A note I stumbled upon this weekend gives me glee: “Whitman coined camaraderie as a synonym for homosexual attraction, in order to enrich the synonym-poor portion of the English language that refers to same-sex friendships.”
Alternate title: “That Kookaburra Stole My Steak!”
No.
Glee barely begins to cover it.
:)
by GKB—May 15, 11:46 AM
It’s not entirely right to say WW coined the word, but he adopted it and ramrodded it into the language. For example, It’s the expression he gives to love, that is “manly attachment,” in Calamus, for example, such as in “In Paths Untrodden.”:
by greg—May 15, 12:19 PM
Ramrodded?
You couldn’t have said “shoehorned” or something?
by GKB—May 15, 12:25 PM
If that made you uncomfortable, then you probably shouldn’t read “Scented Herbage of My Breast.”
by greg—May 15, 12:31 PM
And besides, who uses a shoehorn anymore?
by greg—May 15, 12:32 PM
And here I’ve been thinking about Whitman and communism all these years.
Has anyone here read The Gift by Lewis Hyde?
by Laura—May 15, 08:40 PM
no; it looks interesting, though.
by greg—May 15, 09:29 PM
It’s a great book—well, the first half is great, and the second half, as I recall, is kind of strange. It’s been some years since I read it, though, and I can’t find my copy at the moment (moving is hell on my book organization, and some of them are still in Iowa).
by Laura—May 16, 11:54 PM