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There are useless letters
and letters which could be
dispensed with
What separate functions do
d and t perform?
They have almost the same sound
The same goes for b and p
...
They are calligraphic folderol
Look at the digits:
there are no two which serve
the same function:
4 is 4 and 7 is 7
And consider the beauty
with which the 4 and the 7 form
this thing which is represented by 11
Now double and you have 22
Multiply it by itself. It makes 484,
and so on
But where the perfection is greatest
is in the use of zero
The value of zero is, in itself, nothing
But what is the function
of this negative symbol?
To augment
A 5 alone is a 5
Place 00 with it, it is 500
Thus, that which has no value
makes great value
something which doubled letters don't do,
for I approve as much
with one p as with two p's
***
Dom Casmurro
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I think Machado de Assis
ReplyDeleteis a direct descendent of your Godfather:
Lewis Carroll
Aren't we all?
DeleteBut Machado de Assis
is a duplication of
the author of Alice in Wonderland
who landed on a continent
south of the equator.
Machado de Assis is only seven years
younger than Lewis Carroll
Maybe Machado is the missing brother
Deleteof the Carroll [nee Dodgson family
who had to escape the strictures
of life in England.
Maybe we need to let
Deleteeveryone else know this.