Wednesday, July 07, 2004

On July 7, 1944
the Professor wrote a letter to his son Christopher, in which he talked about one of his favorite languages:

Finnish nearly ruined my Hon. Mods, and was the orginal germ for the Silmarillion.


Later in the same letter, he comments on the modern ignorance of classical literature:

Even if people have heard of the legends (which is getting rarer) they have no inkling of their portent. How could a maker of motorbikes name his prodcut Ixion Cycles ! Ixion, who was bound forever in hell on a perpertually revolving wheel !



I've come across a modern parallel- whoever came up with the name Toyota Cressida obviously hadn't read his Chaucer, or even his Shakespeare.

2 Comments:

Blogger Hilary Jane Margaret White said...

I always thought it would be funny to name a car "Sisyphus". I'd probably buy one; he's the classical myth character with whom I most identify.

7:24 PM  
Blogger Cacciaguida said...

Just what I've always said about the "Cressida". It was one of Toyota's very, very few market failures. Who would buy a car that breaks down after the first night?!

-- Cacciaguida

12:11 PM  

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