the dictionary has an argosy of definitions

merriam-webster's word-of-the-day for october 23 has prima facie sweet classical connections, but a surprising etymology:

argosy \AHR-guh-see\ noun

1 : a large ship; especially : a large merchant ship
*2 : a rich supply

Example sentence:
Uncle Ken is always armed with an argosy of jokes, and he keeps the family entertained for hours.

Did you know?
Looking at the first sense of "argosy," you might assume that this word is a close relative of "argonaut," but that isn't the case. Although both words have a nautical sense, they have different etymologies. The original argonauts sailed on a ship called the Argo to seek the Golden Fleece; their moniker combines the name of their ship and the Greek word "nautēs," meaning "sailor." "Argosy" comes from Arragosa, the English name for the city that is now Dubrovnik, Croatia. Over time, the Italian name of the town, Ragusa, was gradually modified into a noun for the laden merchant ships that sailed from that port in medieval days, and later still into one denoting any merchant vessel or rich store.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

garden abstract

the first line of this hart crane poem made me think of sappho:

Garden Abstract

The apple on its bough is her desire,--
Shining suspension, mimic of the sun.
The bough has caught her breath up, and her voice,
Dumbly articulate in the slant and rise
Of branch above her, blurs her eyes.
She is prisoner of the tree and its green fingers.

And so she comes to dream herself the tree,
The wind possessing her, weaving her young veins,
Holding her to the sky and its quick blue,
Drowning the fever of her hands in sunlight.
She has no memory, nor fear, nor hope
Beyond the grass and shadows at her feet.

The Man and His Letters

today's quote of the day is about p.l.i.n.y and is from a.n. sherwin-white's (not to be confused with sherwin williams) 1969 article 'pliny, the man and his letters' (GR16(1969)76-90):

Pliny was neither a scientist nor a philosopher, but as a man superficially educated in the philosophical disciplines of his own day he was a rationalist, and his rationalism is not perverted or obscured by his devotion as a writer to the cult of style. It is the balance of these two qualities that his particular excellence lies. He was not a great writer any more than he was a great man, but he did little things well.

at the 100th derridean (where the great plains begin)

after a little hiatus of my own, i bring another link on derrida. i didn't realize he was such an avid tv-watcher. this is what he said:

"I watch TV all the time," he once said. What kind of shows did he watch? "Anything." But television was not mere passive entertainment — not for a Brilliant French intellectual. "I am critical of what I'm watching," Derrida insisted. "I am trying to be vigilant. I deconstruct all the time."

neat. that last sentence is something i would expect to be sampled and looped into a techno song.

uhn-ts, uhn-ts, uhn-ts, uhn-ts-ts, bad-ump, bad-ump, bad-ump, bad-ump--[fuzzy voice]i deconstruct all the time. i deconstruct all the time. i deconstruct all the time...