Monday, May 7, 2018

Nobel candidate lost behind the radiator

I realized this afternoon that I had forgotten -- though I recognized I was under no duress to remember -- the meaning of the word "furbelow." But worse than the forgetfulness was the recognition that I no longer could think of anyone I knew to whom I might turn and say, "What does 'furbelow' mean again? I've forgotten."

Perhaps, if I had known what the word meant, I could have returned to work on my magnum opus, "Furbelows and Leukocytes -- a Brief History." A real page-turner and probable Nobel candidate whose early draft I last saw sitting on a radiator top.

And yet another speculative bit of whimsy: Is it true that newborns exiting the womb into a world in which they are destined to join a "minority" of some sort are seldom if ever granted the capacity (as every other individual is) to be a flaming asshole? The gentle "majority" -- the one so intent on making room for those less blessed by numbers -- couldn't imagine saying that a homosexual or black person or woman or transsexual or any other put-upon group had emerged from the womb with a full-blown capacity to be mean, nasty critters. No, they need to work twice as hard for that capacity as well ... along with all the other, more applauded, abilities like kindness, joy, greed, altruism and whatever the latest majority treasure might be.

Women hit the financial glass ceiling and it's a grinding inequality, but in that ain't-it-awful descriptive mix it is rare to acknowledge that the put-upon one is simultaneously a manipulative bitch and a four-star asshole ... that doesn't play well in the kindly panorama painted and extolled by those who 'care.' Why should such a characteristic be withheld along with all the other benefits that being human bestows? It seems mean-spirited if nothing else.

Yes, Virginia and Virgil, you too have the capacity to be an asshole... a right I would never try to withhold since I need some explanation for your nitwitdom as I see it.

2 comments:

  1. Finding such tidbits online is so easy. I just found the definition in seconds on my internet connected cellphone.

    But there are only a few people I know who might know the definition of the out of use word. (I know some Jane Austin fanatics.) The word it out of use because the primary object the word refers to is essentially out of fashion.

    Furbelow
    fur·be·low
    ˈfərbəˌlō
    noun
    1.
    a gathered strip or pleated border of a skirt or petticoat.
    verb
    literary
    1.
    adorn with trimmings

    Riddle me this, Genkaku:

    Did Hillary lose the presidency because she is a woman or because she failed to run her campaign diligently enough, did some bad things over the years, was undermined by her opponents, or just hit a glass ceiling?

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  2. Andy -- I am a political nitwit, but my uninformed sense of Hillary was that she was one of the good ol' boys dressed up in girl's clothing. There is no reason this shouldn't be so or is somehow surprising: After all, she was playing in the good ol' boys' backyard... her training ground. Voting for her just because she was female was a stinker of a choice from where I sat.

    As I say, my political capacities are largely non-existent.

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