Home for Christmas
I set off at 3:30 and travelled the almost unseen roads with very little company. I'm glad I made the decision I did. It might at first seem mad to most people to set off on a 270-mile journey through freezing fog in the darkness, but I reasoned that most other people would have opted for the sensible choice, and there's only one thing worse than having to drive in the whiteness of the fog; it's having to do it with several thousand other drivers in close proximity. I prefer to take risks in relative solitude.
I passed Stonehenge soon after daybreak, although I couldn't see it, but the slanting track that crosses the A303 was solid with parked cars. Somewhere over there in the white mist were dedicated souls celebrating some almost-forgotten pagan occasion; probably the shortest day in the year. I think that we ought to all celebrate the Solstices and Equinoxes in preference to the religious festivals, it might remind a few more of us that we all live on a ball of rock speeding around a ball of fire in a sea of nothingness. Life is as fragile as it is tenacious. But the dominant religion of the western hemisphere hijacked an older date for various reasons, some good, some bad.
I am intrigued by words that have double meanings, or get hijacked and turned into descriptions almost antithetical to their earlier purpose. In Sweden years ago I was amused to find that the word 'Gift' can mean either married, or poisoned. I tried my best to make up a pun on this duality, but the Swedes chose to ignore it. It almost seemed as though they didn't even see the contradiction. 'Orient' is another word that has a much earlier meaning than we may be aware of. We tend to use it to either refer to China, or to the action of aligning a map with the ground it is supposed to represent. We usually to do that by looking for the indication of which direction north lies in.
A long time ago we probably didn't have the idea of North, because without a compass you only have a vague idea of exactly which way it lies. But everyone can see where the sun comes up, and it does it each day, time and time again. Yet for some strange reason we pay more attention to the vertical lines on our maps than we do to the horizontal ones.
"Where are you going?"
"To the East"
"What are you seeking there?"
"Knowledge"
I passed Stonehenge soon after daybreak, although I couldn't see it, but the slanting track that crosses the A303 was solid with parked cars. Somewhere over there in the white mist were dedicated souls celebrating some almost-forgotten pagan occasion; probably the shortest day in the year. I think that we ought to all celebrate the Solstices and Equinoxes in preference to the religious festivals, it might remind a few more of us that we all live on a ball of rock speeding around a ball of fire in a sea of nothingness. Life is as fragile as it is tenacious. But the dominant religion of the western hemisphere hijacked an older date for various reasons, some good, some bad.
I am intrigued by words that have double meanings, or get hijacked and turned into descriptions almost antithetical to their earlier purpose. In Sweden years ago I was amused to find that the word 'Gift' can mean either married, or poisoned. I tried my best to make up a pun on this duality, but the Swedes chose to ignore it. It almost seemed as though they didn't even see the contradiction. 'Orient' is another word that has a much earlier meaning than we may be aware of. We tend to use it to either refer to China, or to the action of aligning a map with the ground it is supposed to represent. We usually to do that by looking for the indication of which direction north lies in.
A long time ago we probably didn't have the idea of North, because without a compass you only have a vague idea of exactly which way it lies. But everyone can see where the sun comes up, and it does it each day, time and time again. Yet for some strange reason we pay more attention to the vertical lines on our maps than we do to the horizontal ones.
"Where are you going?"
"To the East"
"What are you seeking there?"
"Knowledge"
posted by Sopwith-Camel | 10:17 am
1 Comments:
I too, am fascinated by words with multiple meanings. It is well known, for example, that car maker Rolls Royce had to rename their Silver Mist the Silver Shadow especially for the German market. (In German, the word Mist means muck...or something like that.)
Soon it will be January, and Britain will be awash with huge discount offers in virtually every High Street shop. These shops will all have large signs in the window with the word SALE. One can only wonder what French visitors to these shores make of all this.
Post a Comment
<< Home