Obviously, Wormrot has been much on my mind lately as I prepared my review for Dirge, which also entailed spending several intense hours with Abuse. But it wasn’t until I sat down with the Abusing the World DVD that accompanies Dirge that something occurred to me: How are you supposed to pronounce Abuse?My mind automatically read the title as Ab-yoos. But it could also be pronounced Ab-yooz.
How you pronounce it? And does it make a difference. Oh sure, I could just ask the band how they intended it, but that would spare me the fun of drastically overthinking this.
Ab-yoos, to me, implies passivity. It is something being inflicted upon Wormrot, which they must endure. However, ab-yooz is more active in nature. It suggests something the band would be doing unto others (not as they would like having done unto them).
As Spinal Tap so adroitly noted, it's that little turn at the end that makes all the difference.
Of course, I consulted the lyric sheet for some insight, but there is nothing like a title track to provide clarity. In fact, the word “abuse,” in either form, is not actually used in the lyrics. “Exterminate” gives us one past tense variation on the word: “Build your hate. Exterminate. Pitiful creep. Been abused.” That's all we have to go by and I'm not sure that's definitive. But that’s all we’ve got to go on.
I’m curious how you read the title and whether that your preferred pronunciation makes any difference to how you interpret the album, the lyrics or the music. Toss out your theories in the comments.
Fuckin’ homonyms, how do they work?
13 comments:
Most mental yet intellectual post to date, I have personally always said it and read it as a noun. Therefore A-byoos.
Same here, always read it as abyoos.
It's like closer and closer ;P
so we all read it as ab-yoos, does the possibility of alternate reading change anything?
proximity of words plays a larger role with interpretation than past or present tenses.
i read it as a noun. people who read it as a verb should be on medication.
I read it as a noun, implying that contained within is aural abuse, rather than a command, which would most likely be accompanied by an exclamation point (and also work better on a corny power metal record).
Ab-yooz, which I would interpret as a command, would make Wormrot come across as more malevolent than intended, and kind of take away from the grindcore camaraderie into which the band seem to tap. Ab-yoos could either be interpreted as, like I mentioned above, a statement on the music contained within the record, implying comradeship through our as listeners deriving pleasure from the abuse just as the band, we can assume, does, or in a darker sense, be seen as stating that the record is a chronicle of abuse, which also could inspire a degree of band-listener oneness.
+1 nigel. and i thought i was seriously overthinking this.
Yeah, I agree with Nigel. Wormrot are way too much fun to be commanding people to abuse one another.
If there were such a thing as grindpartycore, they would be it. If that comes off slightly pejorative, please believe the intention is the opposite.
Dessicated Veins said it best. All of it.
unless i've missed someone else pointing this out. the word is used at the begginning of the album in the sample?
i have no idea what this is aboot.
daniel i believe you're right. now i have to rethink this.
http://i.imgur.com/bR1oy.jpg
it's on point, and it's safe.
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