OMG, the past 72 hours of NBA free agency is starting to
rival a Niagara Falls high wire act. As the final landing of the
Harvard-educated point guard intensifies, the Rockets are either on track for a
Linsanity blastoff or New York will plunge to a Linless low. Media, both
mainstream and social, are bursting its opinion seams and Carmelo Anthony isn’t
alone in tossing the word ‘ridiculous’ like a Chris Paul/Blake Griffin alley-oop.
In fact, it was Anthony, Jeremy Lin’s Knicks teammate, who set
off the commentary blaze and with gunfire rapidity, his intended meaning was assumed
to be less than complimentary. Conversely, in slanguage, ‘ridiculous’ conveys a
positive slant, characterizing something so extreme that it is worthy of rousing
applause.
If you’re a b-ball fan, familiar with the invented term ‘ridunkulous,’
you realize the stamp signifies homage to a monstrous dunk. Of course, I don’t
claim to know what Anthony meant, but an accomplished writer would’ve pried context’s
door wide open. Anthony’s ‘ridiculous’ reference when used as an autoantonym, a
word opposite of its conventional meaning, was a strong possibility.
And if you’re still shaky, try this on for size: Shoe freaks
bearing beer budgets hyped by champagne tastes would classify Christian
Louboutin’s coveted red –soled pumps as ridiculously priced but yet ridiculously
artistic in design. Just ask Oprah if you’re not ‘in the know.’
Furthermore, to be perfectly clear, did you really think
Michael Jackson was confessing a character flaw when he pronounced himself ‘Bad’?
For those confined to the constraints of unimaginative language, the King of
Pop meant good. Luckily, his multitude of fans worldwide recognized his ‘badness’
as pop culture perfecto even if you didn’t.
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