I continue to believe that this world has no ultimate meaning. But I know that something in it has a meaning and that is man, because he is the only creature to insist on having one.”
— Albert Camus
Tag: writers
A breed apart from ordinary humans, and responsible for much of their culture. Some would call them the salvation of humanity; others wouldn’t call them a cab.
We’re all just raindrops on a windshield.”
— Jerry Seinfeld, to Michael Richards in “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee”
Word to Bring Back: “Fastuous”
– Definition: adj. 1. haughty, arrogant 2. ostentatious, showy – Used in a sentence: The fastuous have taken their first steps down the rabbit-hole of militant mediocrity. – Why: It sounds similar to “fatuous” — silly and pointless — and…
Word to Bring Back: “Privacy”
– Definition: n. the quality or state of being apart from company or observation – Used in a sentence: American culture’s “instant celebrity” fixation is playing hob with the basic concept of privacy. – Why: Duh.
Ozone; or, The Horror Upstairs
WHEN A MAN HAS GIVEN his life to science, even to the naked edge of that science, he is expected to be vocal about it. And if others choose not to listen, well … perhaps they won’t have the nightmares,…
I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
— Thos. Jefferson
A Farewell to Mars
On and for the 54th anniversary of “Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” AS HE DANGLED FROM THE upper corner of the window before my typewriter, inverted and scowling, I first saw the Man from Mars. His identity was…
Words To Bring Back: “Perfervid”
– Definition: adj. intense and impassioned – Used in a sentence: The perfervid activists had trouble with their blood pressure. – Why: There is something attractive about a three-syllable word replacing a three-word phrase. (Maybe it’s the concisifier in me.)
Word to Bring Back: “Prig”
– Definition: noun a self-righteously moralistic person who behaves as if superior to others. – Used in a sentence: Scratch a prig, find a hypocrite. – Why: To name a thing is to control it — either by voting it…
Words to Bring Back: “Shambolic”
– Definition: adj.; chiefly British chaotic, disorganized, or mismanaged. – Used in a sentence: Our political and cultural landscapes have become shambolic as all get-out. – Why: Because we need a more polite (and adjectival) descriptor than… those in current…
The Writer’s Vital Question:
“WHAT’S THE MOST ENTERTAINING THING I can do for the reader next?“
Word to Bring Back: “Amphitryon”
– Definition: (French) n. person with whom or at whose expense one dines – Used in a sentence: My father is a well-known and gracious amphitryon. – Why: Aside from its capitalized Greek origin (Amphitryon was, according to Sophocles, a…