* Pensées is the Old Frissian word for Thoughts. It is also the etymological forebear of pansy, a flower which is said to resemble the human face.†‡
† Amongst botanists (and some paleo-cartesians), the human face is said to be the place where thinking happens.
‡ In the early twenty-first century, a group of rogue linguists argued that the English word, pansy, was in fact derived from a Gaelic appropriation of the Vulgar Middle French imprecation, Pentoir Emoutay, which translates roughly as "poor anagramatist" and is incidentally an anagram for "You are impotent."
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Dear Lenore,
Your lasagna was mediocre.
That’s not true; it was great. I was trying to lie to you (knowing that I would fail) in order to show you that I am incapable of lying to you. Actually, that’s not true either; the lasagna really was mediocre and my saying that it was great was the real test to see whether or not I could lie to you. But, as you can see, I am incapable of lying to you, even when the truth is indigestible. Actually, that’s not true either; I knew that I could only prove to you that I am incapable of lying to you by confusing you into thinking that I must have just lied to you—and then letting you leap faithfully into believing in my honesty. Honestly, Lenore, I can’t remember what your lasagna tasted like.
I’m not a complicated guy. As I explained to you the other night, all truth-functions are results of successive applications to elementary propositions of a finite number of truth-operations; humans have complicated minds. Eo ipso. The complicated humans are the ones who try to make their minds seem simple. Me, I just say things. And that’s what makes me a great writer. That and my mastery of Latin, Wittgenstein and Women.
So dinner at your place tonight? Seven-thirty? Great. I’ll bring my copy of BttF II. And if you feel like going for a run this time just let me know first; I’ll run with you. Remember, the truth or falsity of every proposition does make some alteration in the general construction of the world.
Don’t worry about my wife,
Rex
P.S. I think of more than everything and will always let you down ... gently ... into bed ... after stand-up sex against the wall. Your lasagna tasted great.
