Redefinition of the Reality
Research, n.:
Consider Columbus:
He didn’t know where he was going.
When he got there he didn’t know where he was.
When he got back he didn’t know where he had been.
And he did it all on someone else’s money.
The history of warfare is similarly subdivided, although here the phases
are Retribution, Anticipation, and Diplomacy. Thus:
Retribution:
I’m going to kill you because you killed my brother.
Anticipation:
I’m going to kill you because I killed your brother.
Diplomacy:
I’m going to kill my brother and then kill you on the pretext that your brother did it.
boss, n:
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, in the Middle Ages the words “boss” and “botch” were largely synonymous, except that boss, in addition to meaning “a supervisor of workers” also meant “an ornamental stud.”
