April 24, 2009

Homestar And My Moment Of Shame

Anyone hit up Homestar Runner Lately? I stopped by there tonight, and happened across a new music vid featuring the Cheat. And, it was as fantastic as you could imagine. Witty, catchy, and it really made you think.

Well it made me think at least. A lot harder than I would've cared to. You see, during the end of the video (animation....animated video........whatever,) It is stated that the phrase "ATM machine" is redundant. And for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how. Was it possible that the physical act of walking to an ATM machine unesscesary? Was it a reference to the convenience of online banking? Or perhaps was it a quip based on the reasoning that going into the bank is a much more streamlined experience than using an ATM machine? I didn't know. And as a result, I stared blindly at the screen like a deer in headlights for what was probably a second or two, but felt like an eternity.

And then the End image came up with some fine print beneath it, which read:

ATM machine = Automatic Teller Machine Machine.

Bing! The lightbulb went on, and now I feel dumb.

2 comments:

Ingrid said...

Homestar Runner! I went through a phase a few years back where I watched every new episode of Strong Bad Emails and Teen Girl Squad.

The redundant title that's always gotten me since I first noticed it was China's Huang He River. It translates to "Yellow River River". I tried explaining this to my 10th grade social studies teacher and class to a lot of blank stares and eye rolls.

Boogie Man Montoya said...

I did the exact same thing! To this day, I still quote them. I still go back on occasion and hit up sbemail when I'm in need of a bit of nostalgia....or a good bit of randomness.

Having dabbled in the profession for far too long, I can safely say that teachers are the masters of redundancy. They're a well-meaning bunch don't get me wrong, but a lot of basic logic has been seeped.

And that is useful information to have. I suspect knowing about the Huang He will spare me a bit of embarrassment down the road. That's not to say I won't embarrass myself, just that this won't be the root of it......probably.