As Eliot almost said, "It seems impossible to explain just what I mean."
Suppose we are discussing a story about a man known for his cruelty who has a collection of knives and the writer, in passing, drops the information that the man owns several dogs and each them has a very short tail.
And I say, "I wonder if the writer has specifically mentioned the dogs' short tails to draw attention to something. Writers don't (usually) waste words."
I'll bet a dollar to doughnut that the Spherical reaction would be, "Ho, ho, I've seen lots of dogs with short tails."
Or, "They might have been Giant Schnauzers."
Or, "Some dogs are born tailess."
Or "Some cats have short tails too."
Or "I had a dog when I was a kid and I was broken-hearted when our neighbor poisoned it. I cried for a week."
Or "I googled short-tailed dogs and found that there is a mutation in a gene called the T-box transcription factor T gene (C189G) which accounts for natural bobtails in 17 of 23 dog breeds studied, but not in another 6 dog breeds, for which the genetic mechanism is yet to be determined".
Or "Samuel Johnson said that a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on its hind legs. It is not done well, but you are surprised to find it done at all."
All of which proves that Sphere folks are natural-born writers and poets with wide-ranging imagination and immense creative talent.
OK, it was a raven, possibly from Scotland, but definitely a joyous, gentle, intelligent, and probably Christian, raven that woke Beowulf the morning he climbed on his longship and set sail for home.
Love ya all.
Linear Mode
