Notes of a word-watcher, Hanching Chung. A first port of call for English learning.
2023年4月23日 星期日
" do-it-yourself".MacGyver ("馬蓋仙"變成動詞；The ‘MacGyvered’ Weapons in Ukraine’s Arsenal) bricolage, cosh, ensemble, old-line, steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum,...)
/ Napoleon Hill /
.
"It takes half your life before you discover life is do-it-yourself project."
BBC 2015年8月27日 — The Oxford Dictionaries state that to "MacGyver" is to make or repair something "in an improvised or inventive way, making use of whatever items ...
在劇中，馬蓋先是一名密探，最初為美國政府對外勤務部門（Department of External Services/DXS）工作，後轉往位於洛杉磯的鳳凰基金會（Phoenix Foundation）。他不喜歡槍械，身上帶的「武器」只有一把瑞士軍刀。他亦很有急智，時常能用普通日常生活用品逃出險境，相當具有代表性的一個例子是用扳手（monkey wrench）和迴紋針與鞋帶從兩個配有火箭筒的敵人處逃走。
How 'MacGyver' became a verb
Published
IMAGE SOURCE,ALAMY
The word "MacGyver" is now in the Oxford Dictionaries. Why has a television series that began in the 1980s made such an impact on the lexicon, asks Jon Kelly.
Fixed a broken door handle using a coathanger? You totally MacGyvered it. Did you see your dad's windscreen wipers have dropped off? He MacGyvered them using duct tape and a rubber band.
There aren't many action-adventure TV dramas that make it into the dictionary, but MacGyver was not like other shows. It starred Richard Dean Anderson as the eponymous hero (first name: Angus) who escaped life-threatening situations by eschewing firearms in favour of improvised engineering skills and cobbled-together ingenuity.
For instance, he might use a pair of binoculars to deflect a laser beam or fashion a smokescreen from baking soda and vinegar (the MacGyver Wiki lists all the problems he solved in exhaustive detail).
The show ran from 1987 to 1992 before settling into an afterlife on repeats channels such as Bravo, though there has been talk of rebooting it with a female lead. But its influence persisted in the popular imagination, with the hero as a sort of be-mulleted Heath Robinson.
A robot capable of creating tools was christened the "MacGyver Bot". A competition to celebrate the ingenuity of female engineers was called "The Next MacGyver." The top definition for "MacGyver" on Urban Dictionary, originally posted in 2003, runs thus: "Someone who can jump-start a truck with a cactus."
Despite
the trend towards youth, these five conductors have shown both
longevity and loyalty, becoming synonymous with the major ensembles
they’re still leading.
A gang of 15 men from across London’s underworld stopped a train
by turning the signal red, brutally coshed the driver and made off with
£2.6m (then $7.3m) in cash from the mail cars.
1a group of musicians, actors, or dancers who perform together:a Bulgarian folk ensemble
a piece of music or passage written for performance by a whole cast, choir, or group of instruments:Cherubini’s numbers, with solos and ensembles intermingled, have a freedom and originality
[mass noun] the coordination between performers executing an ensemble passage:a high level of tuning and ensemble is guaranteed
2a group of items viewed as a whole rather than individually:the buildings in the square present a charming provincial ensemble
[usually in singular] a set of clothes chosen to harmonize when worn together:her elegant pink and black ensemble put most outfits in the shade
chiefly Physics a group of similar systems, or different states of the same system, often considered statistically:we would have to adopt a picture in which there is an ensemble of all possible universes with some probability distribution
Origin:
late Middle English (as an adverb (long rare) meaning 'at the same time'): from French, based on Latin insimul, from in- 'in' + simul 'at the same time'. The noun dates from the mid 18th century
a thick, heavy stick or bar used as a weapon:the defendants deny having a self-loading pistol and a telescopic cosh
verb
[with object]
hit (someone) on the head with a cosh:the other coshed him and he fell unconscious
Phrases
under the cosh
under pressure; in a difficult situation:car dealers are under the cosh right now
Origin:
mid 19th century: of unknown origin
瑞麟兄2005年的blog
bri·co·lage
(
brē'kō-läzh', brĭk'ō-)
n.
Something made or put together using whatever materials happen to be available: "Even the decor is a bricolage, a mix of this and that" (Los Angeles Times).
[French, from bricole, trifle, from Old French, catapult, from Old Italian briccola, of Germanic origin.]
bricolage['brikəlɑːʒ; `brɪkəlɑʒ
] n.
Construction or something constructed by using whatever materials happen to be available.
使用任何現成材料建造或建造的成品
※文摘※
Source: Bernard Sharratt: « Only Connected », New York Times, December 17, 1995
The Internet is a global bricolage, lashing together
unthinkable complexities of miscellaneous computers with
temporary lengths of phone line and fiber optic, bits of Ethernet cable
and strings of code.
— Source: Marjorie Garber: « Back to Whose Basics? », New York Times, October 29, 1995
I point out to my students that no one ever really reads Hamlet for
the first time now; we've heard it all before in bits and pieces,
cultural bricolage.
Bricolage – from the French-language
verb bricoler, meaning "to tinker" or "to fiddle" – is that language's equivalent of the English phrase "
do-it-yourself".
In art, bricolage is a technique where works are constructed from
various materials available or on hand, and is seen as a characteristic
of
postmodern works.
These materials may be mass-produced
or "junk". See also:
Merz, polystylism,
collage.
In biology the
biologist François Jacob uses the term bricolage to describe the apparently cobbled-together character of much biological structure, and views it as a consequence of the
evolutionary history of the organism. (Molino 2000, p.169)
In cultural studies
bricolage is used to mean the processes by which people acquire objects
from across social divisions to create new cultural identities. In
particular, it is a feature of
subcultures such as the
punk movement. Here, objects that posess one meaning (or no meaning)
in the dominant culture are acquired and given a new, often subversive
meaning. For example, the
safety pin became a form of decoration in punk culture. Bricolage is also often contrasted to engineering: building by trial and error rather than based on theory.
A person who engages in bricolage is a bricoleur. A bricoleur
is a person who creates things from scratch, is creative and
resourceful: a person who collects information and things and then puts
them together in a way that they were not originally designed to do.
In information systems
, bricolage is used by Claudio Ciborra to describe the way in which Strategic Information Systems (SIS) can be built in order to maintain successful
competitive advantage over a longer period of time than standard SIS. By valuing tinkering
and allowing SIS to evolve from the bottom-up, rather than implementing
it from the top-down, the firm will end up with something that is
deeply rooted in the
organisational culture that is specific to that firm and is much less easily imitated.
Reference
2013.7.12
Lévi-Strauss:structuralism and sociological theory
In the practical arts and the fine arts, bricolage is the
construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things that
happen to be available, or a work created by such a process. The term is
borrowed from the French word bricolage, which refers to amateur repair and DIY maintenance work. Someone who practices bricolage is called a bricoleur.
The term has been used in many other fields, including intellectual pursuits, education, computer software, and business.
The steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum, and sometimes, collectively with other musicians, as a steelband or steel orchestra) is a musical instrument originating from Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists.
American super instruments made from recorders and bicycle bells or metal rods and keys
Stomp dancing
is an example of the use of bricolage in music and dance. They utilize
everyday objects, such as trash cans and broom sticks, to produce music.
Many of the musical instruments created by American composer Harry Partch utilize unusual items, such as automotive hubcaps and pyrexcarboys.
Stylistic bricolage is the inclusion of common musical devices with
new uses. Shuker writes, "Punk best emphasized such stylistic
bricolage".[1]
Musical Bricolage flourishes in music of sub-cultures where:
experimentation is part of daily life (pioneers, immigrants, artistic communities),
access to resources is limited (such as in remote, discriminated or
financially disconnected sub-cultures) which limits commercial influence
(e.g. acoustic performers, gypsies, ghetto music, hippie, folk or
traditional musicians), and
there is a political or social drive to seek individuality (e.g. rap music, peace-drives, drummers' circles)
Unlike other bricolage fields, the intimate knowledge of resources is
not necessary. Many punk musicians, for instance, are not musically
trained, because they believe training can discourage creativity in
preference for accuracy. Also, careful observation and listening is not
necessary, it is common in spontaneous music to welcome 'errors' and
disharmony. Like other bricolage fields, bricolage music still values
trusting one's ideas and self-correcting structures such as targeted
audiences.[citation needed]
Visual art
In art, bricolage is a technique where works are constructed from
various materials available or on hand, and is seen as a characteristic
of many postmodern works.
These materials may be mass-produced or "junk". See also: Merz, polystylism, collage, assemblage.
Bricolage can also be applied to theatrical forms of improvisation, more commonly known as Improv.
The idea of using one's environment and materials which are at hand is
the main goal in Improv. The environment is the stage and the materials
are often pantomimed. The use of the stage and the imaginary materials
are all made up on the spot, so the materials which are at hand are
actually things that the players know from past experiences (i.e. an
improvisation of ordering fast food: One player would start with the
common phrase "How may I help you?").
Bricolage is also applied in interior design,
through blending styles and accessorizing spaces with what is "on
hand". Many designers use bricolage to come up with innovative and
unique ideas.
Architecture
Bricolage is considered the jumbled effect produced by the close
proximity of buildings from different periods and in different
architectural styles.[2]
It is also a term that is admiringly applied to the architectural work of Le Corbusier, by Colin Rowe and Fred Koetter in their book Collage City, suggesting that he assembled ideas from found objects of the history of architecture. This, in contrast to someone like Mies Van der Rohe, whom they called a "hedgehog", for being overly focused on a narrow concept.[citation needed]
Academics
Cultural studies
In cultural studies bricolage is used to mean the processes by which people acquire objects from across social divisions to create new cultural identities. In particular, it is a feature of subcultures such as, for example, the punk
movement. Here, objects that possess one meaning (or no meaning) in the
dominant culture are acquired and given a new, often subversive
meaning. For example, the safety pin became a form of decoration in punk culture.
Philosophy
In his book The Savage Mind (1962, English translation 1966), French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss
used "bricolage" to describe the characteristic patterns of
mythological thought. In his description it is opposed to the engineers'
creative thinking, which proceeds from goals to means. Mythical
thought, according to Levi-Strauss, attempts to re-use available
materials in order to solve new problems.[3] Jacques Derrida extends this notion to any discourse. "If one calls bricolage
the necessity of borrowing one's concept from the text of a heritage
which is more or less coherent or ruined, it must be said that every
discourse is bricoleur." [4] Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, in their 1972 book Anti-Oedipus, identify bricolage as the characteristic mode of production of the schizophrenic producer.[5]
Education
In the discussion of constructionism, Seymour Papert
discusses two styles of solving problems. Contrary to the analytical
style of solving problems, he describes bricolage as a way to learn and
solve problems by trying, testing, playing around. Joe L. Kincheloe
has used the term bricolage in educational research to denote the use
of multiperspectival research methods. In Kincheloe's conception of the
research bricolage, diverse theoretical traditions are employed in a
broader critical theoretical/critical pedagogical context to lay the
foundation for a transformative mode of multimethodological inquiry.
Using these multiple frameworks and methodologies, researchers are
empowered to produce more rigorous and praxiological insights into
socio-political and educational phenomena.
Kincheloe theorizes a critical multilogical epistemology and critical
connected ontology to ground the research bricolage. These
philosophical notions provide the research bricolage with a
sophisticated understanding of the complexity of knowledge production
and the interrelated complexity of both researcher positionality and
phenomena in the world. Such complexity demands a more rigorous mode of
research that is capable of dealing with the complications of
socio-educational experience. Such a critical form of rigor avoids the
reductionism of many monological, mimetic research orientations (see
Kincheloe, 2001, 2005; Kincheloe & Berry, 2004).
In her book Life on the Screen (1995), Sherry Turkle
discusses the concept of bricolage as it applies to problem solving in
code projects and workspace productivity. She advocates the "bricoleur
style" of programming as a valid and underexamined alternative to what
she describes as the conventional structured "planner" approach. In this
style of coding, the programmer works without an exhaustive preliminary
specification, opting instead for a step-by-step growth and
re-evaluation process. In her essay "Epistemological Pluralism", Turkle
writes: "The bricoleur resembles the painter who stands back between
brushstrokes, looks at the canvas, and only after this contemplation,
decides what to do next."[7]
Business
Karl Weick identifies the following requirements for successful bricolage in organizations.[8]
intimate knowledge of resources
careful observation and listening
trusting one's ideas
self-correcting structures, with feedback
In popular culture
Fashion
In his essay "Subculture: The Meaning of Style", Dick Hebdige
discusses how an individual can be identified as a bricoleur when they
"appropriated another range of commodities by placing them in a symbolic
ensemble which served to erase or subvert their original straight
meanings".[9]
The fashion industry uses bricolage-like styles by incorporating items
typically utilized for other purposes. For example, candy wrappers are
woven together to produce a purse. The movie Zoolander parodies this concept with "Derelicte", a line of clothing made from trash.
Television
MacGyver is a television series in which the protagonist is the paragon of a bricoleur,[10] creating solutions for the problem to be solved out of immediately available found objects.
The Wombles,
a children's program based on creatures living in Wimbledon Common, is
also a fine example of bricolage. In the theme song composed by Mike Batt, the lyrics include "making good use of the things that they find, things that the everyday folk leave behind".
iCarly, a Nickelodeon television series, in which Carly's brother, Spencer, is a bricolage artist.
^Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Trans. Robert Hurley, Mark Seem, and Helen R. Lane. Continuum edition. London: Continuum, 2004 (1972). p.7-8.
^Ciborra, Claudio (1992). "From Thinking to Tinkering: The Grassroots of Strategic Information Systems", The Information Society 8, 297-309
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