Sunday, November 16, 2008

Celebrating Spousal Quirks



narratology, originally uploaded by camille94019.
Dutch and I just celebrated our first kiss anniversary last night at The Richmond, a swanky restaurant down the street, and in that spirit, I'd like to offer what I hope will be a series, celebrating married life, and the quirks that make it fantastic and interesting at the same time.

On Friday, we brought home our first futon mattress. We had gotten a futon frame from Deep Storage a couple weeks ago, and our poor guests had been sitting on piles of pillows and blankets on the slats that we could never quite cover up. We never hung out in the living room, because there was no place to sit. And suddenly, hey presto, we had a cozy reading corner, where literally, hundreds of dictionaries were now within reach. So now, when the house gets very still, I know I can find the D nested in the futon, with a pile of dictionaries.
Back History
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When Dutch was a little college freshman he happened upon a Dictionary of Theories.  He had previously only read the word kind, and this one opened up a whole new obsession.

first dictionaries

It was followed quickly by The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Thought, which he claimed he read "cover to cover."  I believe him.

Interview with the Dutch

327: Why do you like dictionaries so much?

D: Because I can get what I want to find concisely and quickly, without having to wade through a huge tome.  The more you have on one entry, the more you can compare them.  That is why you have to have at least two.

327:  What is your favorite dictionary?

D: (from the other room)  I am looking... hm...that is hard... there are different levels.  The most useful one is the Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion, because they don't just give you one definition.  Some of them have ten and they are all short.  The Dictionary of Continental Philosophy is the funnest-- it is newer.  Augustine Through the Ages is my all time favorite for obvious reasons.  I learned to utilize dictionaries when I was real young, as a coping mechanism.

8 comments:

H said...

I'm really curious about that dictionary of narratology... and theories... what theories? Psychological theories? And if so... is narrative theory or post modern psychological theory in there????

dutch said...

Yes.

Colleen Franklin said...

What about English etymology? Do you favor Skeats over the OED? I almost do, because it is so much more anecdotal and therefore makes for satisfying bathroom reading, but the OED is always the final word.

And Augustine Through the Ages for "obvious reasons", hmmm? Maybe they could be more obvious? (Explain, please...)

H said...

oooooooh... awesome.

dutch said...

Augustine is root of all that is beautiful and good in any theoretical discourse.

Anonymous said...

We're fond of a reproduction of a 200 year old dictionary of the "vulgar tongue". You'd be surprised how many euphemisms for masturbation there are... or maybe you wouldn't...

Also, how about a foray into topic specific encyclopedias? Our current favorite is the encyclopedia of european languages. Oh, Ogham... so fun to carve messages into the sides of sticks.

The elevens

Anonymous said...

...boxing the jesuit...

the elevens

Carmen said...

subtle...

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