Jun 23 2007
What does it mean, anyway?
Hubby: ‘Twas Brillig? I don’t get it.
Me: You don’t get what?
Hubby: I don’t get the name of your blog.
Me: You know–”‘Twas Brillig, and the slithey toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe…”
Hubby: I still don’t get it.
Me: The Jabberwocky? Lewis Carroll? Alice in Wonderland? It’s a poem full of non-existent words, but as you read it you completely understand the meaning and the feeling of the poem. It feels like the words mean something, even though they’re really just nonsense. It’s funny, artistic, and mystical all at once.
Hubby: Okay, that’s kinda cool. But I don’t think anybody’s gonna get it.
Me: Really? I just sorta thought that everyone would get it! Maybe I’d better find a way to let them know, just in case…
And here’s the full text of the poem, just in case you’re interested…
JABBERWOCKY
Lewis Carroll(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought –
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
“And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’
He chortled in his joy.
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
I got it.
’twas brillig… and I love your blog.
I got it, too. And loved it from the start. Your blog, too!
Well if they don’t get it, I’m guessing that it’s easy enough to look up!
I’m afraid most people just go places and don’t even ask what something means.
Like, uh, Cameron Diaz!
By the way, are you done ignoring me yet? Hehehe.
What does it mean that I memorized that poem in high school because I wanted to, not because I had to? Are i an intuhlekshual?
The title is why I visited your blog.
I thought, “If this person likes Lewis Carroll, they probably have a cool blog” and so far I’ve been proven right.
I get it. The title of the blog is what brought me to you. “brillig? really? Must be a lewis Carroll fan.”
Hubbys can me dense sometimes.
I adore the Jabberwocky & that’s the entire reason I stopped by! My husband wouldn’t get it either…
Ditto…the title got me, too.
I was introduced to this poem when I was 14…my favorite teacher (my choir teacher) found it in song form and we sang it at a competition in Hawaii and received a standing ovation. I have always loved it - and I sing it to my kids even now, some 24 years later.
That’s very weird. I read the Jabberwocky to my kids just two nights ago and thought seriously about including a quote in my blog this week.
I love the word “mimsy” and have vowed to use it at least once in conversation this week. Which might prove to be challenging since I’m here in Germany. Just try explaining that one–
“ummm, yes. Well, it isn’t exactly a word– Yes, it’s nonsense, in English as well, actually. Yes, but still brilliant because of the images it evokes and the way it flows. Oh, nevermind…”
So of course instead of “That’s very weird” I meant to say: “What a coincidence!” That’s what I get for multitasking.
I hadn’t included the Jabberwocky quote yet just because I wasn’t sure how to fit it in. And you answered my question, because I was also wondering if people would “get it”.
I was so excited to see you’d not only managed to quote the poem but named your blog with it! Fabulous!
I am really happy to have found your blog and look forward to following your adventures….
Love the name of your website. My fav is from the W & the C: “and shoes and ships and sealing wax and cabbages and kings and if the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings.”
Brillig! I was so excited when I saw your name in the blogroll for WW this week. The Jabberwocky is one of my favorite poems. When my children are driving me nuts, I begin reciting it and they just look at me as though I have lost my mind! LOL!
What a wonderful name for a Blog…wish I was creative…sigh!
I got it!
I also just discovered your blog. I like it! I’ll be back.
When I first stumbled upon your blog it got me thinking…Twas Brillig…hhhmmmm….Twas Brillig…where have I heard that before?? Back to jr. high Lit class!!!
And to ditto all the others… what drew me to your blog was the title! I knew it immediately. It draws up the picture in my elementary school book of the little boy with a sword standing under a big dragon (who wasn’t really very scary looking!)
It reminds me of my dad. He had the entire poem memorized- and as his short term memory became non-existent he could still remember things that he’d memorized a long time ago. It was almost comical that even though he couldn’t remember the name of the person that just walked out of the room he could quote parts of The Jabberwocky.
I love it, absolutely love it!! And, I got it!
I got it too
I got it right away. Love it!
My husband earned my family’s affection due to his ability to recite this poem by heart. We regularly read the poem “Beautiful Soup” to my two-year-old, and here’s one of my favorite signature quotes from Mr. Carroll:
“Be what you would seem to be - or, if you’d like it put more simply - never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.”
i don’t get it…
umm…
may the dark lord vanquish all muggles…
Hey Brillig!
I got it! I’ve seen you on cre8buzz and wondered if Brillig was from The Jabberwocky. We performed Alice in Wonderland in 2nd grade and I can still sing the song, “Twas Brilling…” I’ve had it in my head for days now.
Love your blog, could read for hours. You’re so interesting! Your post on the wee hours of the night…motherhood, touched my heart. It’s an honor and a calling.
Pinky
i dont understand what all the words mean
I soooooo got it! I was searching sites looking for home organization ideas and saw a link to your site. . . “Twas Brillig.” I immediately “got it.” I love that poem. I memorized it in way back in Jr. High school, and later analyzed it to death for an assignment in High School–and I still love it. I love to “perform” it for my kids and other small people. They usually just stare at me with such intrigue, but they have absolutely no idea what I am saying. Then they always say, “Do it again.”
I’m not an official “blogger,” nor have I ever responded to any blogs. But I enjoy reading others’ blogs and am considering starting one myself.
I immediately adore this blog by virtue of the fact that its name is an Alice reference. I’m a crazy person Lewis Carroll/Alice enthusiast–I’ve read Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass at least two dozen times and I’ve been a collector since I was about 14. I’m sure you’re not quite as mentally unsound obsessed, but between your blog title and your smart, lively writing, you have secured an instant fan. I’ll be back!
I get it.
I so get it.
Ooh. These comment boxes don’t like html. “crazy person” was supposed to be strikethrough’d, as was “mentally unsound.” I just thought I’d clear that up lest you miss the point and call the Blog Police on the ACTUAL crazy person dirtying up your comments.
Ohhhh. now I finally get it!
I’m proud to say I got the reference as well, due to having the coolest/geekiest friends in middle school.
I’m glad I found your blog–I just got into this whole blogging nonsense and have been looking for other LDS women!
Like many of your fans, I only clicked on your link because I figured it would be brillig! Our entire family knows that poem off by heart, we are such nerds. Good to know we are not alone… Nice ta meetcha!
It’s the only reason I stopped by. blackling (like googling, only blackle) the phrase ’twas brillig’, and lo! I found it!
Thanks so much, this has helped me explain this poem to my son. He is studying it in his 6th grade honors class. I didn’t study Lewis Carroll at all in college. All the morbid poets yes, but not this one.
I don’t know if I should be proud that I got this reference, or if I should be considered a literature geek.
Maybe it just means that I graduated from 8th grade.
Just stumbled upon your blog today and wanted to say I love the title and blog on.
I must go gyre and gimble in the wabe now. (That is Jabberwocky talk for clean toilets and make beds.)
Becky, the maid.
I got it right away! Takes me back to school and learning that poem — my school mates and I used to proclaim everything we thought was cool as “brillig” including ourselves! In fact, I am still known to use it every now and then! Cool blog BTW!
I love the blog name! My boys love Jabberwocky, and we have a blast reading it aloud.
You must tell us why two schools threw you out! I only got tossed from one.