Annus Mirabilis

Sexual intercourse began
In nineteen sixty-three
(which was rather late for me) -
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles' first LP.

Up to then there'd only been
A sort of bargaining,
A wrangle for the ring,
A shame that started at sixteen
And spread to everything.

Then all at once the quarrel sank:
Everyone felt the same,
And every life became
A brilliant breaking of the bank,
A quite unlosable game.

So life was never better than
In nineteen sixty-three
(Though just too late for me) -
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles' first LP.

Philip Larkin
 

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

It used to be that trucks that were carrying gasoline said that they were inflammable, and as it happened a lot of people, even people who worked around these trucks, would be found lighting up cigarettes and unfortunately blowing up the trucks. Why would they possibly do that? A pair of linguists discovered that there was this unconscious association with this word inflammable, which they thought meant not flammable. So now all gasoline trucks say “flammable,” which wasn’t even a word beforehand.

human becoming

become a victim of yr own
imagination
be drunk and sad-sad so maybe
then you'll understand why yr
so unhappy
be rowdy and cause ruckus
holler at cute skirt as it passes
puke, smoke a cigarette, and write
for the masses
that will only
hassle you when all you need is a
friend
when depressed, turn to conformity
it will ease yr pain and yr
family's lingering embarrassment
when meditative and contemplative, turn
to TV to kill off all individual
inspiration
drink triple espressos and use
condoms when being intimate
remember to stay under control at
all times and never let yr conclusions
be too drastic
when fucking, talk dirty and call
her a slut
be happy