Hear ye, Primal Instinks here! Did you see what I did there with the two variants of here/hear? Or maybe you noticed the title of this blog post, where "favorite" is written as "phavorite" so the title can be an alliteration (all three words begin with the same letter and two of them even begin with the "F" sound).
I've always been a fan of wordplay, whether it be puns, alliterations, similes... you name it. This includes rascally adding or removing letters to words to change them, or changing a single letter in a word for humorous effect. An example of this is when one of my grade-school teachers had written "Times New Roman" on the whiteboard before class, and when I got to class early before her and most of the other kids, I walked up to the board and erased the "e" in Times and the "Ro" in Roman and sat back down with a grin. When everyone (including the teacher) walked into the class, the whiteboard now said "Tim's New man." The teacher cried out "someone wrote something stupid!" and angrily erased the rest of it and the class laughed. Or there was another grade-school incident where I saw a stack of papers that the kids had turned in, and at the top of the pile was one with the name Cari W written on it. I didn't know Cari, but I assumed since she hadn't bothered to write her full last name on it, it must have been a really long name, so I decided to have a little fun and improvise. I grabbed the paper and a pencil and made her name Cari Winterwonderlanderman, as it was the longest and most ridiculous name I could think of on the spot (I didn't want to get caught). The next day, the stack of papers was still sitting there and the addition I had written had been erased, and she was now back to being Cari W. So of course I returned her to Cari Winterwonderland one final time and had a big laugh to myself about it. I also liked to refer to the card game rummy as "dummy" whenever I played it with friends, and I liked to competitively rub it into peoples' faces if they didn't see a rummy in the card pile by pointing at them and saying "dummy!" instead. English isn't the only language I like to have fun and a be a rascal with. I learned a little bit of Spanish when I lived in the southwest, and through this learning I picked up on some funny combinations of words and actions. I'm proud to say I made plenty of Spanish-speaking Mexicans in Arizona laugh by saying ridiculous things like "chinos cochinos," or "listo para Cristo" while spreading my legs. They were always a fan of my crude humor and they loved hearing a white guy tell jokes to them in their native tongue. Now that you know how much I enjoy playing with language, here's some compiled catchphrases I came up with that I've used and continue to use in my content and the meanings behind them. 1) Refuse to use: this is my personal parody of the popular "refuse to lose" phrase that I created as my stance on not using deodorant and other hygiene products despite society's norms and modern hygiene standards. I wasn't raised by wolves so I did start out using deodorant, shampoo, and body soap, but the resulting itchy rash under my arms, peeling skin, and dry, flaky scalp were big indicators to me that something was wrong. Though I originally blamed my body during my teen years, I realized down the road as an adult it was body telling me that these chemicals were negatively affecting it, and I eventually stopped using them altogether. So even when society tries to condition me to continue using the products that used to harm my skin and affect my body's natural functions, I take a firm stand and refuse to use them. I uploaded a vlog on my channel where I discuss it more in detail. 2) Dare to wear (the same pair): Like the catchy phrase above, I came up with this one and enjoy how much it rhymes. This is my admission of wearing the same pair of socks for a week before changing them, a habit that began during my teenage years that I never grew out of -- and never will! I turned it into a short song I wrote and uploaded a video of it to my YouTube channel where I sang and danced along, which was inspired by the silly jingles of the sketch comedy show "Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" When it comes down to it, it is pretty daring to voluntarily ensure your shoes and feet are always smelly by doing this, but I've always found that to be an enjoyable thing so I guess you can consider me a daredevil. I'll also accept "bad boy" and "rebel." 3) Musk is a must: Another one that rhymes that also includes two words that are only one letter apart. It's my message that I enjoy the way (healthy) people naturally smell and that I prefer body odor over cologne or artificial fragrances, which I mostly find disgusting. In order for me to live naturally and embrace my natural outlook on life, musk is a must. 4) Great minds stink alike: A fun parody of "great minds think alike," it's my extension of that popular phrase. Not only do great minds think alike, but they also stink alike, too -- meaning, they live the natural, deodorant-free and smelly-feet lifestyle that I do. As a person, are you a goody clean-shoes who smells like a factory-produced, artificial fragrance, or are you a natural rebel who smells like a person? The greatest minds in my mind think and stink alike. 5) Put your nose where it goes: This one is used by Alpha Primal when I'm filming video commissions for fans who enjoy being bullied. It's a order that happens to rhyme, directing submissive guys to smell various parts of my body as well as my clothing. Sometimes I extend it to "put your nose where it goes -- in between my toes" to give it an extra rhyme and pack an extra verbal punch. 6) Give me that money: I had a dream a few years ago that I was a big-time local YouTuber that everyone in town knew. I was downtown somewhere, and there were a bunch of people lined up to get into some event, and I decided this would be the perfect opportunity for me to film a public stunt for views and attention. In the dream, I laid on my back on a longboard and went feet-first down a hill in the road which was right next to the sidewalk all these people were waiting in line on. As I rolled past them, I threw my arms up and yelled "give me that moneyyyy!" and everyone went wild and cheered when they saw me and heard it. Their reaction was like, "hey look, it's that 'give me that money' guy! Rock on!!" Apparently "give me that money" was my catchphrase for whatever type of content I was filming in the dream, and I advertised myself by doing public stunts and yelling it out for my fans to enjoy. During the dream, I was also aware that "wake up and give me that money" was the full version of the catchphrase and I had merely shortened it as I was whizzing past people on the longboard since I wouldn't have had much time to yell the entire thing. I realized this catchphrase wouldn't be understood or go over well if I started saying it on my current channel, so instead I reserve it to Alpha Primal whenever I'm demanding tributes from fans who worship and commission me. They cheer for me like the people in the dream, and in this case they actually give me the money I ask for. 7) The snake is pleased: I came up with this one years before I was filming videos. After saying "yesssss" to something I found pleasing, I noticed that the extra "s" sounds at the end resembled a snake's hiss, or the inflection someone would have an animated snake character talk with. So after I said "yessss" like that, I impulsively followed it with "the snake is pleased." So basically when I say that, it's more than just a regular "yes," to me, it's an excited and enthusiastic yes. 8) Apneist: In my mind, an apneist is a breath-holder -- someone who enjoys voluntarily holding their breath or seeing other people hold their breath. The definition of apnea is "temporary cessation (stopping) of breathing." I understand that the word apnea is generally used to describe the condition of sleep apnea, but I don't have sleep apnea; I simply enjoy holding my breath for fun and seeing other people like me hold theirs. The internet taught me there's a slang nomenclature pertaining to breath-holding, mainly in free diving communities. I'm not a diver and I don't use terms like "dry static apnea" to refer to holding my breath outside of the water -- that's just "holding my breath" for me. However, apnea is an actual term for temporarily stopping your breathing, therefore adding the suffix "ist" to form the word "apneist" is suitable to describe someone who practices or is skilled in holding their breath. 9) Naturalize: This is my way of saying "keep it natural," as in naturalize your life. The more artificial society gets, the more we stray from the natural world and lose ourselves. Artificial does mean fake, after all. Would you rather be a natural being or live in a fake reality? 10) Awesome possum: I can't take credit for this one because I didn't come up with it. I heard it and enjoyed the positivity and rhyme, and as you may already know, I'm a fan of rodents, raccoons snakes, and other animals like opossums that many people tend to dislike or hold unfavorable views toward. This phrase has actually been around for a long time and I'm keeping it alive, one utterance at a time. 11) The skunky punk: Another rhyme and reference to a generally unlikable animal. Are you seeing a pattern here? This one is a fair description of myself. I have a skunky smell to me at all times (in a figurative sense) and I'm a punk in society's eyes for allowing myself to smell like body odor instead of masking it with hygiene products. My hairstyle is also a mohawk, and while it's not the traditional spiked, colored, and gravity-defying style of the 70's, it's still forever associated with punk, which is my favorite subculture. 12) Rasslin' rascal: That's right, I used the southern/slang way of saying "wrestling" to make this one rhyme. I've always been a rascal since I was young, doing innocent pranks on people and making clever jokes. I've also always been playful as well, and along with wordplay, there's also always been a lot of physical play. My own mother had once said to me "you were always wrestling around with your friends" because I was playful enough with this activity for it to stand out. I see wrestling as a "boy thing," one of those primal activities that males engage in together for competitive fun and bonding. You see other animals engage in play-fighting like this all the time, and it's only natural that us humans get in on the sport. I once looked out the window into my backyard when I lived in Ohio and saw two squirrels rolling around in the grass, full-on wrestling. You often see them chase each other, but this is the first time I saw them actually grappling like people. Because I see it as a friendly bonding activity, I never considered trying out for any wrestling team or taking on random people I never met (I was made aware by some of my fans there are internet communities out there but I'm not interested). This was just something I always did with my friends for fun, and it always strengthened the bond we had together whenever I did. Winning wasn't everything for me, either, it was the fun of the moment. 13) Ratify: The last one I'll include is a word I like because it has the word "rat" in it even though it has nothing to do with rats. To ratify something is to make an agreement legally binding and officially in effect. You can have a lot of people agree on something, but it isn't official until the necessary authority ratifies it. While this term is generally used for congressional bills and treaties, it can also apply to non-government instances as well. Let's hope they never ratify a law that makes it an offense to not use deodorant. Even if they do, this skunky punk will still refuse to use it.
0 Comments
In the words of the new Super Mario Wonder -- wowie zowie! I had a look at the analytics of my YouTube channel and it revealed a pleasant surprise: my videos were receiving over 84K more views than they normally do in a monthly period.
The reason given for this was two-fold: a big boost in views from the Shorts videos I've been uploading (86% more views than usual), and people choosing to click/tap my videos more whenever they were recommended by YouTube (62% more than usual). At first I didn't think I was going to like YouTube Shorts and I wasn't going to feel pressured to take part in it. I had always filmed full screen, long-form videos all the years I've been uploading and didn't see the need for change. But then I gave the short-form videos a try and realized it was really convenient to be able to film a quick video from my phone and post it without having to use my Nikon or GoPro camera, transfer the video to my computer, edit it, then upload it. Shorts videos enable me to share a quick moment with my fans and the virtual world that otherwise wouldn't make the cut for a long-form video. It also lets me post short skits that I come up with that could make someone laugh and improve their day. As a bonus, it's nice to hear YouTube has been recommending my content so much lately! I learned that Shorts videos also have the tendency to expose my channel to more people since YouTube has a Shorts feed that people scroll through in search of new content. This can be a double-edged sword; it can bring new people to my channel who will become fans, or it could get the attention of edgy people who think it's trendy to try to roast or attack people in their video comments. YouTube's automated system is trained to filter out negative comments though so it's no big deal, plus it's always amusing whenever an outsider stumbles upon my channel and isn't familiar with me or the esoteric type of content I regularly upload. While many people continue watching the wonderful videos I filmed with former friends in the past, my channel never performed this well until I started filming solo. I'm very thankful and appreciative of the fact that I can continue to make an impact on so many peoples' lives, or even just make their day with a video, the way I have been for 8 years now. Fate had been pushing me in this direction for a while, and the analytics prove that I'm on the right path and I'm very content with it. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, this is definitely something for me to be thankful for. It's surreal to know that someone anti-mainstream like me who's against trends can be watched by so many people. It just goes to show that you can still make waves being underground and blazing your own trail instead of trying to be like everyone else. I hope this inspires everyone to stand out and be themselves as well, and thank you for all the increased views and interest! Ever wonder where I get my "Primal Instinks HERE" introduction from, or if it even originates from anywhere? Well it does, and I'm about to tell you what inspired it whether you were wondering or not. In the video game Skyrim (The Elder Scrolls V), there's a character named Madesi who's a market merchant in the city of Riften. He's an Argonian who buys and sells jewelry and also plays a role in a Thieves Guild quest where you have to steal his silver ring while he's distracted and plant it in someone else's pocket in order to frame them. You can also initiate a side quest through conversation where you collect materials for him. Madesi lives in Beggar's Row under the city's canals where he sleeps with two other beggars, but during the day he's always at his jewelry stand hard at work trying to find customers. Other merchants who converse with him in front of you will take pity on him for his slow business and lack of money, but he modestly declines their handouts and continues trying his best with his head held high. Madesi is unique because unlike other Argonians who changed their birth names to modern hyphenated ones, he kept his original "Saxhleel" name -- and he explains that Saxhleel is actually the preferred name of his race instead of "Argonian." While seen as a pitied beggar and struggling merchant to others, Madesi is actually a brave being who shamelessly maintains his tradition, integrity, and honor. One of the things you'll hear him say if you stand near him is "Buying and selling fine jewelry here!" I always enjoyed the way he puts emphasis on every word of that sentence, particularly the word "here" at the end. Have a listen for yourself at the 1:25 mark of the embedded video below. I decided to adopt his emphasis and interpolate it into an introduction for myself at the start of my videos and written posts. I even kept the word "here" at the end.
Madesi never followed everyone else by changing his name and referring to his race as something other than what his species rightfully refers to it as. He's aware people may see him as outdated or an old-fashioned beggar, but his inner pride drowns that out. Despite a life of poverty, he's happy to be able to call himself his true name and openly share it without embarrassment or fear. Madesi is a video game character worth looking up to. He's a hero in his own right, just like someone who's open about their identity and challenges the norms of society's beliefs and hygiene standards may be seen as a hero to some. He is worthy of inspiring an introduction for my content should I choose to have one. Normally I see things like video intros to be unnecessary, annoyingly trendy, and something that most people skip through after seeing it for the first few times, but speaking three words in honor of someone honorable is something I can make an exception for. Primal Instinks here! I recently uploaded a video where I measured my muscles as well as the length and circumference of various body parts, and that gave me an idea of sharing more size information about me -- this time in terms of clothing. Here's the muscle-measuring video in case you missed it, and under that is a list of sizes for all the clothes I wear (in USA sizing), with my mattress size included as a bonus! T-shirts: Medium, slim fit Tank tops: Medium Hoodies and sweatshirts: Large Running shorts: Medium (32" waist) with 5" inseam Basketball shorts: Medium (32" waist) with 7.5" or 9" inseam Cargo shorts: 30-inch waist with 10" inseam Jeans and long pants: 30" waist, 30" inseam, slim fit Underwear and boxers: Medium (32" waist) Gloves: Large Socks: Large (9-12), quarter-length Shoes: 12, low-top running shoes and high-top skate shoes Mattress and bed sheets: Queen How do you measure up compared to me? Do we wear the same size clothing or sleep on the same size bed? |
|