NTMP 112: Cicada Squad

That X-Files feel

New-To-Me Phrases, June 2, 2024

Karl the Frog * Humongous Fungus Fest * Butt Boy * Shrimp Jesus * Flatting * Catadromous

Photo by Elizabeth Spencer on Unsplash

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The Phrases, With Context

Do you have periodical cicadas where you live? Being outside sounds like a scene from The X-Files. I love those slow-moving dopey protein sources; seeing and hearing them feels pretty special because I suppose it is. I also learned that there is a rare blue-eyed variant so I’ve been gazing into the eyes of the ones I find in my yard, with no luck so far.

Here’s a pic of a ceramic one I saw at the farmers market:

Try replicating this art, AI! You can’t, because you don’t have hands! (Yet.)

This week we have some killer taglines, a self-made malapropism, a couple of NTMP updates, and more.

Let’s get to it!

1. Karl the Frog

I feel a bit self-conscious that I’ve been finding so many new words and phrases in word puzzles. Like, maybe I should leave the house more? But I’ve always been a word puzzle nerd and why apologize for that? Good talk.

This phrase is a malapropism of my own making—the very best kind—where I misread a clue from the May 23, 2024 NYT crossword. The clue was, "U.S. region with a weather pattern affectionately known as "Karl the Fog," which I read as “Karl the Frog.” I prefer my version, but I suppose I’d rather there be foggy conditions in the Bay Area than have it raining frogs there.

This explainer mentions that Karl the Fog originated on Twitter in 2010, when someone made an account (that still exists) anthropomorphizing the region’s infamous fog. Karl is also on Instagram.

Here’s an explainer about the origin of the name:

The name Karl is a reference to the 2003 film “Big Fish.” The creator told SF Weekly that Karl was the giant everyone was afraid of because they thought he would kill or eat them, when in fact he was just hungry and lonely.

This great SFGATE piece goes into detail about this weather phenomenon, including a great phrase, “fog squad,” a group of UC Santa Cruz students who study fog.

2. Humongous Fungus Fest

My Hag friend Wendy, who lives in Michigan, shared this phrase recently and I had to investigate. For me, anything mushroom-related is forever made awkward by watching The Last of Us. I give those fuckers a wide berth! So when I learned that the humongous fungus in question is a 37-acre underground mushroom colony, my first reaction was “Nope.” Oh, and I guess they eat some of it on giant pizzas as part of the festival. Life is hard, and people will find an excuse to celebrate just about anything as a result.

Will the humongous fungus seek revenge? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

3. Butt Boy

Here’s one of the joys of having ADHD: I added this phrase to my master phrases doc and completely forgot the context. Then it came to me: a friend mentioned it at our Memorial Day BBQ. What is Butt Boy, you ask (along with me)? The name of an actual movie that actually got made.

Things like this make me glad to be alive. In what other era could a movie called Butt Boy get made that wasn’t porn? I could see Chaucer showrunning a Butt Boy series but he predated TV by like, a lot.

Wikipedia tells me that Butt Boy is a dark horror comedy about a guy who becomes obsessed with putting things in his butt to make them disappear. It started as a comedy sketch and the writer/director, Tyler Cornack, decided to make it a feature length film and it caught on at film festivals. I admire this commitment to a bit so much.

The tagline? Assume the position. 🍑

4. Shrimp Jesus

Do you love a good rant about societal ills? Do you love them even more if they’re takedowns of libertarian tech bros whose creations have directly harmed democracy and local journalism? If so, have I got a read for you: Ed Zitron’s We’re Watching Facebook Die. Courtesy of my oldest kid, who does read this newsletter (he has great taste). Also check out his post, Sam Altman is full of shit but mind your neck; you’ll be apt to nod along vigorously throughout.

Zitron describes how Meta’s enshittified algorithm is rewarding bad actors who are using AI images to link gullible users to interact with questionable websites. One subset of these images is . . . of Jesus, but made of shrimp. For some reason. That link leads to a 404 Media post about these scam images and sites—I highly recommend you click through to learn more AND see those images.

I honestly don’t even know what else to say here. We need better media literacy and critical thinking skills as it is, and I think the onslaught of AI is going to make all of this so much worse. I still want to know what hyper-specific demographic would respond to seeing their lord and savoir as a crustacean and think, “Yeah, that tracks. Let’s click through to see more.” Or do I?

5. Flatting

I’m reading a gorgeous art book called The Untamed Thread by Fleur Woods, an author from New Zealand. In it, she used this word for “rooming together,” as in “sharing a flat together.” Being a U.S.-centric uncultured rube, this was a new usage to me.

6. Catadromous

Another crossword clue! I am shameless. But good thing I am, because it led me to the awesomeness that is the Fishionary. That’s right: a portmanteau of ‘fish’ and ‘dictionary.’ Here’s what they have to say about this word: “A catadromous fish hatches and spawns in salt water but spends most of its life in fresh water.” This is rarer than the reverse, where fish come from the ocean to spawn in freshwater streams. Eels are catadromous! Science is cool!

Bonus Bits

1. As if orcas weren’t awesome enough, now a walrus is sinking boats. He’s being rewarded with his own floating couch to see if it will get him to stop sinking boats.

Team sea creatures! Save us from ourselves. Or destroy us; whatever. It’s not like humans don’t deserve it.

2. An update from a previous edition!

The only interview I’ve done so far for NTMP is with Steve Silberberg, founder of the Air Sickness Bag Virtual Museum. Steve is featured in this brief documentary, The Last Barf Bag and he’s a true delight, from the sight gag of his Maine license plate to the line that made me cackle: “Apparently you throw up and then disappear.” Nicely done, Steve!

Great to see this incredibly niche, design-forward special interest get some more recognition. The best part? The film was produced by Dramamine. A+ marketing—but do they work in the Severance offices? I am hoping that the line from their marketing team about fitting into “the nausea space” was intended as a joke. Let’s pretend it was. If you only click one link from NTMP, let it be this one to watch this short film.

Related: An Instagram account dedicated to Maine vanity license plates.

3. This might be the most weirdly honest website I’ve ever seen. The founder drags a former customer for half the homepage. That tagline, tho.

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That’s it for this week! Remember to keep making it weird, and stay furiously curious.