Now that I am done with The Fountainhead I am plowing through Quicksilver . Sometimes I forget what a joy it is to read the work of someone who is deeply in love with the English language.
On that note, a particular word has wormed its way into my subconscious recently, and probably won’t let me go until I give it a good thinking-about:
Fix. Or, fixed. Probably because I hear it so much at work. “John, can you fix this?” “I fixed it yesterday.” “Fix it again.” “It’s still fixed.” “Then make it even more fixed.” “Consider it fixed.”
Fix can be used in several different confusing and contradictory, not to mention amusing ways:
Fixing a car means making something a little more perfect. Fixing a cat means making something a little less perfect. Fixing a deal means that it will go through according to agreed-upon rules. Fixing a bet means the exact opposite. Being in a fix is a Bad Thing. Getting your fix is a Good Thing. The Fixx was a band in the eighties is still around! Who’d’a thunk???.
So as you can see, when using this word it is important to be a precise as possible.
“Fixing something with pliers?”
“Yes. A boxing match.”
“Dad hurt himself golfing?”
“Dad fixed himself golfing.”
“I just fixed my cat.”
“Good for you.”
“…to the ceiling.”
…etc. In my next lecture I will meditate on the GeoSocioPantheoPolitical ramifications of the Co-option of Tradition in the Acceleration of Nostalgic Meta-Journalism.