The Simpsons: A Linguistic Analysis

I wasn't too happy with my first academic paper on The Simpsons- most likely because I didn't put enough time into it. But it got the job done (and I'm not too worried about it since my average in my linguistics class is over 100%). Here are the highlights:

The Simpsons television series provides a fine example of the comedic effect of cleverly prepared language. In particular, the episode “Marge vs. the Monorail” includes representative processes of phonetics, interesting creations from morphology, and lively aspects of sociolinguistics that aid in the conveyance of humor through manipulations of language.
...
Another cunning moniker arises from the traveling salesman, “Lyle Lanley,” whose persona reflects that of Harold Hill from The Music Man. Lyle Lanley, a name filled with soft lateral consonants, nearly literally “rolls off the tongue” and complements his rapid, smooth-talking nature rather well.
...
“Truckasaurus,” a large, metallic, truck-eating machine, provides an example of a compound word and blend. Taking the ferocity of “tyrannosaurus” and the action of destroying “trucks,” “truckasaurus” elicits a humorous response through its blatant combination of words. Another blend comes when Homer is discussing Bart’s future: “Do you wanna change your name to Homer Junior? The kids can call you ‘Hoju’”.

Ahh, college.

I have just realized

I have just realized that a few small changes in the things I do could produce considerable positive results in the long run.

Two weeks ago I started collecting aluminum cans. I wash them out, crush them, and store them in grocery bags. I pick them up off the ground when I see them (which helps the environment / trash collectors), will recycle them (again, with the environment, whilst also making a penny for myself), and this does not seem hinder my day to day activities in the least. This is also relatively easy, since no one here thinks about saving cans, or even recycling them.

Then, since I feel that I'm not operating at my maximum potential, I will try to schedule daily allotments of activities (such as going through my library of movies, video games, and books) in order to get a little bit done day by day. Surely if my father can build an addition (from the ground up, by himself) to our house that increases its size by at least 28.7% over a couple of years, I can get some reading of classic novels down in a few months. I've actually been thinking about doing this for a long time; I suppose first I'll need to schedule a time to make my schedule.

BUT, before all of that tom-foolery, I need to write a daring language analysis of an episode of The Simpsons by Thursday so I have time to finish recording the demo, the first step to Letters to the Editor conquering the known world, before we part for the winter. ... (And "study" for this lame computer competency test that I will rock Wednesday, so I will not have wasted 35 precious $$$.)

wakka wakka wakka

(*Update: 5/4/2015. I recall those bags of cans sitting around for a long time until both me and my roommate were sick of them and just chucked them out. There might be a lesson in that.)