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- From: hoosiers@carson.u.washington.edu (Mary Loveless)
- Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
- Subject: Re: Loveless and an Xmas Literary Conundrum
- Message-ID: <1992Dec21.175540.5703@u.washington.edu>
- Date: 21 Dec 92 17:55:40 GMT
- References: <1gt1r9INNmcm@morrow.stanford.edu>
- Sender: news@u.washington.edu (USENET News System)
- Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
- Lines: 47
-
- In article <1gt1r9INNmcm@morrow.stanford.edu> francis@oas.stanford.edu
- (Francis Muir) writes:
- >
- >Loveless is just another form of Lovelace of course.
-
- We Lovelesses take strong exception to this view, and have, for lo these
- many centuries, been searching for the word from which our august
- nomenclature derived, in either Norman, Celtic or Anglo-Saxon archives,
- meaning "Superior Being." Our contention is that the "Lovelace" corruption
- came about in the Regency era when some bedizened fop, since drummed out
- of the family, changed his name to better reflect his appearance.
-
- >And here is my Christmas Puzzler.
- >
- > Who wrote the following about the poet, Richard Lovelace?
- >
- > I could not love lace half so much
- > Loved I not Lovelace more.
- >
- > Fido
-
- I bow in seeming humility (being a Loveless, I only pretend) to your
- superior wisdom and beg for enlightenment, since no one else among the
- R.A.B.ble seems inclined to answer. I studied literature and poetry of
- this era, but it was nearly 30 years ago and my memory isn't what it used
- to be. Why do I suddenly have this urge to take a course in the
- metaphysical poets?
-
- FURTHER SEEKING ENLIGHTENMENT
-
- re 'codswallop.' You posted of several quotes which used it in context,
- but none of the entries spoke to the meaning that seemed so obvious, to
- this humble (smirk) neophyte: a marine metaphor for matter resulting from
- a certain activity popular with solitary male humans (a similar metaphor,
- for females, would be 'slapping the clams.'). Thus I *assume* you said my
- posting about Louisa May Alcott was *seminal*, which I hear is a great
- compliment among literati. And then to call it *feminist* codswallop! I
- feel flattered beyond words. But *do* let me know if I have presumed too
- much.
-
- Mary Loveless hoosiers@carson.u.washington.edu
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- All of my opinions are self-righteously my own and **certainly** have
- nothing to do with the University of Washington.
-
- "I wonder how I'd look in *Madonna's* underwear." Zippy the Pinhead
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-