The thing about Americans, Sebastian has always felt — and time has served only to reinforce this judgment — is that they don't take language seriously, violating the sanctity of morphemes: THANX and PIX and NU and &: ampersands respectable enough symbols until they deteriorate to apostrophe N. THIS N' THAT. Or WHILE-U-WAIT. Brutal distortions, abbreviations, degrading shorthand. Chaotic constructions: winningest of all? Now, that's obscene. Moreover, it's humiliating to be standing in front of this door, the victim of some spurious; no, simply fallacious message, that for some reason, or for the aforementioned reasons, he feels unable to dismiss. That is, at least, how he would defend his position, the closest thing he has to religion: to take language seriously, even if it gravely inconveniences him. It is, yes, a matter of principle. He feels he somehow owes it to language to wait, to miss the plane if need be, in order to see his mission all through. Absurd, granted, but that's how he feels right now. He'll wait. Nonchalantly, but he will wait, so he walks away from the door and the mocking sign, to the sidewalk, to the corner — there's a fair amount of traffic — where there isn't any stop sign but there should be.

Mary Caponegro, Sebastian
Copyright © 1990 by Mary Caponegro. All rights reserved.

Posted 25 November 1996

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