Foucault's Pendulum

I've loved this book for a while, since Grandfather introduced me a relatively long time ago. ( Read more... )

And I re-read it every few years, getting more of it. To be fair, I don't think I could ever fairly claim to understand it. When I first read it, I basically blanked on the end, and couldn't really have told you what happened. But loved the characters and enough of the happenings to love the book anyway. Now I've a slightly higher perspective, and see that the basic plot is really quite simple, though know I don't get about 80% of the references to arcane or literary sources.

Reading some of Eco's essays on translations makes me more aware. For instance, they're discussing words, and one of them comments how important it is, after all, God didn't create the universe by sending a telegram. "Fiat lux. Stop", the other quips. Apparently there was a rather better pun in the original Italian. But the point is that Casaubon and Belbo can't think about something serious without casting it in literary terms, nor without making fun of it.

That is a reason I like the characters. When I was teenager I didn't know why; now I can see how in many ways they're completely hopeless, addicted to the cabalistic ramblings they can't believe, but in the same way I am to, say, maths or programming :)

While I'm here, I can't resist the impulse to say even more about Dan Brown. I often recommend Cryptonomicon to people who want something like Dan Brown, but not stupid. And recommend Eco to people who want something like Cryptonomicon, but not stupid. I don't know what people recommend to peopel who want something like Eco, etc.

But seriously, who gets off comparing Dan Brown to Umberto Eco? About half way through Foucault's Pendulum, there's a passage where they enter meaningly pseudognomic phrases into a computer and generate a random combination of them. Interpreting this, they conclude that Jesus didn't die on the cross. Instead, his coming to england is interpreted as the legend of Joseph of Aramathea bringing the grail here. One observes that it's a nice story, but unfortunately too ridiculous and completely unpublishable. The other says he should get out more: someone[2] already wrote a book about that, which did quite well. Remind you of anyone else's theories?

Remember, this was *before* Dan Brown. If you bring out a book which is *already* being lambasted as ridiculous and believe it, you're being simplistic and credulous, or much more subtle and perpetrating a cosmic joke, but either way not in the *same* league. OTOH, writing *popular* books is definitely a skill, albiet a different and possibly more lucrative one from writing books I think have redeeming features, and I guess I wouldn't object to having it, and can't object to someone else being good at it; all skill is good. Though *I* wouldn't trade my bullshit detector for it.

[1] And part-time (non-fiction) Vanity press. It's amazing that I can sympathise with a vanity press; I guess because the authors are so insane.
[2] I can't remember the author, I assume it was real.

A comparison of phrases used to draw attention to innuendo

Most of the social groups I frequent have some such phrase. In theory you could just pass them by, but generally speaking no-one can resist. But there's an amazing variety. It's important regardless of what the actual phrase is, because so many sentences inherently innocent, become amusingly dodgy simply by putting them in a place where people do that to them. So to speak.

I was going to give them letter scores, but decided I couldn't choose between most :)

What other phrases have I missed? Which do you think is actually best?

as the actress said to the bishop -- Universal and traditional. You can use this anywhere, and even if someone hasn't heard of it, they stand some chance of seeing the joke. It's also versatile, allowing you to substitute a wide range of ecclesiatical and/or female figures as the joke requires.

As a matter of fact, does anyone know where this originates? I can trace it as far back as The Saint comics (1928-1963), but assume it was used before that. There are no useful results on google. Was there ever a specific original joke, or was it always used much as it is today?

oo-er -- Used mainly in poohsoc, where it's stopped being a sound and started being a word. Understood universally, I guess, though a bit direct for some company.

A raised eyeborw -- Or a passing smirk. Used by people like Rachel C. and Martin, who are masters at this sort of thing. Subtle, completely missable, but capable of completely cracking you up if they hit you right, regardless of how innocent the original comment was :)

Game -- Anyone who plays the Game (don't ask) would probably understand, though only isolated islands use "game" to mark innuendo consistantly. I believe the larpers/assassins tend to blame Rosy for this? It's secret, in that someone who doesn't know won't have any idea what's going on, but not subtle,. in that it tends to be loud and completely derail the conversation into asking "What? How?"

It has the annoying sideeffect of making everyone think about the game, but the delicious one of making everyone work out some probably obscure connection.

end of point of order -- I think I've only heard SimonT say this, but it's kind of inevitable. It's going to be puzzling for anyone who doesn't know mao, but has a deadpan humour quality which is valuble, and has the key advantage of implying a return to the normal conversation, rather than dwelling on the interruption

NPI -- No Pun Intended. Used online. The irony value is good, but it's generally a lie, and spawns a big argument on what people should have said instead. I tend to ignore this (and reword if *actually* no pun intended).

So to speak -- Possibly my favorite. It works in speach or text, emphasises the original meaning while making the innuendo clear, can be added after a short pause, contains an apology if you actually didn't mean it, and doesn't tend to invite any irrelevemt followup.

(Edit: fix bold/strike coding.)