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Post #1

I was given a copy of A Mencken Chrestomathy for Christmas.  So far and for the most part it is about as amusing as it was claimed it would be.

At the end there’s a collection of "Mencken sententiae."  I think some of these nicely capture kernels of truth (e.g., "Tombstone–An ugly reminder of one who has been forgotten").  Others confuse me and don’t seem to capture much of anything. 

So for this, my very first post, I present four perplexing sayings from HL Mencken: 

1. Fame — An embalmer trembling with stagefright.

2. Jealousy is the theory that some other fellow has just as little taste.

3. How little it takes to make life unbearable…A pebble in the shoe, a cockroach in the spaghetti, a woman’s laugh.

4. Man weeps to think he will die so soon; woman, that she was born so long ago.

What, if anything, are 1-4 are supposed to be getting at?

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3 responses to “Post #1”

  1. diddly Avatar
    diddly

    #3 makes sense in a way but it doesn’t really say much of anything.
    your right, the other ones are perplexing.

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  2. clew Avatar
    clew

    #3 makes sense to me if Mencken assumes that the woman is laughing at him – perhaps at something like spaghetti, or at best a pebble.
    #4 is a setup for the plot “A man with a future ruined by a woman with a past.”

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  3. CMike Avatar
    CMike

    #1 Fame is likely to make someone permanently unattractive.
    #2 A man in love worries that others have designs on the object of his affection when, truth be told, she’s likely not worth anyone’s attention
    #3 A woman’s fleeting laugh may seem trivial when observed without context but when it occurs in reaction to a man’s social shortcomings or awkwardness it is painful to that man (especially if he means to impress)
    #4 A man becomes more and more worried about death as he ages; a woman, a member of the vain gender, becomes more and more worried about losing her beauty and youthful appeal

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