Re: Gaffa

[chrisw@fciad2.bsd.uchicago.edu (Chris Williams)]

|>oug \/\/rites answers me:
>>  I'd really like a someone to try to defend the "it's gaffer's tape,
>>  and only gaffer's tape" theory in person. I don't believe that
>>  anyone could do so with a straight face.
>
>I volunteer!  But you'll have to pay for my plane fare to Chicago.

  Um...no, I'd rather put it towards expenses on the next Love-Hounds
video collection. But if you ever change planes at O'Hare, give me a
call.

>I think you are missing the point, though, Chris, of those who say the
>only meaning of "Gaffa" is "gaffer's tape".  It's literal meaning is
>only "gaffer's tape", but it is used as a metaphor for some very deep
>and confounding principles of life.  By not acknowledging the power
>and directness of its superficial meaning, you are missing the
>metaphor, and thus the depth of the song.

   I've been showing the depth of the metaphor. We just disagree on
exactly what the metaphor is. I believe that "gaffa is a plural of
gaffe" is the original meaning. 

  Come on, please! Tape is something that one get's stuck *to* far more 
often than "suspended in." Have you *ever* seen *anyone* (other than
in the pages of Breakthrough) actually get suspended in gaffer's
tape? If tape was the metaphor, she would be trying to get it off of
her, rather than out of it.

>In my opinion, those who claim that "gaffer's tape" is not the primary
>meaning of the word "Gaffa" just don't get the song.  If they can't
>see how resonant this metaphor is, then they just cannot possibly be
>seeing the most important part of the song.

  The *only* thing you have on your side is one Kate quote.

  It is a deep metaphor, just not the one you are defending.

                          Chris Williams of
                             Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago
                               chrisw@fciad2.bsd.uchicago.edu (his)
                                 vickie@njin.rutgers.edu      (hers)