George Carlin: A Living Anti-Blurk and Great Patriot

I am getting ready to head to bed and will continue a recent tradition of watching George Carlin routines on YouTube.

I'm a huge fan of all comedy, but I'm an especially huge fan of George Carlin.

Here's why: George Carlin has made an entire career pointing out, and making fun of, blurks. A lot of his greatest stuff is picking apart American English vernacular and having fun with popular sayings that get repeated endlessly without any thought coming from the back of the train. He never relies on slapstick or insta-humor but he still manages to *own* his audiences even into what seems to be old age.

And here's the second reason: George Carlin is a true American patriot. And when I say that, I don't mean it in a cheesy, flag-waving and Bible-thumping Ann Coulter sort of way. Instead, I mean it by the definition I understand -- a lover of one's country. All of Carlin's insight -- all his critiques of the silly things that Americans say and do, even his critiques of our foreign policy -- come from a place of deep caring and love. It comes through in all of his routines and in interviews, books, etc.

Oh, and one request to readers -- could you please go to www.urbandictionary.com and give "blurk" the ol' thumbs-up? It'll take but a second and may help the word get published in the hard copy edition.