Redefining misanthropy for a fresh generation. Standard posts begin with a definition from Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary followed by a modern adjustment. Miscellany on Wednesday and storytelling on Saturday.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Frontispiece
FRONTISPIECE, n. A protuberance of the human face, beginning between the eyes and terminating, as a rule, in somebody's business.
2008 Update: The portico of a bank or other important edifice, where hope is abandoned and sense surrendered.
This word "frontispiece" has always seemed weird to me. Perhaps, said I, the weirdness of the word explains why pictures on the first pages of books no longer carry it. When there are pictures on the first pages of books. They seem to have vanished. Maybe publishers don't wish them to be competing with the pictures that have replaced the text inside the books.
Anyway. I finally looked it up, and found that it really means "to look at (specere => 'spiece) the forehead (frons, frontis). This morphed, reasonably, into "to look into someone's face and read that person's character".
Maybe we should rehabilitate this meaning of the word. Surely, divining character by reading faces can't be much worse than by reading the corporate prospectus. Unless, of course, the forehead has been dashed too many times against the nearest wall.
12 comments:
... and Backispiece would be?
Frontispiece: sock stuffed codpiece. What? You didn't warn me to think twice.
Frontispiece: I'll wear mine with pride.
Frontispiece: Flip my blog (any of them) over and there is the frontispiece, usually very illustrative.
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Do you remember that scene of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid when they try to rob that bank in Bolivia?
Rest in peace a rare man who had the style despite of being terribly handsome.
Frontispiece:The naivety of the human mind preceding the marital phase
Front is Peace.
Back is War.
Middle is Wishy-Washy.
This word "frontispiece" has always seemed weird to me. Perhaps, said I, the weirdness of the word explains why pictures on the first pages of books no longer carry it. When there are pictures on the first pages of books. They seem to have vanished. Maybe publishers don't wish them to be competing with the pictures that have replaced the text inside the books.
Anyway. I finally looked it up, and found that it really means "to look at (specere => 'spiece) the forehead (frons, frontis). This morphed, reasonably, into "to look into someone's face and read that person's character".
Maybe we should rehabilitate this meaning of the word. Surely, divining character by reading faces can't be much worse than by reading the corporate prospectus. Unless, of course, the forehead has been dashed too many times against the nearest wall.
We should be more nosey about what it takes to rehabilitate the business that goes on behind a bank's closed doors.
When the frontispiece meets the buttress, it's a dogs greeting. We just smell, humans kiss.
Frontispiece: The peace of a bank empty of money, and a long line in front.
K, I think the part of a friend we ask favors from.
Nope, TLP. You were at liberty to take the high or low roads.
Jim, you're right! Mine has a picture of an apple.
Yes, Ariel. RIS, Paul Newman! (Rest in sarcasm)
Marry in a hurry, repent at leisure, huh, A?
Orwellian, JD, except for the middle part.
Amoeba, you're certainly correct about that. Now the CEOs just look hungry and kind of sad.
I can't speak for anyone else, Sauerkraut, but I doubt I'm any smarter than the people who have been at it.
Icy, dog's are much more civilized, aren't we?
Indy, I think most pieces of a bank are like that.
Well, doh of course a codspiece is low. Unless a guy wants to stand on his head.
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