's intro purple? Just for Visual Pun. ^^
Majutsukai: It was that way, not too long ago. Check out the page history. It was removed because, quote, "The color thing doesn't really work".
Koveras: Heh, I guess the pun wasn't obvious enough. :D
8th_Pacifist: Any reason the Mark Twain quote was moved to the quotes page? I thought it was a nice tie-in to the Elements of Style quote on the Beige Prose page, since he's pretty much saying "Omit Needless Words" in indigo.
