brainstorms

Thursday June 02, 2005

linguistic irritations found in a nearby bookstore

a bookshelf labelled controversial knowledge sits next to the philosophy section, right under wicca, witchcraft, UFOs etc. this is a recent label in the bookstore. i know it is intended to make the buyer feel less stupid about buying something from this section; not only does it assume a higher-than-a-tarpit stance by claiming the knowledge in its title, it is also reassuring to the reader: noone can tell you that encyclopedia of psychic energy fields you are about to buy is an absolute waste of nice wood pulp and neurons: it says controversial knowledge, right there!

perhaps just a cruel and amusing coincidence, at the end of the shelf is the overflow/beginning of the philosophy section and a copy of the reasonably good, all white encyclopedia of pseudoscience. i laughed. [i should petition the bookstore to have the philosophy section moved next to the science section]