A week has passed and I
can’t help noticing that the questions in the previous two posts have been left
unanswered. Surely it can’t be because there are few good dictionaries around?
The questions were meant
to open a new topic, since we all know
and comment on the obsession with physical beauty. Marilyn was far from being obsessed
with it in the same sense as we use the term today, for she was endowed
naturally with beauty by even the most rigorous standards.
What was a case in point in the previous post
had to do with language. Use late in
the structure I’m sorry (no comma, no
pause!) I’m late and everybody will understand
that you apologize for not being punctual, or for not arriving on time. People
who are latecomers arrive late for their appointments, and it
seems they can’t help it – that is, latecomers suffer from lateness by definition.
But use the same word
(as an adjective) before a noun – or a name (as in the case of Marilyn to refer
to the actress’s renowned lateness) and the only meaning you will get is that
the person has passed away. Needless to say, we could do better than to
associate the presenter’s cruel joke with the fact that Marilyn had at the time
some eighty days left to live; we might assume instead that he insisted on
being “witty” in front of the 15,000 people in the hall, at the same time doing his best to cheer
up the president (his brother-in-law) celebrated on the occasion.
Which sends us back in
time to where we left the “thread”: dictionary work. Without this invaluable
tool, I’m afraid the next two posts will seem a bit obscure. In fact, they are
the facets of one of the most highly
topical subjects these days: physical perfection.
So, what is your idea of
physical beauty?
Is it true that ‘beauty
is in the eye of the beholder’ as a former post was trying to prompt you to
answer, and has now become the title of the present post?
Do we have a uniform
concept of physical perfection?
Few people are born with
a ‘perfect’ body. But what does ‘perfect’ mean? Should we take it to mean the Golden Myth of Perfect Proportions
in Leonardo da Vinci’s sketch of the Vitruvian Man?
What happens when people
are dissatisfied with their physiques?
You will find out in the article below.
