Dad, doing what he does best

Below is an e-mail from my Dad on 3.31.2006, in reference to me wanting to use the occasional exclamation mark for emphasis in my letters (when I want to show excitement). Although I break his exclamation point ruling from the time to time, I should get a gold star for not overdoing it by putting !!! at the end of a sentence…that just shows too much excitement, in my humble opinion. One is enough for me.

LouLou,

Hey, I have no problem with your using the exclamation point after “eureka.”

In the Grecian language eureka means, “I have found it,” and was said to have been uttered by the great Pythagoras on his invention of the 47th Problem of Euclid, a process of measuring distance through triangulation (the Pythagorean Theorem). The measurement process is also known as the Egyptian string trick, not to be confused, of course, with similar knotted items (strings of pearls, beads, anchor chains, etc.) referenced in the Kama Sutra, and in the works of the Marquis de Sade and others of his ilk).

It is probable that Pythagoras did in fact exclaim “Eureka” on his discovery, and then he probably followed up with a passionate, even shouted, “Exclamation point.” The actual symbol used to punctuate an exclamation (!) was probably developed by a linguist (or linguists) at a later date.

It’s well to note that anytime one exclaims, the exclamation may (but not necessarily must) be followed by an exclamation point. I am unsure as to which punctuation mark should follow an utterance—perhaps an exclamation begins life as an utterance, then progresses to an exclamation, thereby earning the right to an exclamation point.

You may have already been familiar with Pythagoras and his theorem, but you may not be aware that Pythagoras, on his discovery of the 47th Problem of Euclid, is said to have celebrated and memoralized his momentous feat by sacrificing a hecatomb (100) of cattle.

They must have had one hell of a barbeque!

Blue Pinwheel Thingie 3.31.2006

An e-mail from my Dad, in response to the question I sent out to the Weedettes:

“Blue pinwheel thingies…does anyone know what these are?”

LouLou,

Ah, Master, at last you have come to the Grasshopper for assistance. My heart swells with pride and I am virtually overcome with emotion. In fact, I am so happy I could just—well, you know the rest.

The “blue pinwheel thingies,” as you so casually (and rather unflatteringly) refer to them, are “flores azules hay como las llantas.” Freely translated from the Spanish (and I do mean freely), the name means “tire-like blue flowers.” The word “tire” refers to the circular shape of the blossoms.

“Pin” refers to the stem, the part of the plant on which the blossom is “mounted.” Llantas (tires) are mounted on wheels which, in turn, are placed on the hubs of axles. Note the similarity of “pin” and “hub.” The terms are synonymous—that synonymicity, or synonymicitessness, should have been obvious to you because each word has exactly three letters and each is pronounced with just one syllable—the “b” in hub makes it sound like two syllables, but it only has one (you probably pronounce it “ub,” as in “erb” and “erbert oover,” etc.).

The “blue pinwheel thingies” were named by none other than Michelangelo (1475-1564), a man who was entranced (enthralled, even) by all things purple, even by anything even remotely tinged with the color purple, and one who is said to have thoroughly enjoyed “tip-toeing through the tulips,” if you get my drift.

In naming flowers, as in all his other endeavors, “Micky” (as he was called by his his students, most of whom are said to have been fellow tip-toers), was centuries ahead of his time, because although the wheel was in universal use, “llantas” (tires) had not yet been invented.

And finally, we come to the curiousist (as Alice in Wonderland might say) part in the saga of “flores azules como las llantas”—in this beautiful blossom we have a flower named by a fruit, and nothing could be any curiouser than that.

Actually there is something curiouser—in her e-mail (Friday, March 31, 2006, 8:11 a.m.) your friend Gina said she thought the plant might be a hyacinth. She was wrong, of course, but the curious part is that Michelangelo also named the hyacinth. The parents of his favorite student (said to have been a flagrant tip-toer) deliberately misnamed their son (they wanted a girl), and Michelangelo was wont to greet her— I mean him—as follows: “Hi ya, Cinth,” thus the name “hyacinth.” The name “hyacinth” therefore came from Michelangelo’s adaptation of his greeting to Cynthia.

Perhaps Gina knew the origin of the name but didn’t know that she knew it—it may have been submerged in her subconsious but was close enough to the surface to trigger an association with Michelangelo and his penchant for naming flowers.

Enough of my gloating over your inability to recognize that which should have been immediately recognizable. I’ll close by saying that the pics are gorgeous, whatever the flower’s name and however its origin.

Methinks I taught thee well (you’re welcome).

© 2006 Cindy Dyer, All rights reserved.