Ladylike is what I aim to be, but the truth is, the bitch side itches to get out and romp. Take expletives. Swear words. Naughty language. There is a time and a place for them. This week, at the arboreal residence of Her Britannic Majesty's Trade Commissioner in Joburg, I kept my ears pricked for an expected impropriety. No, not a four-letter word. Much, much worse. Nine letters; more than double the trouble.
The occasion was the launch of the latest edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, that multivolumed compendium of knowledge... written, read and approved by the great and the good. For example, our very own Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has most graciously agreed to provide an article for the next edition, whenever that is. What possible subject could he be scribbling on? My guess is that it will concern the noble and profitable (in and with the right hands) card game of poker, which - played on the commuter trains - was said to have helped "Toots" to keep the wolf from the door in his younger days.
Continues Below ↓
A serious matter, you might think. Britannica, that is. So why was there an unseemly burst of laughter when one of the speakers referred to this enterprise as a product of "the Scottish Enlightenment"? With a North British accent himself, it was perhaps understandable that he paused to enquire the reason for the mirth. Answer came there none, alas.
I'm guessing that some had in mind Glaswegian soccer thugs and the like, rather than such savants as David Hume, Adam Smith, Robert Burns and, later, Sir Walter Scott. But Enlightenment there was in the late 1700s, centred around "the Athens of the North", as Edinburgh was once fondly called (before anyone had checked out the climate).
Bearing in mind that I was at this launch on behalf of the library committee of dear, darling little Cedric's school, which desperately needs to update its limited knowledge base, I forebore to snigger.
Continues...
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
