Ticket to Ride (Deutsch Version)

So after walking through such venues as Unter den Linden, Brandenburg Gate, Potsdamer Platz, the Reichstag, and elsewhere, we decided to try one of those touristy boat rides with the glass ceilngs. Right near the Berliner Dom, just below a bridge decorated with lovely classical marble statues. It would be hard to believe they are from antiguity since some 70% of the city was destroyed, I believe, in World War II.

Anyway, the posted cost was 7 euros each (for two adults) and 3 euros for those under 14 (one). But the curly-haired guide told us she did not offer the tour in English. She uttered this in flawless English, of course. We asked about alternatives. She knew of none. She offered us a discount; 14 euros total. We took it.

It wasn't too bad; nor too great. For one hour, we toured the canals and rivers and listened to the tour guide's descriptions in German. That wasn't really bothersome. What was bothersome was not being in on the jokes. She seemed to telling jokes about architecture, seemed to be mocking the new chancellery buildings near the Reichstag. Maybe she was being sarcastic about the costs. I picked up the word "euros' frequently. I became defensive in my mind, defending the architects of this modern, dynamic buildings. I don't knpw what her laugh-out-loud jokes were, what her shtick is. I'll never know.

This coincided later that day with finishing Grammar Lessons by Michele Morano, with its telling observations about fluency and language and cultures.

It's late.

A few more headlines:

Only by happening to read The Guardian did I discover that a significant part of the wall was removed secretly in the night while we were here.

In the dead of night.

What a shame.

Does anyone here even know? Certainly no protests or alarms. Maybe that is the bigger crime.

Homeward bound soon.

Yes, we have our own shames to contend with.

Peace.

Filthy Lucre

I find the phrase filthy lucre semantically bountiful, with its oxymoronic hint of silvery luster besmirched by something shameful, perhaps even feces; its ambivalent conjurings of lust, Lucifer, and luck, all puritanically punished by the adjective filthy. As pointed out by the American Heritage Dictionary entry linked above, William Tyndale's 1526 English translation of the Bible used the phrase "filthy lucre," and the two words are now inseparably linked, at least in English. (Any readers of foreign tongue are invited to weigh in with their own versions of this phrase.)

I'm no Freudian (or even Jungian) psychoanalyst, but it has been said talking about money is the last taboo. An article by Alina Tugend in The New York Times of February 3, 2007, noted how, at least in America, people will divulge revelations of sexual abuse or details of sexual intimacy way more readily than financial secrets, especially among siblings, co-workers, and neighbors. In fact, the article noted that an anthology of 22 writers, called Money Changes Everything, edited by Elissa Schappell and Jenny Offill, lost out on the contribution of Writer 23. "He had written about his drug addiction, about a nervous breakdown, but he would not write about money."

Some say our obsession to have more than the next guy, or gal, is fueled by this secrecy; others say it is simply envy, or greed, or materialism, or media marketing. A movement known as voluntary simplification is seen as an antidote to this acquisition fever. Similarly, some call for a commercial-free childhood.

I wonder if athletes get terribly upset when their exorbitant salaries are announced. I have little doubt Armando Benitez and others would prefer that such facts be kept secret. I call it the price of fame. (Obviously, the price of fame is too high a cost for many, witness the current or former behavior of many celebrities.)

It turns out blogging is a salutary vehicle for many who are hugely in debt. They talk about it openly but more or less anonymously. One couple blogs about it. It's apparently easier than face to face.

I don't know where I'm going with any of this. At first I was going to write about semicolons, but I got sidetracked. Now I've run out of steam (John Dryden once scathingly wrote of "...the steaming ordures of the stage...").

Filthy Lucre just seemed like a more alluring topic. It's no wonder a band chose it as a name.

What would be the opposite of filthy lucre? Clean Cash? Pristine Profit?

Just doesn't have the same ring to it. Plus, is it really possible to have pristine profit?