Can you spell cacophony?

Started watching [Afterworld][1] today and it reminded me (obliquely at least) of a book I read in my teens.

I can’t remember the name of this book or its author. I do remember that I read a reasonable number of books by this author around the same time, so he (I think it was a he) must have been reasonably prolific.

This particular book (set in modern times) was about a guy who found himself becoming increasingly ignored. Eventually he seemed to disappear out of everyone’s view. At the same time, he found everything else “greying out”.

In the story he ended up finding other people “slipping” into his domain, as well as food etc. He could tell the ‘real’ things because they had colour.

I’m really not even certain of the main plot, but the loss of colour is what I really remember. I would have read this around 1986 or a bit later, so it is at least that old.

Linda and I had a good google around the place trying to figure it out, but it is really quite hard to choose your search terms when you have little to no idea what you are looking for.

I have put out requests with my friends in the [Christian Gamers Guild][3] and also the [Name That Book][2] forum at [Library Thing][4] in the hope that someone can help me out. I think perhaps this space is a little less likely to uncover a solution, but it is worth a shot…

[1]: http://afterworld.tv
[2]: http://www.librarything.com/groups/namethatbook#forums
[3]: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Christian_Gamers_Guild/
[4]: http://www.librarything.com

Every week, without fail, I take perverse pleasure in reading the column of Phillip Adams in the Weekend Australian magazine.

I say perverse, because as a rabid athiest, Adams has very little in common with me, a conservative Bible-believing Christian (read, in Adams-speak: fundie, Taliban-wannabe God botherer).

I often find myself banging my head against the wall (or at least the paper) asking why such a brilliant mind could be so ignorant of the nature of certain things.

But I digress… Today’s post is not about what I don’t like about Adams or how we disagree. No matter what else I may say about him, Phillips Adams is a true Australian.

He places great importance on the value of Australian culture and of preserving it in the face of the powerful Hollywood/MTV version of (United States of) American culture.

In his column on Saturday which (online at least), entitled Attack of the seppos, Adams laments the loss of Australian Slang.

Anyone who has seen The Adventures of Barry McKenzie might not consider that a bad thing…

I do. And so does Phillip Adams… He refers to an earlier attempt to save the language…

The idea was that each of us would adopt a favourite and forgotten colloquial expression and promise to use it at least once a day. You might choose drongo and apply it to a politician.

Our family has a few favourite slang expressions: “carry on like a pork chop” (applying particularly well to any one of my five sons) is perhaps too often used. I may very well seek to use the word “drongo” in conversation more often. Rhyming slang is also popular, though hard to know what is Strine-based and what is Cockney (I am fond of accusing my boys of telling pork-pies, but I am sure that is a Cockney one!).

I do have an admission to make though… When I greet people, even in the pharmacy, I am prone to use the awfully colloquial expression “G’day” (complete with apostrophe) in preference to Hello, Hi, Good Day, Good morning or (heaven forbid!) Howdy. It doesn’t quite make me Barry McKenzie’s long-lost brother, but I reckon I can wear the green-and-gold with pride!

And Phillip, thanks for a good laugh and for fighting the good fight!