Re: CHAT: Hymn to Ikea (was: Re: Re: CHAT: F.L.O.E.S.

And Rosta scripsit:

> Sofa? Couch? Chesterfield? I forget what you call them. They
> sit on them all the time in Friends.
We must distinguish between the two-rumped and the three-or-more-rumped
varieties.  The former is often a settee here, but may also be a love
seat.  The latter is a sofa or couch everywhere, a davenport regionally,
and a chesterfield in parts of Canada.

> > > chicanes
> > Usually that's spelled chicanos here in the US...but you probably don't
> > mean that, do you?
>
> Hoho. OED: "An artificial barrier or obstacle, esp. a sharp double
> bend, on a motor-racing track".
But surely from the original meaning "deception", as in "chicanery"?
When I read it, I thought of those confounded wall mirrors they use
in department stores to make the place even more visually busy than
it would be otherwise, and to delude you (until you note the reversed
EXIT sign) that you are approaching the egress rather than leaving it
further behind.

--
And through this revolting graveyard of the universe the muffled, maddening
beating of drums, and thin, monotonous whine of blasphemous flutes from
inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond Time; the detestable pounding
and piping whereunto dance slowly, awkwardly, and absurdly the gigantic
tenebrous ultimate gods -- the blind, voiceless, mindless gargoyles whose soul
is Nyarlathotep. (Lovecraft) John Cowan|jcowan@reutershealth.com|ccil.org/~cowan