quidquid bene dictum est ab ullo, meum est
Over at Brain Pickings — one of our fave distractions — Maria Popova alerted us to this massive graphic novelesque effort called Action Philosophers … it includes some excerpts which happen to be within our purview (scroll down past the Cartesian and Peanuts gang):
Philip Freeman talks to St Louis Public Radio about his book How to Win an Election:
Tip o’ the pileus to June Samaras on the Classics list for alerting us to this accolade … here’s the incipit of how the Atlantic spun the tale:
Ted McCagg is a creative director in advertising in Portland, Oregon. In his spare time, for the past five years or so, McCagg has been keeping a blog,”Questionable Skills” — the content of which consists almost entirely of drawings, some of them the bracket-style rankings that are a familiar feature of March Madness.
A few months ago, McCagg began using his blog and his bracket system to answer a question: What is the best word ever? Not the funniest word or the most erudite word or the most whimsical word … but The Best Word, full stop. What if, you know, the scallawag could eke out a thingamajig that would help him select the least milquetoast morsel from our linguistic smorgasbord?
Today, McCagg has answered his question. The best word ever — according to deep lexicographical research, science, taste, and common sense — is this: diphthong.
[…]
Read the rest: Here It Is: The Best Word Ever (Atlantic)
… it’s a Greek word, of course
From the Local comes a somewhat bizarre sorta Classical sorta not item:
A mayor from southern Sweden has been slammed for paying an artist friend 600,000 kronor ($91,584) in public funds to paint a depiction of the mayor dressed as a Roman legionary as part of a mural in the local council’s building.
“I have met the artist on many different occasions and we had discussed a painting. I thought it sounded very interesting. He then sent in a proposal that was presented to the Hörby industrial property board,” mayor Lars Ahlkvist of the Moderate Party told local paper Skånska Dagbladet.
According to the paper, the painting was never put out to tender but was commissioned during a number of meetings between Hörby municipality’s top brass and the artist in question.
The costs of the 600,000 kronor fee are supposed to be shared between the municipality and the industrial property company.
The painting, depicting Ahlkvist dressed as a Roman legionary, is to be part of a larger mural in the council building.
In addition to the Roman-style mayor, the painting also features a local financier depicted as Sweden’s King Karl XI and his partner as a noble lady of the same time.
Speaking with the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper, Ahlkvist explained that Hörby has a “rich tradition of adornment”.
While he admitted that the only connection between Hörby and the Roman empire was “through the church”, Ahlkvist explained the mural was meant to connect the past with the present.
“In the painting, Jesus is escorted by a modern police officer,” he told SvD.
“We’ve got the Arab Spring, as well as a team of snapphane from Hörby,” he added, referring to 17th century pro-Danish guerrillas that fought against the Swedes.
Despite the controversy surrounding how the painting was funded, Ahlkvist emphasized that art should “prompt debate” and that the ensuing publicity could benefit the town.
“Clearly, Hörby has gotten a lot of attention and that is never a bad thing,” he said in reference to the mural-inspired media debate.
The city manager for Hörby, Arne Bertilsson, is satisfied that the commissioning of the painting was done above board.
He contends the city didn’t have to put the assignment out to tender since it required specialist skills – that of “monumental art”.
“That’s why we decided to use the existing exceptions to the rules in the procurement laws which gave us the right to contact and chose one artist only,” he wrote on the municipality website.
According to Skånskan, the law states that those commissioning such a special piece of art should have adequate expertise, something Ahlkvist is adamant he has:
“I feel that I am familiar with art. I come from a family of artists and have spent a lot of time on it,” he told Skånskan.
via: Mayor painted as Roman soldier with public funds (Local)
OK … so we erstwhile colonists are sitting here enjoying our lattes and watching the strangest bit of class(ical) name-calling going on in the motherland. It seems that one Andrew Mitchell MP took umbrage at a policeman and referred to him as a ‘pleb’! Here’s a timeline of how what is being branded a ‘scandal’ unfolded:
More interesting from our point of view is that all the newspapers feel a need to explain what a plebeian is and there is much handwringing over whether it’s a bad word or not. Mary Beard has written a couple of items:
Edith Hall also pondered the question:
Possibly connected is a column by Harry Mount:
… and so the BBC decided to interview Edith Hall and Harry Mount on the subject:
… and of course, in all this I couldn’t help but be reminded of one of my favourite scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail:
rogueclassicism 