gumby@mit-eddie.UUCP (David Vinayak Wallace) (07/07/83)
Is "tubular" complimentary or derogatory? That is, if someone tells me that I have "a totally tubular computer" should I thank them? genuinely confused, david
gumby@mit-eddie.UUCP (07/07/83)
Relay-Version:version B 2.10 5/3/83; site wjh12.UUCP Posting-Version:version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site mit-eddie.UUCP Path:wjh12!genrad!mit-eddie!gumby Message-ID:<406@mit-eddie.UUCP> Date:Wed, 6-Jul-83 23:25:12 EDT Organization:MIT, Cambridge, MA Is "tubular" complimentary or derogatory? That is, if someone tells me that I have "a totally tubular computer" should I thank them? genuinely confused, david
fred@umcp-cs.UUCP (07/08/83)
From: gumby@mit-eddie Is "tubular" complimentary or derogatory? That is, if someone tells me that I have "a totally tubular computer" should I thank them? genuinely confused, david Around here all our computer equipment is solid-state. I haven't used a tubular computer in years.
mike@sdcrdcf.UUCP (07/11/83)
As I have just moved from Encino, Ca. (two blocks from the the Galleria), I can say with some authority that the abovementioned phrase had exactly the right affect on you (ie left you confused). Actually, tubular is one of the influxes of surf-speak on val, and comes from the root "tube", the phenomenon of water rushing in a cylindrical shape, and the adjunct "tubed", which is being surrounded by such an oceanic occurence. This is the penultimate experience for a surfer, and is therefore a strongly positive adjective. Surfers find some relation between the euphoric rush of being "tubed", and the rush of smoking good grass, so the term "tubed" can also be used to refer (pun ?) to one in a more "fubar" like condition (which seems to be the second most desirable experience). "it's fingers danced to a private rhumba all their own..." Mike Williams System Development Corp. UUCP: randvax!sdcrdcf!mike burdvax!sdcrdcf!mike ucla-vax!sdcrdcf!mike cbosgd!sdcrdcf!mike ihnss!sdcrdcf!mike
halle1@houxz.UUCP (07/12/83)
If being "tubed" is the penultimate experience, then what experience is better? And is being tubed identical to being "fubar," as you also stated? Please, use words properly. Penultimate is a very precise word. Unfortunately, many (most?) people misuse it.
mark@cbosgd.UUCP (07/20/83)
In order to straighten this controversy out once and for all, at great personal expense, I personally travelled to the valley and interviewed noted ValSpeak expert and San Fernando Valley resident Howard Weinstein. (Well, actually, I had this wedding to go to in Long Beach and Howard was also there.) He explained "totally tubular" in plain English. The phrase "totally tubular" is an expression, and is nearly synonymous with "peachy keen". It would be used to describe an occurrance, not a person or thing. It derives from the shape of a good surfing wave - such a wave will have a ridge which comes up, then forward, then it breaks downward, leaving a tube shaped area of air under the wave but above the main body of water. (Watch the intro to "Wide World of Sports" sometime if you have trouble visualizing this.) The perfect wave would be "totally tubular". Another possibility is "partially tubular". One never just says "tubular" by itself in ValSpeak.