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Nothing to Save
There is nothing to save, now all is lost,
but a tiny core of stillness in the heart
like the eye of a violet.
—D.H. Lawrence
—from The Complete Poems of D.H. Lawrence
gorget /GOR-jət/. noun. Armor for the throat. The part of a wimple that covers the neck. An ornament for the neck such as a necklace or decorative collar. A distinctive color on the throat of an animal, usually a bird. From Old French gorge (throat).
“He was wearing too much. The coat of mail with its standard, the cuirass with gorget and pauldrons, the hounskul helmet from which he could scarcely see out…” (Italo Calvino)
“He watched the iridescent play of the light upon its gorget and the slow pulsing of blood from its breast with painful feelings of identification which were interrupted by a sudden silence: The bird had stopped its stroll and was extending its wings.” (Ralph Ellison)
“The officer waited for them, dressed like a recruiter, molten at the throat where his gorget took the sun.” (Thomas Keneally)
“I know a slave when I see one. A slave is a slave, with or without a gorget; if he doesn’t wear it around his neck, he has it tattooed on his soul. It takes at least three generations to rub it off.” (H. Beam Piper)
Is the world really better than ever? And is that mindset, or the pessimism it is intended to counter, holding us back?
What a font choice goes really wrong… → Glitter or Hitler?
These Accurately Titled Novels are hilarious (because they’re true). || While we’re at it, how about 11 Fictional Restaurants We Wish Existed?
You might remember the delightful paint colors generated by a neural network? Well, now peruse similarly generated British style placenames (who wouldn’t want to live in Colon-in Mead or Galling Compton)? If you like the placenames, you might enjoy the Twitter feed…at the time of this writing the featured name is Lickley Stalhay). || See also: terrible fruit names, not-so-terrible metal band names and mystifying Broadway musical names.
Speaking of very artificial intelligence, soon RealDolls will want to talk (hopefully about how it feels to live in the Uncanny Valley). → How to Choose a Personality for Your Sex Robot
I recently had my first real-life experience with someone telling me their preferred pronouns. Using them feels like the right thing to do. But perhaps, like me, others started out with questions… → Your Most Awkward Questions About They/Them Pronouns, Answered
A fascinating Proportional Pie Chart of the World’s Most Spoken Languages. || And while language cartography is a thing, Is the study of language a science?
I’m a longtime McSweeney’s reader, as are many Clamorites. Thanks to Reader A. for sharing links to a note about the death of the real Timothy McSweeney and an archive link to the story of the man himself.
FindSounds is a search engine for sounds.
Today in 1935, Allen Lane publishes the first 10 Penguin books (including titles by Agatha Christie and Ernest Hemingway), selling three million(!) books in the first year, initiating the paperback revolution. The iconic, color-coded design was established with the first 10 books, each of which sold for about the same price as a pack of 10 cigarettes. Penguin has continued to embrace high-quality, recognizable designs…so much so they inspired a book of their own.
The Evolution of Trust is a brilliant little game and explainer about cooperation, trust and the Prisoner’s Dilemma. The subject has deep implications for life in the contemporary networked world.
The bizarre story of Incubus, a long-lost horror film made entirely in Esperanto, starring William Shatner. Watch ► the full movie.
Reader S. has a theory about the Wellerism, “Does your mom darn socks?” “I’m assuming this is a reference to the bowdlerization (it’s language all the way down!) of Regan/Pazuzu’ s growling in The Exorcist for network TV to something like ‘Your mother darns socks that smell!’”
A different Reader S. riffs: “Not a Wellerism or a Tom Swifty, but similar in concept. In high school we had an ongoing game that started when someone said ‘By the way, I like roadside tables.’ From there flowed ‘As a rule, I like the 5th amendment,’ ‘All in all, I like orgies,’ ”In general, I like Ike,’ ‘In the end, I like sodomy,’ and numerous others I can’t recall just now. Probably for the best."
Reader H.: “Not sure if this counts as a Tom Swiftly but G.K. Chesterton once wrote how 32,000 women rose up and said they would not be dictated to. The next year they were stenographers.”
Reader B.: “That Weller[ism] quote surprised me. I keep forgetting Dickens’ Gothic touch.”
Reader T.: “one addition to your Wellerisms… In our family we said, ‘I see, said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw.’”
I welcome comments, suggestions, thoughts, feedback and all manner of what-have-you. Just press ‘Reply’ or email to: clippings@katexic.com.
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