He was stocky, distinguished-looking, and wearing a black robe, so I assumed it was Clarence Thomas who smacked the shit out of me (or, more politely, slapped me silly) the other day and went off in a uxorious huff. However, I have been reminded by readers that Justice Thomas is a black man. Since I don't see either gender or race, I feel honor bound to withdraw any positive ID.
But why would anybody other than Justice Thomas take my making light of Ginni Thomas so personally?
The Lingo Corner
I guess it should be "an uxorious huff." The u in question properly being pronounced uh as in unsavory, not as in unique. And yet . . . Something draws me to pronounce uxorious as yuksorious. This urge may spring from some dark toxic-male depth, possibly kraken-infested. Best stick with pussy-whipped.
Ha! But Pauline Kael did once show me a proof of her review of Reds in which she had described Beatty's John Reed as, in fact, "pussy-whipped," causing Mr. Shawn to recoil in horror. I suggested "uxorious." She recoiled in vernacular-loving fastidiousness. Eventually she recast the sentence to obviate either of the words in question. Today, we could probably search the archives of The New Yorker to see whether p____-______ has ever appeared in its pages. You can certainly look up the profile I wrote of Pauline for The Atlantic some decades ago, in which I tell this exact same story. Double-dipping, the key to eternal life.
And Speaking of Depthfs
An item in The Washington Post recommends "mind-wandering," which can render a person "awash in really rich, imaginative, depthful thinking."
Depthful? Awash in pthf-ful saliva, in my case. We can see that the writer wanted to avoid (maybe even recoiled from) deep thinking -- a comical term. But some of us readers can't help sounding out the words.
In another Post posting, about what we can do to halt climate change (an unironic huzzah!), we find "Invest in a fairer world." Fairer. Fairer. Almost evokes the Irish r, which is a fine sound altogether -- but closer to Farrah as in (when she was married to Lee Majors) Faucett-Majors. We will have much to say in postings to come about hyphenated names, of which she was a pioneer. RIP.
The Whole Evil Thing
I need to respond to responses to my assertion, a few days ago, that you can't be funny about evil. And respond I will, when I get time. Now, though, I have to go out back and poison the Cayratia japonica.
Yet Another Wretched-Male Limerick
There once was a fellow named Frank,
Who let's put it this way: he drank.
Beer, vodka, gin
Or ... you fill in
What he couldn’t ever: the blank.
Double-dipping, the key to eternal life.
As every writer knows well!
Nice to see you here, Mr. Blount. You've been missed.