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silveradeptBefore getting to the Shadow Idol entry, I thought I'd mention another anonymous love meme appears - go comment on your favorite DWers and make them feel wonderful. If you want to know who has already been put up, there's an index list. And now, your Shadow Idol entry...
"Bupkis".
bup-kis, from Yiddish: Used as a noun, it tends to mean nothing, zip, zero, the lack. That can mean the lack of things ("We got bupkis."), but it can also mean the lack of less tangible items ("He knows bupkis about that."), and actually tends toward a pejorative when used in that way.
Since it's a topic about nothing, that means there are almost infinite directions to take it in. Just in the United States alone, there's the bupkis that is the basic score of how the political parties interact with each other (bupkis getting through that might have an impact), the bupkis that is how much is done in terms of criminal charges against the people who wrecked the economy and the people that legalized torture, the bupkis that is the relief to ordinary people who are suffering the consequences of that economy-wrecking, the bupkis that is what's being done to respect the rights of people who are assembling peacefully to request a redress of these grievances.
We could drill down more locally and talk about the states that have their budgets out of whack, the states that passed laws evicting unions from the public sector (and then the repeal of some of those laws and the lawmakers that made them), the continued dismal funding of education and libraries, the problems of pensions and how everyone is being thrown to the wolves, and the declining ability of states to provide temporary relief for the unemployed and the poor. We could go hyperlocal about schools inundated with religious messaging with the full consent and participation of the teachers inside, the epidemic of bullying in the schools and the general apathy outside to fixing it, the issues associated with being out about something that society wants you to stay closeted about, or even the towns where the democratic process has been usurped and the townspeople are literally left with bupkis for elected officials or say in how their town is run.
I could talk about my personal life, the struggles of making sure there's enough money to meet the bills, the problems associated with mismatches of management styles with employees, the trends going on in my workplace that are disturbing and that I can't really stop, the need for upper management to think for a moment before barreling ahead with this, that, or the other thing, the stress of being put in the disciplinary process for things that shouldn't warrant it (and knowing the management is unlikely to budge on those issues because they're stubborn and insist on Making A Point, and that they think a 50% chance of not being fired is something to be happy about), and a lot of other things that are intensely personal - bupkis in the grand scheme of the universe, but relevant to the poor soul down here.
But truthfully, even though I could opine and suggest solutions and rail and rant and rave, when it comes down to being actually able to implement the changes, I have neither the means, the power, nor the influence to actually do so. Thus, I am reduced to being an NPC in my own story, tossed about by forces greater than myself, and having to perhaps settle for the idea that I might be able to affect some small local change, but that Big Things are likely going to be beyond me for this life.
What does that leave me with?
Bupkis.
"Bupkis".
bup-kis, from Yiddish: Used as a noun, it tends to mean nothing, zip, zero, the lack. That can mean the lack of things ("We got bupkis."), but it can also mean the lack of less tangible items ("He knows bupkis about that."), and actually tends toward a pejorative when used in that way.
Since it's a topic about nothing, that means there are almost infinite directions to take it in. Just in the United States alone, there's the bupkis that is the basic score of how the political parties interact with each other (bupkis getting through that might have an impact), the bupkis that is how much is done in terms of criminal charges against the people who wrecked the economy and the people that legalized torture, the bupkis that is the relief to ordinary people who are suffering the consequences of that economy-wrecking, the bupkis that is what's being done to respect the rights of people who are assembling peacefully to request a redress of these grievances.
We could drill down more locally and talk about the states that have their budgets out of whack, the states that passed laws evicting unions from the public sector (and then the repeal of some of those laws and the lawmakers that made them), the continued dismal funding of education and libraries, the problems of pensions and how everyone is being thrown to the wolves, and the declining ability of states to provide temporary relief for the unemployed and the poor. We could go hyperlocal about schools inundated with religious messaging with the full consent and participation of the teachers inside, the epidemic of bullying in the schools and the general apathy outside to fixing it, the issues associated with being out about something that society wants you to stay closeted about, or even the towns where the democratic process has been usurped and the townspeople are literally left with bupkis for elected officials or say in how their town is run.
I could talk about my personal life, the struggles of making sure there's enough money to meet the bills, the problems associated with mismatches of management styles with employees, the trends going on in my workplace that are disturbing and that I can't really stop, the need for upper management to think for a moment before barreling ahead with this, that, or the other thing, the stress of being put in the disciplinary process for things that shouldn't warrant it (and knowing the management is unlikely to budge on those issues because they're stubborn and insist on Making A Point, and that they think a 50% chance of not being fired is something to be happy about), and a lot of other things that are intensely personal - bupkis in the grand scheme of the universe, but relevant to the poor soul down here.
But truthfully, even though I could opine and suggest solutions and rail and rant and rave, when it comes down to being actually able to implement the changes, I have neither the means, the power, nor the influence to actually do so. Thus, I am reduced to being an NPC in my own story, tossed about by forces greater than myself, and having to perhaps settle for the idea that I might be able to affect some small local change, but that Big Things are likely going to be beyond me for this life.
What does that leave me with?
Bupkis.
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no subject
Date: 2011-12-12 11:53 am (UTC)However those words still stay with me, because from time to time they just seem to convey a message better. Just are more to the point than English or German expressions. So, thanks for sharing!
no subject
Date: 2011-12-12 05:27 pm (UTC)