~Jordan Carter~
Monday, November 3, 2008
The Gritty
I will be writing on the gritty. I find that the aggregate of the coarse, the dirty, the rotten, and the decaying is the gritty. As our readings have suggested, objects such as the miniature can function as mirrors of us as both objects and humans represent a container of sorts. Both the object-container and the human-container inevitably undergo a process of deterioration. Accordingly, we are disturbed by the gritty as it reminds us of not only the transitory nature of the lives of things but also the transitory nature of our own lives. The gritty represents an object at the terminal end of its "social life" as Appadurai would say. Comparably, as we age our skin become coarse and rough like the landscape of the gritty, our organs - the very stuff we contain - become rotten and contaminated like the raw interior of the gritty. Discomforting as it may be, the gritty provides a constant and often unwelcoming projection of our inescapable future: expiration. Thus, it is unsurprising that we do not desire to obtain or claim the gritty - its demand is minimal. But in a way, the objects that occupy the realm of the gritty are "inalienable possessions" in their own right, as we cannot escape the ramifications of the sheer existence of the gritty. Regardless of the mode of interaction (be it physical or cognitive), the gritty downright disturbs us, incessantly priming us with mortality.
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6 comments:
You might think about the necessity of the gritty for chickens and other poultry. The gritty is essential for digestion rather than destructive to their internal organs.
Hollis
There's also, in the industrial sphere, all the specific grades of grit for different types of sandpaper, if I've got my terminology right.
Also, I always associate the idea of grit, when not in a strictly in-your-mouth-from-dust sense, but as a human character trait, with some kind of hardened military vet - maybe grit as some kind of psychological toughness?
Jordan,
You've already put some interesting ideas of pulverization into play, and the building up of deposits in the body. Have you considered how it takes grit to form a pearl? Or how grit creates friction? Or gotten down to the "nitty-gritty"...
which not even the OED can explain:
nitty-gritty
[Origin uncertain; perhaps a reduplication (with variation of initial consonant cluster) of GRITTY adj.1
A. n. The most important aspects or practical details of a situation, subject, etc.; the harsh realities; the heart of the matter. Freq. in (to get) down to the nitty-gritty.
1952 A. MURRAY Let. in A. Murray & J. F. Callahan Trading Twelves (2000) 27, I say goddamn a motherfucking Haitian ritual. My kick is the local nitty gritty. 1956 A. CHILDRESS Like One of Family 83 You'll find nobody comes down to the nitty-gritty when it calls for namin' things for what they are. 1961 J. A. WILLIAMS Night Song ix. 114 This crap is gettin' down to the knitty-gritty here now, and there are two or three cats I wants to burn when the shit hits the fan. 1963 Wall St. Jrnl. 12 Sept. 14/1 Now we're down to the nitty-gritty, the hard core who've never been interested in politics. 1974 Financial Times 6 Mar. 36/2 Mr Wilson is expected to appoint a trade union MP or two as junior Ministers at the Department of Employment to make up for Mr Foot's lack of experience in the ‘nitty-gritty’ of trade union negotiations. 1986 Woman's Realm 10 May 8/2 They're getting down to the nitty gritty and improving things for old people all the time. 2002 Bath Chron. (Electronic ed.) 5 Jan., We still have to get into the nitty gritty of making the move a practical and achievable proposition.
--shoot the nitty gritty was from me, andrew...
I also think of the gritty as a human characteristic trait...one which lends itself to fight and roughness. How the gritty can be scrappy...
^that was Kristen,(i keep forgetting to add my name)sorry!
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