comedy

"Despite, or because of, its weirdness, the meme became a staple in TikTok’s ever-growing catalog of “brainrot” content."

"Yet its massive popularity with young people is worth at least attempting to wrap your head around as an indicator of the direction of travel of online culture."

"(translated) What at first glance appears to be stupidity actually has artistic potential for many observers. Is what's happening digital Dadaism? Some celebrate the movement as an ironic protest genre—a deliberately senseless response by the younger generation to an equally senseless world. While real wars rage outside and the climate is deteriorating, Gen Z responds to the absurdity of reality with even more absurdity."

"(translated) Many dismiss this nonsense as the creative low point of a youth that is already lost. Is that fair? If art students were to show similar paintings in class, people would discuss meaning, intention, and aesthetics."

"There is also Indonesian brain rot, notably Tung Tung Tung Sahur (“which is like a stick figure with a bat, telling people to wake up for a meal during Ramadan”) and Boneca Ambalabu (“a frog with a tyre for a body..."

"By late January 2025, the “Tralalero Tralala” sound was unavoidable on TikTok. From Brat-font overlays to phonk remixes, users leveraged the audio to gain massive views. Notable creators used it in anime edits, soccer highlights, or skits dramatizing absurd betrayal scenarios."

"They do this democratic Disney thing that doesn’t belong to anybody."

"Di inmortales, homini homo quid praestat! stulto intellegens quid interest!"

"Ego me in pedes quantum queo."

"Omnia habeo neque quicquam habeo; nil quom est, nil defit tamen"

"Sororem falso dictitatam Thaidis id ipsum ignorans miles advexit Thraso ipsique donat. erat haec civis Attica. eidem eunuchum, quem emerat, tradi iubet Thaidis amator Phaedria ac rus ipse abit Thrasoni oratus biduum ut concederet. ephebus frater Phaedriae puellulam cum deperiret dono missam Thaidi, ornatu eunuchi induitur—suadet Parmeno—: intro ut iit, vitiat virginem. sed Atticus civis repertus frater eius conlocat vitiatam ephebo; Phaedriam exorat Thraso."

"Flos ipsus."

"Nicholas Udall; John Higgins, Flovvres or eloquent phrases of the Latine speach, gathered ont [sic of al the sixe comœdies of Terence] (London: imprinted by Thomas Marshe, 1581)"

"Sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus."

", The Comedies of Terence, Translated into Familiar Blank Verse (London: printed for T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt ..., W. Johnston ..., W. Flexney ..., R. Davis ..., T. Davies ..., 1765)"

"Nullumst iam dictum quod non sit dictum prius."

"In amore haec omnia insunt vitia: iniuriae, suspiciones, inimicitiae, indutiae, bellum, pax rursum: incerta haec si tu postules ratione certa facere, nihilo plus agas quam si des operam ut cum ratione insanias."

"John Benson Rose, Comedies of Publius Terentius Afer (London: Dorrell and Son, 1870)"

"Omnium rerum, heus, vicissitudost."

"Pro Iuppiter, nunc est profecto, interfici quom perpeti me possum, ne hoc gaudium contaminet vita aegritudine aliqua."

"Saepe ex huius modi re quapiam malo principio magna familiaritas."

"A certain citizen of Athens had a daughter named Pamphila, and a son called Chremes. The former was stolen while an infant, and sold to a Rhodian merchant, who having made a present of her to a Courtesan of Rhodes, she brought her up with her own daughter Thais, who was somewhat older. In the course of years, Thais following her mother's way of life, removes to Athens. Her mother dying, her property is put up for sale, and Pamphila is purchased as a slave by Thraso, an officer and an admirer of Thais, who happens just then to be visiting Rhodes. During the absence of Thraso, Thais becomes acquainted with Phasdria, an Athenian youth, the son of Laches; she also discovers from Chremes, who lives near Athens, that Pamphila, her former companion, is his sister. Thraso returns, intending to present to her the girl he has bought, but determines not to do so until she has discarded Phaedria. Finding that the girl is no other than Pamphila, Thais is at a loss what to do, as she both loves Phaedria, and is extremely anxious to recover Pamphila. At length, to please the Captain, she excludes Phaedria, but next day sends for him, and explains to him her reasons, at the same time begging of him to allow Thraso the sole right of admission to her house for the next two days, and assuring him that as soon as she shall have gained possession of the girl, she will entirely throw him off. Phaedria consents, and resolves to spend these two days in the country; at the same time he orders Parmeno to take to Thais a Eunuch and an Aethiopian girl, whom he has purchased for her. The Captain also sends Pamphila, who is accidentally seen by Chaerea, the younger brother of Phaedria; he, being smitten with her beauty, prevails upon Parmeno to introduce him into the house of Thais, in the Eunuch's dress. Being admitted there, in the absence of Thais, lie ravishes the damsel. Shortly afterward Thraso quarrels with Thais, and comes with all his attendants to her house to demand the return of Pamphila, but is disappointed. In conclusion, Pamphila is recognized by her brother Chremes, and is promised in marriage to Chaerea; while Thraso becomes reconciled to Phaedria, through the mediation of Gnatho, his Parasite."

"Christopher Kelk, "Eunuchus". Poetry in Translation (2023), Online"

"Utinam tibi conmitigari videam sandalio caput!"

"Novi ingenium mulierum: nolunt ubi velis, ubi nolis cupiunt ultro."

"Ego non flocci pendere."

"Henry Thomas Riley, The Comedies of Terence, and the Fables of Phædrus (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1853)"

"Si istuc crederem sincere dici, quidvis possem perpeti."

"John Sargeaunt, Terence I: The Lady of Andros · The Self-Tormentor · The Eunuch, LCL 22 (London: William Heinemann; New York: The Macmillan Co., 1912)"

"Shakespeare, from his very first experiment in the genre, conceived of the love comedy—the romantic comedy—as of something typically Italian, and for this reason he favoured the choice of Italian names for the main characters and, at least in the earliest examples, of Italian locations for the action."

"Romance depends not just on desire and affection but also on isolation from the claims of everyday life. It is on this point that these romantic comedies come closest to fitting the usual definition of the prose romance—as distinguished from the novel—one of the features of which is a setting far removed from everyday life: the forest, the ocean, a desert island, and the like. And yet in the Hollywood comedies I am discussing, most of the action takes place well within everyday settings."

"Even though I enjoy Hollywood romantic comedies like Notting Hill, it’s like they wear galoshes compared to the sly wit of a movie like Autumn Tale. They stomp squishy-footed through their clockwork plots, while Rohmer elegantly seduces us with people who have all of the alarming unpredictability of life. There’s never a doubt that Julia Roberts will live happily ever after. But Magali, now: One wrong step, and she’s alone with her vines forever."

"Romantic comedy was reborn in the films of the 1930s and ’40s. The distinction between a romantic comedy and the modern sense of romance is apparent in a comparison of [Leo McCarey's Love Affair] (1939), which the director remade as An Affair to Remember (1957). Both of these films are unequivocally modern romances, while Nora Ephron’s Sleepless in Seattle (1993), a film that pays extensive homage to An Affair to Remember, is clearly a romantic comedy."

"Today it’s no secret that movie studios release blockbuster action films to meet the higher energy levels of summer audiences, more intellectual fare for the winter months, and romantic comedies for spring. They don’t do it out of any sense of loyalty to our natural chronobiological rhythms, but because it’s good business."

"I simply regard romantic comedies as a subgenre of sci-fi, in which the world created therein has different rules than my regular human world. …. There is no difference between Ripley from Alien and any Katherine Heigl character."

"If dung lies near the corn-carting, and not carried out before harvest, so many sorts of corn be littered in it, which will not have time to rot, that you must expect a crop foul with trumpery."

"The Author of improving wet and barren Lands says, that, by burning the Ground two Inches thick, there will be two Hundred and sixty Loads of Ashes to an Acre; and, by burning it three Inches deep, there will be four Hundred Loads to an Acre. It is true such Burning will clear the Land of Weeds and all Manner of Trumpery; but Woe be to the Farmer after the Ashes have been spent, which will be, as he says, at three Years End; for then will come on as great a Barrenness as the Ashes caused Fertility; and this for I know not how long, because the richest Part of the Ground, which is the Turf or Surface, is gone."

"September 14th, 1699, I observed a close ploughing up in Leicestershire, and the corn sowing under furrow; the ground had been limed, and so strangely run to weeds, that I wondered at the boldness of the husbandman, and went up to him.—He was sowing his wheat steeped in lime; I observed the grain was plim and very large... (said he) here we choose a large seed, as supposing it has strength to shoot forth it's stalks through the clots and earth it lies under; for it now lies deeper, and the earth closer and heavier upon it than if it were sowed after the plough, and harrowed-in; besides, if very wet weather should fall upon it, so as thoroughly to wet the trumpery of weeds we turn in, a small grain would be sooner chilled than this large sort."

"The next Thing to be done, is to further clean the Wheat, by the Wheat-ridder, which is a round, splintered Sieve, worked in a round Manner, by the Tasker's two Hands, and who, by the Art of working this Sieve, will cause those Corals, Seeds of Weeds, and other Trumpery, that escaped the throwing Labour, to gather on the Top of the Wheat in the Sieve for his throwing them out, to be kept in a particular Parcel by themselves, to be thrashed hereafter; and this we call Peggings being composed of those Corals that were swept off the Heap of Wheat, after Throwing; and those Corals, Seeds of Weeds, and other Trumpery the Ridder-Sieve thus discharges."

"Now Wheat, Barley, Oats, Beans, Pease, and other Grain, are neargot as dry, as they will be, in the Mow, in the Cock, and in the Barn; and, as the Field-work is by the Beginning of this Month for the most Part over, and the Weather commonly frosty and snowy, the Farmer in Course, for these, and other Reasons, is obliged to employ his Hands in trashing out and cleaning Corn for Market; a Work that requires a good Workman: For, though Corn is got in dry, yet, if theTasker cannot clean and free it of the Seeds of Weeds, and other Trumpery, the Master must consequently be a Loser."

"When it is thrashed out and the Ails are beat and sufficiently broke, they pass the Corn through a large-holed Caving-Sieve, for taking away the short Straws and offal Trumpery, in order to prepare it for cleaning, by throwing; and, where there is Room enough, two Men may throw it well to clear it of its Chaff, the Seeds of Weeds, and the lightest Corns."

"And if Cow and Swine-dung were thus incorporated together with Horse-dung, and kept under Cover, they would be Cent. per Cent. the better for it, in Comparison of their lying all abroad exposed to the Weather. But, in Case there are not Conveniencies for laying such Dung under Cover, then, as the Beast Dungs are made, they should be lain in one great Heap or Dunghill... and as the black Water drains from it, it ought to be carefully preserved, by causing it to run into such a Receptacle or Reservoir, as will give the Farmer an Opportunity to carry it out in a Tub or Barrel, for throwing it over the Dunghill, or to scatter it... For, if Stable or other Dungs were laid thinly over the Farm-yard, the Rains would easily wash through them, and the Sun dry them, and that much more than when such Dungs are laid in a thick Substance. But, before I quit this Subject, I must observe, that I have seen a great Farmer lay his Stable-dung under a Granary built high from the Ground on Purpose to be a Shelter or Cover for something: Here I should think it improper to lay Dung, because the Steam of Dung is most apt to breed a Mould, that is pernicious to every thing it settles, or gets to. When Fowls-dungs are kept by themselves, as often as we have Dust, offal Chaff, or other Trumpery, fanned out of the Corn, we mix them with such Fowls-dung which, in Time, will lie, heat, rot and become an excellent Manure, to be sown as I said, out of the Hand Seed-cott, and harrowed in with your Barley, or otherwise applied."

"Bring out a chair," he shouted, "bring out a basin. Tell them to come to me. It's bleedin' she wants." He took from his carpet-bag a brass handled fleam, opened a blade and tried its edge with his thumb. "Hurry, hurry," he shouted, dancing towards the Master. "Man alive, stir yourself... Is it have me lose the baste ye would? Bring a basin quick, I tell ye... Look at her. Don't let her down—for God's sake, don't let her down," shouted the man and, even as Spotty doubled her knees and sank moaning in the straw, rushed over and began pulling at her tail. "She mustn't lie," he shouted; "she mustn't lie. Gar up." He kicked brutally at her buttocks. "Gar up—gar up, ye divil!" Then the Master crossed, took him by the shoulders and sent him spinning against the wall. "Get back, you brute!" The Master was hoarse with anger, his eyes flashed red murder. "Get out o' my sight," he shouted, "you ignorant brute! You a cattle doctor—you a Christian! Get out, I say; get out o' my sight. Here, take your trumpery." Out went the carpet-bag, the coat, the fleam, into the yard; out came the Master raging and flaring. "You'd murder my beast—you'd kick her to death—you'd torture the life out of her! I'm sick of the sight of you. Get out; get out!"

""—an' a dog's skin over be the table, an' the floor was painted brown about three fut all round the walls. There was pieces o' windy curtain over the backs o' the chairs; there was a big fern growin' in an ould drainpipe in the corner; there was an ould straw hat o' John's stuffed full o' flowers an' it hangin' on the wall, an' here an' there, all round it an' beside it were picters cut from the papers an' then tacked on the plaster. Ye could hardly see the mantelshelf, Jane allowed, for all the trumpery was piled on it, dinglum-danglums of glass an' chaney, an' shells from the say, an' a sampler stuck in a frame, an' in the middle of all a picter of Hannah herself got up in all her finery."

"A concise sketch of the history of Perkinism, since its first introduction into this island, will render evident what has been the nature of the opposition to the Metallic Practice, inasmuch as it will show that it resolves itself into two heads, viz. Ridicule and Malicious Falsehood."

"Wheat, Barley, and Oats may be very expeditiously cleaned in great Perfection. When all the Barley is... screened, it is ready to put into Sacks for Market; but, in case some Seeds of Darnel should be left among the Barley, as if often happens, because these Seeds are so near the Bigness of a Barley-Corn, that they cannot be easily separated, it is not of great Importance or Damage to the Barley; for that this Seed is of such a Nature, as to add a Strength to the Liquor, and make the Beer or Ale, brewed from such Malt, the more potent. But the main Matter is to free it off its Ails and Tails; for, if these are left, in any Quantity, among the Barley, there will a lower Price be bid for it, than others that are free from such Trumpery. It is this that makes the Cleaners of Barley oftentimes walk on the thrashed Barley, to tread on and break oft these Ails; and sometimes neither Thrashing nor Treading will thoroughly break off these Ails enough to make the Parcel intirely clear of them. One Man will sometimes thrash and clean six or eight Bushels of Barley in one Day..."

"We have seen that the n ideal of government and the American ideal cannot exist together in the world and that the Prussian ideal is of necessity vicious in its nature and degrading in its effects. ...We fight not to avenge the Lusitania, not to rebuild Louvain, not to exact reparation for murdered women and children. We fight to slay the government which taught its people to commit such damnable atrocities. We fight that never again may a great nation with cynical insolence throw in the face of the world the base assertions that treaties are scraps of paper, that necessity knows no law, that might is the right of the strongest, and that the State can do no wrong. We fight to hurl the Hohenzollern and his dangerous doctrine of divine right upon the scrap-heap of useless trumpery, and to set the German people in his place, that they may learn to rule themselves."

"The undertaking was soon in full progress and by degrees; and by degrees it became the talk of the hamlets round that Lady Constantine had given up melancholy for astronomy, to the great advantage of all who came in contact with her. One morning when Tabitha Lark had come as usual to read, Lady Constantine chanced to be in a quarter of the house to which she seldom wandered; and while here she heard her maid talking confidentially to Tabitha in the adjoining room on the curious and sudden interest which Lady Constantine had acquired in the moon and stars. "They do say all sorts of trumpery," observed the hand maid. "They say—though 'tis little better than mischief, to be sure—that it isn't the moon, and it isn't the stars, and it isn't the plannards, that my lady cares for, but for the pretty lad who draws 'em down from the sky to please her; and being a married example, and what with sin and shame knocking at every poor maid's door afore you can say, 'Hands off, my dear,' to the civilest young man, she ought to set a better pattern." Lady Constantine's face flamed up vividly."

"Old St. Paul's was one of the largest churches in Europe... The church in the fourteenth century was not regarded only as a place for public worship. Masses and services of all kinds were going on all day long: the place was bright, not only with the sunlight streaming through the painted glass, but with wax tapers burning before many a shrine—at some, all day and all night. People came to the church to walk about, for rest, for conversation, for the transaction of business—to make or receive payments: to hire servants. The middle aisle of the church where all this was done was called Paul's Walk or Duke Humphrey's Walk. Here were tables where twelve licensed scribes sat writing letters for those who wanted their services. They would also prepare a lease, a deed, a conveyance—any legal document. The church was filled with tombs and monuments, some of these very ancient, some of the greatest interest. Here was one called the tomb of Duke Humphrey—, who was really buried at St. Alban's. On May Day the watermen used to come to St. Paul's in order to sprinkle water and strew herbs upon this tomb—I know not why. Those who were out of work and went dinnerless were said to dine with Duke Humphrey: and there was a proverb—'Trash and trumpery is the way to Duke Humphrey.' Trumpery being used in its original meaning—tromperie—deceit."

"She'll blab your most secret plans and theories to every one of her acquaintance... and make them appear ridiculous by announcing them before they are matured. If you attempt to study with a woman, you'll lie ruled... to entertain fancies instead of theories, air-castles instead of intentions, qualms instead of opinions, sickly prepossessions instead of reasoned conclusions. Your wide heaven of study, young man, will soon reduce itself to the miserable narrow expanse of her face and your myriad of stars to her two trumpery eyes."