Wednesday 19 November 2008

Literary endeavours

Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas.

Since the rise of the environmental movement, Chomsky's "green ideas dream furiously" has lost its perfection as a meaningless sentence that is correct in grammar and syntax. But this is a wonderful replacement. On top of that it is a perfect palindrome, which makes it just superlative. OK, there are other palindromes, too many and too boring to enumerate, but this one is great, a magnificent achievement, as perfect as one of Michaelangelo's sculptures or Gauss' theorems, if not on the same scale. Hats off to its creator, or creators, who, according to Google, is or are anonymous. 

How did they do it? Inspiration? Hard work? Or with a search algorithm? A really clever algorithm, if it was that, too clever to be plausible. The simplest explanation is that it is a work of art, and a sublime one.

Update: alert reader Ms Scarlet points out a dropped aspirate in the label: eroicus was indeed wrong. I shall borrow Arlington Hynes' spellcheck in future.

Updated update: and there shouldn't be an et there. As any fule kno.

19 comments:

Ms Scarlet said...

Napoleon is a prime number?
Sx
You are hard work Mr Inkspot. And did you mean vir heroicus et sublimis? I'm not that bright but I am trying...?

xerxes said...

I did! Ta muchly.

BEAST said...

If Satan puts his grubby mitts on anything of mine and starts oscillating , I am out of here.
The filthy devil

Mrs Pouncer said...

Hmm, no, sorry. Can we stop here?

Scarlet, your Googling is getting feverish, but can I just flag up that I am the one who does the corrections of Latin and German, and all the pissy algebra comments are mine, too.

You can have the entendres - double and single - the Vaseline references and everything about tits.
Cordially, etc.

xerxes said...

Hang on, Mrs P, this blog hasn't done vaseline and tits so far. [Thinks about it... hmm.] Pissy comments, whether on algebra or anything else, are welcome provided they are executed with wit, oomph and espieglerie.

Mrs Pouncer said...

Yeah, well, Inky, you should know that ALL my comments - algebraic or not - are executed with the sort of lebhaft that Fassbinder could only dream of. And as for tits and Vaseline, well! All I am at liberty to say is that I have only just got home, my word verification is ristic and would you like to see the contents of my reticule?

Ms Scarlet said...

I was merely standing in for you during your absence Mrs P. I'll go back to playing with my tits and vaseline now...
Sx

Gadjo Dilo said...

Hey, Inky, it sounds like we may have some education in common! I used to have colleagues (who really should have stayed anonymous) who used such algorithms to generate jokes - they shouldn't have, total waste of time money and everything.

Vaseline and tits will do nicely though.

Ms Scarlet said...

Hello Mr Inky.
Thank you Gadj.
Sx

xerxes said...

Mrs P, exhibit reticule contents soonest.

Gadj, if (and only if) their algorithm had produced good jokes, that would have ben amazing. Your point must be that the dreariness of what they produced was predictable and predicted.

Scarlet, it looks like the world wants vaseline. And, er, tits.

Word Verification Code said...

Waachiyaa

BEAST said...

ReViewing Mrs P's reticule .
There are certain things that a shy , impressionable innocent like meself should not be exposed to.!
I shall be reading an improving text in the corner.

Mrs Pouncer said...

Inklypoo, come over to Daph's and play Mornington Crescent with us.

Word vert. racked, Hee hee hee

Ms Scarlet said...

Oh come and sit in the corner with me Beastie. They've given me a nice hat to wear. Look, it has a big capital letter 'D' embroidered on the front, in sparkly red thread. Good innit?
Sx

Mrs Pouncer said...

Slacking a bit, Inkums, entcha? At least TRY to amuse us. We're knocking ourselves out for you, you know.

Ms Scarlet said...

yes, I'm bored now. You don't really want to be subjected to more advertising do you. Come on, I demand fruity latin that takes me three days to decipher...
Sx

word veri: inestick - think it meant inkstick.

Word Verification Code said...

inerwayc

Ms Scarlet said...

Hello Mr Inkspot... Just popping by to say hello.
How are you?
Sx

BEAST said...

Oh where has Inky gone ??