Saturday, January 13, 2024

A grotesque distortion of a sentence, with an important PS

Is someone – are some people – unhappy about my returning to Plato?

Rereading my article on the Meno, before confirming its publication on my blog, I came across this grotesque distortion of a sentence: bou/lhtai0, and there was nobody (kai\ ou0deni/) whom (o3tw|) he would not answer (ou0k a0pokrino/menoj. Correctly: bou/lhtai, kai\ ou0deni\ o3tw| ou0k a0pokrino/menoj.

These things usually don’t come isolated. I must become aware that my computer is monitored and my text can be distorted any moment, but more than that, I must be made aware, again and again, that I have no privacy.

A few days ago, I bought a warm coat. This morning I wanted to put it on, as I wanted to cycle to Sainsbury’s to do my shopping, but my coat was nowhere to be found. My flat is not large, a small bedroom, a small living room, a very small kitchen and a bathroom. My new coat is big, but I simply could not find it.

Finally I got to the corridor, and there it was, lying on the floor.

PS

I did not want to involve my daughter in this, but I feel that I must do so, for otherwise ‘the coat case’ could be dismissed as my forgetfulness, my dissipation: ‘You went home from your shopping. You put the coat on a bicycle, as you always do, and it fell off without you noticing it.’

In my email of January 9 I wrote to my daughter:

Yesterday, when I was making supper, I was so dissipated - still thinking of the film [My fair Lady], and of my next blog [Meno 1] - that you had to guide me step by step. But there is a mystery, which I cannot solve by blaming my dissipation. This morning, as I was preparing to go for my walk, I could not find my warm coat. Finally, I went into the corridor, and there it was, just behind the corner, near to the door that leads to the stairs. As far as I can remember, after supper I told you I didn't feel like accompanying you, and went with you downstairs. We embraced, you parted. There was no reason for me to take the coat, and had it been where I found it this morning, we would have seen it.’

No comments:

Post a Comment