Houston, we have a problem

Seems Blogger has gone off its medications and is having a few problems. Some of it is in postings, others in comments. So, yes I know, no it is not just my blog, and no I cannot fix it. Not my servers, not my problem.

So I have been thinking of late about language. Not any one in particular but language as a whole. I remembered what William S. Burroughs once said and Laurie Anderson reinforced “Language is a virus from outer space.” The more I began to think about this, the more sense it made, especially at 3:30am while in that semi dream state you are in doing the thorizine shuffle to the bathroom. I will, for both courtesy and brevity, leave certain parts of this trip out.

Now, I got on this whole thing due to an entry in my friend Barbs blog about the word authentic. I figure this is way too long and unrelated to post as a comment, so I will do it here. I recommend you stop by her blog (there is a link on the right to Tigers and Strawberries) and read before we go any further. Go ahead, I will wait here till you get back, although I may go get a cup of coffee in the mean time.

Okay, back now or did you not go and will try to figure out what her blog entry was about without actually reading it? If you fall into the latter category, you are on your own. If this hurts and you did not stop to go read you did it to yourself. I told you not to stick the fork in the wall socket so if you get burned, do not blame me for the invention of electricity!

Authentic: from the Latin “auctorizo”, meaning to confirm, approve, authenticate.

Now this just happens to be my favorite word in all the English language. Why? Because it has a great story with it.

During the Roman Classical period the greatest fad in architecture was the use of the column as a decoration to the entrance or portico of ones home. We all know of the great Roman columns in design, but here is the story you may not know. There were two different types of columns, the “auctorizo” solid column of marble and the “falsus” or fake column. Solid marble columns were quite pricey and out of the reach of many roman citizens. But someone found that certain hard waxes when mixed with stone chips and dust could make a quite presentable column at a much lower price sort of a Wallmart type of alternative. The big problem with them was they were structurally very weak. It seems wax did not have the holding power of solid stone. Go figure! Therefore the columns were of two available types and labeled as such, the “falsus” or wax based column and the solid or “auctorizo” column, literally without wax.

So this being said, I would without a doubt say:
“Yes Barb, your cooking is totally authentic. I have never known you to use wax…”
And can I have mine without the duck products? I am alergic to duck. :(

Till next time,
Be mindful and awake

Or

Exaro tunc vicis ,
Exsisto memor quod suscitatio.