Friday, October 20, 2006

Friendship

FRIENDSHIP, n. A ship big enough to carry two in fair weather, but only one in foul.
The sea was calm and the sky was blue;
Merrily, merrily sailed we two.
(High barometer maketh glad)
On the tipsy ship, with a dreadful shout,
The tempest descended and we fell out.
(Oh, the walking is nasty bad!)
- Arnit Huff Bettle
2006 Update: An alliance joined in enmity towards a former friend.
I fled in haste my lover's ire
With fingers broken and my cat on fire,
Into a bar where they might douse
The flames devouring my former house.
I met there a brother who understood
Innocence suffers at the hands of good.
He told me amity will last just fine,
As tinder for his girl and a spark for mine.
- The Right Reverend Charles Bartholomeo Limperbotham

45 comments:

Anonymous said...

Friendship: The part of you that your ex, having dumped you, foolishly hopes she or he can hang onto.

Anonymous said...

Friendship: the most underrated of ships. oh, we're just friends.

Charlene Amsden said...

friendship if built correctly, will never sail without you.


"Friendship," said Christopher Robin, "is a very comforting thing to have." ~ A.A. Milne

Anonymous said...

friendship: the ingredient in the recipe upon which all other ingredients are based, and couldn't function without
or--the new American family

Ariel the Thief said...

as the old saying goes, 'Lord, save me from my friends, my enemies I will handle.'

Ariel the Thief said...

"Promises me I'm as safe as houses
As long as I remember who's wearing the trousers"

Mushroom, can you hear me singing my lungs off??

CozyMama said...

friends are what keep me going.

Minka said...

friendship...despite everything; what you are, who you are, where you are and how you are, I can´t imagine any day being better without you in it!

mireille said...

*exhausted after all Minka's disclaimers* And re the rest: oh, it is not. xoxo

Unknown said...

There's a thin line between friendship (however glorified) and enmity:

'Have a friend, keep her such
Never let her know too much
For if your friend becomes a foe,
All the world your secret know'

... not that I don't love my friends. I just don't like the ones who betrayed me. Why am I feeling so dark today? It's Diwali, for crying out loud!!!

girtvhjn: girls too are virgins

Doug The Una said...

A, foolish because they expect our promise of friendship to be the first we keep.

Actonbell, also the most underrated of icebergs.

Ah, Quill. You and your sincerity. Cheers, friend.

Pia, I like "the new american family." Sharp.

Ariel, those are two great quotes.

Jodes, your batteries seem robust too.

Minka, stitch it up for the wall.

Mireille, I can't help congratulating myself whenever you go black. Now, that's friendship.

Karma, holidays are like that. I like the rhyme.

Brian, I've learned to depend on your Friday summaries, friend.

TLP said...

Friendship, n., Far bigger than a ship. It's an entire STATE. A state of being in "like."

A real friend is someone who understands you, and likes you anyway, and you understand her, and still like her. You like each other not inspite of the flaws each of you has, but because of the good things both of you are.

Of course, we all use the word “friend” too easily and too quickly. Right pal?

Anonymous said...

On my holidays, everywhere I looked was the saying "I'm glad we're best friends. You know too much."

Anonymous said...

We're caught up in a web, you and I
Since Crystal came between us
The knots of FRIENDSHIP seem to be untied
And it hurts me most to cheat and that's no lie
She can swing us both forever
In the long run she's the one who must decide

And if she leaves me handle her with care
Don't hurt little Crystal
And if she calls you long distance just be there
Oh Crystal
The world is your oyster, you're a pearl
But he's a jewel and my friend
I'm sure that in the end, Crystal you'll be his little girl
Oh Crystal

You're stronger than me but I'm sure
That the fight would fall to no one
The cold hard truth is stronger than us all
And it breaks my heart to see us go this far
We're just captives in our separate cells
And without her there's no peace behind these bars

....Good Ole' Elton John...

Charlene Amsden said...

Doug -- if Pollyanna was bitter and sarcastic, she would be me -- but you couldn't want for a more loyal friend.

Doug The Una said...

TLP, right, buddy. You have flaws? That was an example, right?

Vegas or New Orleans, Jenna?

Good ole' Shayna.

Quilldancer, that's a perfect line of self-description. I don't want for a more loyal friend.

The amoeba said...

Doug! A poem and an outlandish pseudonym? BRAVO!! Who here is really channeling Bierce?

Only one challenge. Sounds like Limperbotham is really describing courtship, not friendship. They are sister ships, of course ...

FRIEND, n. Enemy, one letter removed from his true state. FRIENDSHIP: One where the wise captain keeps the muskets under lock and key, with the key in his pocket.

COURTSHIP, n. The most popular, crowded and dangerous ship of fools. So called because its home port is the courtroom.

Anonymous said...

friends: You got to have them.

Oh, you got to have friends,
the feeling's oh so strong.
You got to have friends
to make that day last long.
Had some friends, but they're gone,
somethin' came and took them away,
and from the dusk 'til the dawn
here's where I will stay.

Standing at the end of the road, boys,
waitin' for my new friends to come.
I don't care if I'm hungry or cold, freezing.
I got to get me some.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj9wg7gTRdQ

Minka said...

*getting needle and thread ready*

Mutha said...

This made me think of a favorite Robert Creeley poem:
Just Friends

Out of the table endlessly rocking,
sea-shells, and firm,
I saw a face appear
which called me dear.

To be loved is half the battle
I thought.
To be
is to be better than not.

Anonymous said...

dammit. and i thought *i* was the cynical Pollyana around here. pfft.

Friendship: association with those who like you in *spite* of yourself... and vice versa. (for the record, Blogger is testing the boundaries of ours even as i type.)

Ariel the Thief said...

Shayna, that is beautiful, I didn't know that.

well, Doug, once Mushroom and I get to a DM concert together, we're gonna sing Dave Gahan off the stage and up to heaven... :O

Anonymous said...

friendship - providing a shoulder to cry on for your New York Met fan friends and never revealing you were rooting against them.

Mutha said...

Joel I think that is the definition of "discipline."
I think I can hear you giggling from here...
*Boston giggle*
Hey Doug! Aren't you a Cards fan?

Anonymous said...

A Port in BC...apparently it's rough in those places.

When I was 18 a sure sign of friendship was when you held the hair back of a friend while she yakked up all the booze she consumed. That can really take the sheen off a friendship...and kill your own buzz.

robkroese said...

A high-yield bond.

Charlene Amsden said...

Puppybrose, in the spirit of friendship, I am sure there's room for more than one of us. Besides, she world needs all the optimistics cynics it can get.

Doug The Una said...

O Ceallaigh, great definition of Friendship.

Cooper, that song is all about Shrek for me now.

Haha, Minka. It must be heartbreaking to get a typo in your stitch.

Mutha, that's nice. I'm not sure I get the sea shells.

Puppybrose, there's room for many. Y'all can pair off.

Ariel, like Muhammed and Joshua all in one. That's a lot of religion for a New Wave concert.

Joel, I think it depends how broadly you're beaming on the inside.

Mutha, are you messing with me?

It sure is, Jenna. Everyone one of them.

Diesel, sold at a deep discount, then.

Quilldancer, that's exactly how I'd expect you to throw the gauntlet.

G said...

Joel! In that same spirit:

friendship: being able to look the other way as they rub your other cheek in dirt.

Don't worry (as if), I'm only mildly disappointed, it's the real fans that are bummed out today.

Let's go tigers! :) They're in it right?

Logophile said...

"A true friend stabs you in the front."
Oscar Wilde

Ariel the Thief said...

friendship: and on a day that might never come I will ask you for something.

Mutha said...

No! I'm not messing with you Doug! I thought you were a Cardinals fan! True?

Anonymous said...

G: "bummed out"? was that a veiled dig at Joel's team? heh

Quilldancer: i would be honored to sit on the same loveseat with you in order to snark at the passers-by. : )

Logo: i LOVE that quote! (i came thisclose to using it here, myself)

Ariel: only if you made 'em an offer they couldn't refuse, right?

friendship: party line?

Ariel the Thief said...

Do you know where friendship ends
and passion does begin?
It's between the binding of
her stockings and her skin.

(Suzanne Vega, Stockings)

Anonymous said...

right after i saw this word, Carole King's "You've got a Friend" popped into my head. as the day wore on, however, i remembered Bette Midler's "Friends" and now *that's* looping through my brain, over and over and over....

thanks a lot for the earworm, pal.

Doug The Una said...

Logo, that's a fantastic quote. There was no end to Wilde's wit, was there?

Ariel, some would say friendship is the day it comes.

Mutha, I'm a lifelong fan of the WORLD CHAMPION CHICAGO WHITE SOX! Man, I hope this year's series goes seven games.

Puppybrose, absolutely, and... FRIENDSHIP, n. The act of avenging for a friend, the usurpation of comment moderation on her blog by an unusually chatty curmudgeon.

Ariel, if only we men could figure out which was which.

Puppybrose, I've been a poor friend for putting you through that.

Sar said...

Friendship: When you can share silence and still feel you've had a fullfilling conversation.

Sorry I'm late to comment, my curmudgeon friend, but Blogger was a bugger and a half today.

*fingers crossed this time my comment will take*

Sar said...

HOOOOOOOORRRAAAAAAAYYYYY!

So much for that shared silence bit, eh?

tsduff said...

"One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives."
- Euripides, Greek playwrite

This bears pondering.

Puppybrose - you seem to suffer from an inordinate amount of earworms... my condolences.

Anonymous said...

Terry: hah! it's twue, it's twue, i'm *very* impressionable. of course now i *also* have a punworm, after seeing your quote:

Tailor to Greek Playwright: "Euripides? I fixa dem."

i'm so sorry you had to read that.

Doug The Una said...

Sar, that was even poetic. Anytime you come through like that is a good time to post.

And twice as costly, Terry.

Haha, Puppybrose. Only Joel has a better friend in you than Mel Brooks.

Anonymous said...

friendship: the inexplicable bond between two people that spans fashion trends, marriages, deaths, parenting, and hip replacements

Indeterminacy said...

Friendship: never having met online; sometimes: having met online, but nowhere else.

(I know, I'm slow coming. Give me a week to warm up again)

Cie Cheesemeister said...

Friendship:
Sailing together to your doom on the same sinking ship.

Mutha said...

Got it friend! So sorry. White Sox provided GREAT baseball last year and any team that beats Texas is a friend of mine. My motto: MESS with Texas.