Skip to main content

Greek Donuts

Friends,

This week, my wife scared me half to death. I was so absorbed reading Plato, I had not noticed her sitting behind me. So, imagine my surprise when I turned to find a masked Greek theater performer (or, as it turns-out, my wife wearing her beauty treatment). While my pulse slowly returned to normal, I started wondering why Greek names haven’t caught on. After all, Greece is the cradle of civilization. Then again, perhaps the foreign-sounding appellatives add gravitas to the great philosophers of old. Would Socrates come down a notch if the folks in his dialogues had ordinary names like Bob, Joe or Mike; instead of Euthyphro, Crito or Simmias? Let’s take the phone booth time machine* out for a spin, babble fish** in ear, to the 5th century B.C., where we can be a fly on the wall for a random philosophical discourse:

  • SOCRATES: So, Joe, we agree our senses trick us and don’t let us see the true essence of things. You good with that?
  • JOE: Sure thing, bro!
  • SOCRATES: And Bob, don’t it follow that pleasure and pain are like duct-tape, strapping the soul to the body, fooling the mind and making us think this world is more real, when we know that’s a bunch of hooey?
  • BOB: Righteous, dude!

Alright. So maybe I laid-on the Bill and Ted/San Dimas High, too heavily (or was that Hillbilly and Ted?) Still, you get my point. Or, maybe you don’t, after all, donuts – Loukoumades, if you’re Greek — have no angles. To paraphrase Homer Simpson, that other great philosopher, mmm… loukoumades!


Monica playing the part of ​Xanthippe – or, perhaps the gorgon Medusa?


Happy Friday!


* A reference to Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

** A reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Donut Doodle Dandy

Dear Members and Constituents, In trying to figure-out Wednesday’s cool-looking Google Doodle ( Jorge Luis Borges’ 112 th birthday ), I stumbled across a list of Google Doodles you’ll never see. This, and a Rockies game later that day, were sufficient inspiration to get my head spinning around what other doodles Google might never noodle? I’m sure you’ll probably have a few ideas of your own, but I was able to come-up with a couple. How about a former Colorado Rockies player whose unfortunate encounter with a moth put him in the news this week? The Matt Holliday doodle might look something like this… Another item which, surprisingly enough, has not been made into a doodle are donuts. Although I was slightly taken aback to find this delicious pastry has not been featured, after the initial disappointment, I decided to take matters into my own hands and take a stab at one (perhaps Google can use it next year for national donut day )… or to celebrate Greek police having “ blown a ho...

Gilding the Donut

Friends, Despite writing about donuts (sort of) for over 20 years, I don’t believe in sugar coating, after all, honesty is the best policy. Gilding, on the other hand I’m good with. Take the church of the Society of Jesus in Quito, (AKA La Compañía). Built in fits and starts between 1597 and 1765, the volcanic rock baroque facade conceals a spectacular interior. I had the chance to go inside this week and although I had heard about the gold leaf work inside, the descriptions had not done it justice. The details from floor to ceiling transport you to another world, perhaps that’s the point. If you’re ever there, be sure to visit. And while you’re there stop by one of the many panaderías … if you’re lucky they might even have a donut. Happy Friday!

The Wrong Word

Friends, Do you ever find yourself starting to say a word, realizing it’s the wrong choice and trying to change it while speaking — making it worse? For me, it’s happened more times than I care to admit. A recurring faux pas for me occurs at the part of the mass where the congregation says “when we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim your death, o Lord, until you come again”. For some reason my brain wants to say “profess” instead of “proclaim” — which would essentially mean the same thing. Unfortunately, in my clumsy attempts to fix my mistake mid-word, what comes out sounds like “profane” — totally the wrong vibe. Good thing the entire congregation is saying the same thing in unison. If someone heard me they might think the priest was consecrating a donut, instead of the host. Happy Friday!