Mnemencholia, and other Thoughts Of Chairman Sunday
Foz has decided she's afflicted by
mnemencholia
This is the best neologism I have seen for ages. She didn't define it precisely, but since I want to explore it a bit, I'm going to take a swing:
nostalgic sorrow brought on by recollection; melancholia triggered by an object, phrase, or scent and its associated memories; the wide sense of understanding and regret rising from the apprehension of one's own history.
How m'doin', Foz?
(She can't hear me. She's busy bashing people for using "-gate" to denote scandal. I really want to know about "Iguanagate"...
Actually, Tom Coates used to get furious about the use of "-aholic" to make addictions or predilections out of various things: there is, as he pointed out, no such substance as "shopahol".)
The other thing on my mind this morning is Starbucks. I have not, historically, been a fan of Starbucks. I tend to view them as evil. However, I have to admit that I am moved by their latest decision. Impressed, even. It feels like a welcome intrusion of humanity into a giant machine, but it may just be better simulation. (I don't have a problem with simulation in this context; the sooner corporate culture simulates moral and intelligent behaviour, the better... but in the mean time, consider this.)
Mrs Harkaway has been delayed in Qatar for an extra day. On the one hand, this is excellent news - it means good things are happening over there. On the other, it is bad news, because it means I will continue to loiter, wander around the house like my own ghost, and grinch.
However, it does mean I'll get to sort out my sleep pattern before she comes back (whenever she's away, I end up going to bed really late and waking up moderately early) which is good, because it turns out to have a direct connection to the heart.
Labels: Chairman Sunday, Foz, heart, mnemencholia, neologism, shopahol, sleep, Starbucks, Tom Coates
posted by Nick Harkaway at
4:47 AM
1 Comments:
Spot on with the definition! I may steal it if/when I blog about neologisms: having someone else define a word I made up is practically a citation. Or something.
Also, Iguanagate. Aggh! This was a scandal near and dear to my heart, not just because it involved two married (to each other) NSW Labor MPs acting like wankers in public, but because the restaraunt at which it occurred (Iguana Joe's - there you go) is in the suburb where I grew up. It's a restaraunt/bistro in Gosford which, come evening, transforms into a seedy nightclub, and in these illustrious surrounds, Belinda Neal, who is crazy, started screming at staff, threatening them and asking if they knew who she was when the service wasn't (allegedly) up to scratch. Oddly, though, it was her husband, John Della Bosca, who was also there, who was fired, because of a letter of apology he later wrote and had the Iguanas staff sign saying the whole thing was a misunderstanding.
And, hmm, the suffix of aholic. That hadn't occured to me, but now I shall be on the lookout. Language pedantic awaaaaay!
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