Threads

Misattributed quotes as cover versions, and "attribution art"

6 tweets · October 2020 · 7 likes · 1 retweets · read on Twitter

Me in defense of misattributed quotes as being like as cover versions of songs—themselves valuable for what they evoke.

Malcolm Ocean 🏴‍☠️ @Malcolm_Ocean ·

@trenteatspeople @SusieusMaximus @J_Salzer I think it's a different kind of dope coming from "a dude on Twitter's friend Bobby", sort of like how you can appreciate a heavy metal cover of a song you love while still preferring the original. It's just a different genre of the quote!

The standard version of this being done consciously is not a cover but a parody:

But it's like, there's actually kind of an art form here; the issue is that in order to really properly evoke it, you essentially have to lie/bullshit.

Malcolm Ocean 🏴‍☠️ @Malcolm_Ocean ·

…I think this explains a game I enjoy playing called "Really—No" Goes like this: - I say an absurd but plausible thing (often a fake etymology) - someone says "Really?" - I say "No." (Satisfying game to be able to generate stuff like this, but I don't want to actually mislead) twitter.com/DegenRolf/stat…

I guess that's not true if the quote is sufficiently famous. And then you can do all sorts of other stuff with it too, actually, beyond creatively misattributing it…

Malcolm Ocean 🏴‍☠️ @Malcolm_Ocean ·

it is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both as a result, we've limited some of your account features

Attribution Art. Hit QT on this tweet, then in the body of your tweet, tweet out a quote (could be famous or something you or your friend said) with it attributed to someone else (could be someone you know, a friend on twitter, or a famous person) to play with the effect.

incredible entry (substantially better in context)

Matt Jugo @Jeanvaljean689 ·

@visakanv "Who can really say they know another person, really? Even intimacy carries within it, a secret un-knowing, a resonant void, that is perhaps like the column within the flute, that allows it to sing" - Mark Zuckerberg