September 9, 2006

The reply to a reply as seen over here…

Hey, looky here: FIRST!

Werdplay
Jumping the Stingray

I am among the millions saddened by the death of Crocodile Guy Steve Irwin, and among the millions who really don?t want to see the video of his fatal accident, OK? But, being the pop culture vulture that I am, I knew that this was an opportunity to attempt to coin a Brand New Phrase! And that?s it up on the title. And thanks to Google, I can confirm that it has only been used three times since Steve Erwin?s passing within the WWWeb,

As part of a long rambling post on a blog called Glögg (with totally unnecessary umlaut):

The Crocodile Hunter, at last, has Jumped The Shark.
(Or, more appropriately, he has Jumped The Stingray.)
Posted in Glögg Is Life. at 2:34 am 09.04.06 by Gregory

In a comment on the Gawker-owned sportsblog Deadspin:

Roy Keane says:
With these new rule, Deadspin just jumped the stingray.
09/05/06 02:56 PM

And, inevitably, in the first comment added to Jump the Shark?s Crocodile Hunter thread to mention his death:

Irwin got stung by a sting ray. To hell with jumping the shark. Someone should have told him not to jump the stingray!!!!

So, Gregory of Glögg gets the prize for first use, Roy Keane gets the honor of using it first to refer to something other than Steve Irwin, and Jump the Shark demonstrates again why they should have time stamps on their comments.

But all things considered, I believe I should get credit for the first definition of what it means to ?Jump the Stingray?:

While Jumping the Shark is the defining moment when something has reached its peak and it?s all downhill from here, Jumping the Stingray is a defining moment when the downturn is so steep and extreme that it is inevitably and almost immediately fatal.

A TV show ?Jumping the Stingray? only occurs only when it airs something that leads directly to its cancellation. A celebrity ?Jumping the Stingray? has done something truly career-ending (which considering this culture?s absurd tolerance for ?second chances?, is rare, and most often will, sadly, involve fatal accidents like Steve?s). I?m still pondering some examples of the phenomenon. So, Pinky, are you pondering what I?m pondering?

JUMP THE STINGRAY is not a registered trademark of Wendell Wittler?s OneSwellFoop NetWorks, but should be. (Consider this your collective punishment for not picking up on any of the other words I?ve coined)

Written September 8th, 2006

Well, first of all, Wendell, thank you. I win. And second of all, it would show even more respect for the deceased and your readers if you would learn how to spell ?Irwin.?

(Plus, no offense, but hands off my umlaut, bitch.)

As for my ?achievement,? hey, you have to get up pretty early in the morning to coin a term before I do. (As Mike The Cool Person from The Young Ones put it, ?You?d have to stay up all night!? I certainly do.)

Thanks again, Wendell, for noting my ?achievement,? for sharing your own work, and for helping to make this entry quite rambling in its own right.

Okay, Glögger, take a bow. I have no intention of ever TOUCHING your umlaut. I learned that lesson from an unfortunate incident with Björk. And since you haven’t been a regular reader of the WWblog before, you must realize that embarassing misspelling is not a bug – it’s a feature! And, uh, since you reproduced my ENTIRE blog post (which considering MY tendency for long, rambling posts, makes your achievement in rambling rather spectacular), you will be hearing from my Copyright lawyers, the RIAA, the MPAA, the NCAA, the FAA, and the AAA (I’m having you TOWED AWAY). In lieu of other notification, I’m sending someone over to tattoo the Cease and Desist order on a body part of HIS choice. ?or, you could just correct ALL my misspellings where you quoted me (since I?m doing so on my own blog), and we?ll call it even. And I don?t know about Liev Schreiber, but I alays thought Avery Schreiber (he’s the tallest Muppet in this picture) was cool.