Overheard on Caltrain

A pure heart—yes, quite an excellent thing, my friend, indeed, a pure heart is very excellent, but to stop there would be a mistake, a co-loss-al-mis-take! A pure heart is an excellent thing, but can we deny that there are many other excellent things, for instance, a clean shirt; a clean shirt is also an excellent thing! There can be no denying it; a pure heart and a clean shirt, these two go together like peas in a pod, at least insofar as excellence is considered! You look surprised, but just last Saturday I saw an old classmate who is now a collegiate secretary, and who has very bright prospects, and if you don't mind my saying so, an even brighter shirt! Marvellously clean! You know there are great things in store for a man like that, and so who can deny that a clean shirt is as excellent as a pure heart, perhaps even more excellent!

If I were John Hollenbeck, I would title a Claudia Quintet tune Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing.  A tune so titled could fit with their sound quite well.

Comments

[NCProsecutor]

If I were Mark Helprin, I would re-write Winter's Tale so the horse was jet black and Peter Lake was a jazz musician. A book so written could fit with his ouvre quite well.

[ben wolfson]

"oeuvre".

When I was in high school, an older kid in a math class of mine made fun of me for reading Winter's Tale, because of my edition's ridiculous cover. I tried to protest, but perhaps I deserved his scorn.

I remember vanishingly little about it.

[ben wolfson]

You can remember the spelling because someone's works are the realization of some seed—something gamete-like, that is—held within them, the finished produced grown out of a potentiality, just the way a fertilized egg eventually grows into a mature mammal, and "oeuvre" is like a longer version of "oeuf". The two words even have a consonant in common, modulo voicedness. Unvoiced consonants become voiced when they grow up. Indeed, part of growing up is having a voice in civic proceedings and whatnot.

[The Modesto Kid]

Unvoiced consonants become voiced when they grow up

Or they turn into fricatives -- it all depends on the quality of their upbringing. Parents, raise your young letters well!