Shock'n Ya'll?!

This is another thing that caught my attention. Several times I've seen this country music CD at the grocery store, and I'll bet you have, too. It's by Toby Keith and it's titled Shock'n Ya'll. Every time I see it, I think "Huh?!"

Obviously, this is a pun on the "shock and awe" campaign waged in Iraq, but it makes no sense. First of all, it's a lousy pun. "Shock and awe" and "shock'n ya'll" don't even sound that much alike. And he had to resort to the word "shock'n," which I've never heard, but I don't live in the south. But worse, the phrase doesn't make any sense to me on its own. I mean, is the CD supposed to be so good that it's "shock'n" people, who are addressed as "ya'll?"

I can just imagine the artist in his studio on the eve of the Iraq War going "Hey, let's call it something like shock and awe. Like, shock and...call...no, wall...no, ya'll. But rednecks don't say 'shock and,' so let's call it 'shock'n. Yeah, that's funny." Fast forward six months to when the phrase is a decaying relic of a failed military plan...

Of course, Keith isn't the only one who tried to take advantage of the phrase "shock and awe" in pop culture. There's a good article on it in the UK Guardian, although I think the game they're referring to has changed its name.
Categories: entertainment