reflecting on the meaning of fame

Clementine used the word “famous” at the dinner table tonight. When I asked her what “famous” meant, she said “happy.” I shot a worried look at Linette, who was seated across the table from me. I was about to say something, when Clementine added the following: “…and that all of your bones come out.”

Seems like a pretty good definition of fame, doesn’t it?

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13 Comments

  1. Ol' E Cross
    Posted July 22, 2008 at 12:05 am | Permalink

    If Clementine’s daddy was happy, he would totally fit the definition of famous.

  2. Brackache
    Posted July 22, 2008 at 12:29 am | Permalink

    To be fair, we can’t all be as happy as John Merrick or a Tyranasaurus.

  3. CKL
    Posted July 22, 2008 at 7:53 am | Permalink

    I can’t think of a better definition.

  4. Paw
    Posted July 22, 2008 at 8:59 am | Permalink

    This is like Scrabble.

    I’d like to build on Brackache’s Tyranasaurus comment.

    Linking dinosaurs and “no bones”, I offer the following.

    Dinosaur Jr’s song “No Bones”:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1UivqgLAXk

  5. David T
    Posted July 22, 2008 at 9:13 am | Permalink

    I don’t know that I’d say no bones. Certainly spineless though.

  6. KT
    Posted July 22, 2008 at 9:42 am | Permalink

    There was an old black and white sci-fi movie that used to play all the time on TV when I was a kid. I can’t remember the name, but I have a vivid memory of these creatures that would scoot around and shoot rays that would turn people’s bones to jelly. They’d fall over into heaps of blubbering goo. I like thinking of celebrities like that, all kept in lucite boxes in Hollywood somewhere, poured out as needed and stretched over mechanical frames.

  7. Posted July 22, 2008 at 11:33 am | Permalink

    Why “happy,” though?

  8. Brackache
    Posted July 22, 2008 at 12:03 pm | Permalink

    m- “what does ‘famous’ mean, Clementine?”

    c- “happy!” hmm, daddy has a worried, disapproving look on his face because of “happy.” Is daddy mad at me?

    “…and that all of your bones come out!” hmmm, daddy likes it when I talk about peoples bones coming out. “Happy” is bad, “people’s bones coming out” is good.

  9. KP
    Posted July 22, 2008 at 3:16 pm | Permalink

    That’s awesome.

  10. nearby
    Posted July 22, 2008 at 6:48 pm | Permalink

    Maybe it’s just my negative attitude over the last 5 years (hmmm….) but my thought that this was an attempt to describe “skinny”?

    heh. cute the Michael Moore segments as antidote.

    And sign that kid up for Anatomy and Physiology.

  11. Posted July 24, 2008 at 11:01 am | Permalink

    So how do you know Ethan Hawke’s kid?

    http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hgOuAjBqAQHT8WI4pS9Kw3UQIk9QD923RC200

    I guess great minds DO think alike…

  12. Robert
    Posted July 26, 2008 at 5:42 pm | Permalink

    Wait a minute! Clementine is staying at your house?! You mean THE CLEMENTINE?!?!

  13. mark
    Posted July 26, 2008 at 7:23 pm | Permalink

    There are a few famous folks with kids named Clementine. Cybill Shepherd, I believe, was the first. We didn’t know that until after our Clementine was born, though.

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