WOTD FLASH FICTION
Jan. 10th, 2015 04:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
semiotic_pirateThe following flash fiction piece was inspired by the events in and around Paris this past week. I wanted to think of a way that it might come up in a history book in the far future. Although the events themselves turned out to be an unshown footnote reference in something that might be taken for Asimov's Encyclopedia Galactica, I felt it important to note here the inspiration for the piece (if it wasn't obvious, and for posterity.) Note that the description about the Satirical Mode was inspired by a comment made by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bart_calendar in a post by theferrett.
The Offerings
Pilcrow - The pilcrow (¶), also called the paragraph mark, paragraph sign, paraph, alinea (Latin: a lineā, "off the line"), or blind P, is a typographical character for individual paragraphs. The pilcrow was a type of rubrication used in the Middle Ages to mark a new train of thought, before the convention of visually discrete paragraphs was commonplace. origin It originally comes from the Greek paragraphos(para, “beside” and graphein, “to write”), which led to the Old French paragraph, which evolved into pelagraphe and then pelagreffe. Somehow, the word transformed into the Middle English pylcrafte and eventually became the “pilcrow.
Phalanx pha·lanx /ˈfālaNGks,ˈfalaNGks/ noun - (1) a group of people or things of a similar type forming a compact body. (2) a bone of the finger or toe (aka phalanges.) origin mid 16th century (denoting a body of Macedonian infantry): via Latin from Greek φάλαγξ.
Advocate ad·vo·cate /ˈadvəkət/ noun - a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy. synonyms champion, upholder, supporter, backer, promoter, proponent, exponent, spokesman, spokeswoman, spokesperson, campaigner, fighter, crusader. origin Middle English: from Old French avocat, from Latin advocatus, past participle (used as a noun) of advocare ‘call (to one's aid),’ from ad- ‘to’ + vocare ‘to call.’
Interosculate /in-ter-os-kyuh-leyt/ verb - to form a connecting link. origin Interosculate entered English in the late 1800s from osculate meaning "to come into close contact or union" and the prefix inter- meaning "between" or “among.”
Prologue pro·logue /ˈprōˌlôɡ/ noun - an event or action that leads to another event or situation. origin Middle English: from Old French, via Latin from Greek prologos, from pro- ‘before’ + logos ‘saying.’
Carpe Diem Carpe diem is a Latin aphorism usually translated to "seize the day", taken from a poem in the Odes (book 1, number 11) in 23 BC by the poet Horace. Carpe is the second-person singular present active imperative of carpō "pick or pluck" used by Ovid to mean "enjoy, seize, use, make use of".[1] Diem is the accusative case of the noun dies "day". A more literal translation of "carpe diem" would thus be "enjoy the day" or "pluck the day [as it is ripe]"—i.e., to enjoy the moment. In western education the tag is now often rendered as "take advantage of the opportunities arising in the day."
Carpe diem; uti verba ad succedunt. Historiae
Excerpt Requested: Book 543,625,559; Page 39,944; Section 432.59-432.60
The Advocates were known to employ their phalanxes in the creation of words and pictures, using the graphite and ink bound tools of their forebears as well as the ASCII encoded characters of their peers. Their words were organized and led by pilcrows, set to act against the walls of arrogance and in the service of their clients, the downtrodden.
Pictures used by The Advocates acted to interosculate people with the concepts described in the aforementioned words. Depending upon the assigned methodology, these pictures could cause high levels of emotional distress and were able to cause extreme reactions in certain populations. One of the most potent types of interosculators were made us of in the Satirical Mode. The effectiveness of the Satirical Mode, whose main function was to create images and content that is so offensive that it forced a dialogue about serious issues that were often swept under the nanoplating, was thought to be well worth the risk of any potential threat posed by these reactions.
bart_calendar in a post by theferrett.The Offerings
Pilcrow - The pilcrow (¶), also called the paragraph mark, paragraph sign, paraph, alinea (Latin: a lineā, "off the line"), or blind P, is a typographical character for individual paragraphs. The pilcrow was a type of rubrication used in the Middle Ages to mark a new train of thought, before the convention of visually discrete paragraphs was commonplace. origin It originally comes from the Greek paragraphos(para, “beside” and graphein, “to write”), which led to the Old French paragraph, which evolved into pelagraphe and then pelagreffe. Somehow, the word transformed into the Middle English pylcrafte and eventually became the “pilcrow.
Phalanx pha·lanx /ˈfālaNGks,ˈfalaNGks/ noun - (1) a group of people or things of a similar type forming a compact body. (2) a bone of the finger or toe (aka phalanges.) origin mid 16th century (denoting a body of Macedonian infantry): via Latin from Greek φάλαγξ.
Advocate ad·vo·cate /ˈadvəkət/ noun - a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy. synonyms champion, upholder, supporter, backer, promoter, proponent, exponent, spokesman, spokeswoman, spokesperson, campaigner, fighter, crusader. origin Middle English: from Old French avocat, from Latin advocatus, past participle (used as a noun) of advocare ‘call (to one's aid),’ from ad- ‘to’ + vocare ‘to call.’
Interosculate /in-ter-os-kyuh-leyt/ verb - to form a connecting link. origin Interosculate entered English in the late 1800s from osculate meaning "to come into close contact or union" and the prefix inter- meaning "between" or “among.”
Prologue pro·logue /ˈprōˌlôɡ/ noun - an event or action that leads to another event or situation. origin Middle English: from Old French, via Latin from Greek prologos, from pro- ‘before’ + logos ‘saying.’
Carpe Diem Carpe diem is a Latin aphorism usually translated to "seize the day", taken from a poem in the Odes (book 1, number 11) in 23 BC by the poet Horace. Carpe is the second-person singular present active imperative of carpō "pick or pluck" used by Ovid to mean "enjoy, seize, use, make use of".[1] Diem is the accusative case of the noun dies "day". A more literal translation of "carpe diem" would thus be "enjoy the day" or "pluck the day [as it is ripe]"—i.e., to enjoy the moment. In western education the tag is now often rendered as "take advantage of the opportunities arising in the day."
Carpe diem; uti verba ad succedunt. Historiae
Excerpt Requested: Book 543,625,559; Page 39,944; Section 432.59-432.60
The Advocates were known to employ their phalanxes in the creation of words and pictures, using the graphite and ink bound tools of their forebears as well as the ASCII encoded characters of their peers. Their words were organized and led by pilcrows, set to act against the walls of arrogance and in the service of their clients, the downtrodden.
Pictures used by The Advocates acted to interosculate people with the concepts described in the aforementioned words. Depending upon the assigned methodology, these pictures could cause high levels of emotional distress and were able to cause extreme reactions in certain populations. One of the most potent types of interosculators were made us of in the Satirical Mode. The effectiveness of the Satirical Mode, whose main function was to create images and content that is so offensive that it forced a dialogue about serious issues that were often swept under the nanoplating, was thought to be well worth the risk of any potential threat posed by these reactions.
