Saturday, July 8, 2023

Frank Hollander Gives Us All Something to Ogpon


In the research for my recent article for Salon.com I spent considerable time trying to decode Dick's use of 'ogpon' in relation the rhetorizor.  Specifically, this bit: 


In the article I was forced to write, "Your guess is as good as mine as to the etymology of "ogpon." "Cogitate upon"?"

Luckily for all of us, master Dick-Head Frank Hollander has cracked the case. He writes: 

"... after seeing the company name Arti-Gan, which awkwardly takes gan from the word organ, I decided that "pon" as the last syllable of a word was going to be the right call ... so I became a little more sympathetic to "cogitate upon" ... however, from a giant word list I have for just this sort of thing, I generated a list of words that end in "pon," of which there are not many ... and the word "weapon" stands out ... that quickly leads me to the absolutely right, entirely thematically correct, and unassailable answer ... "propOGanda weaPON" ... which is the purpose of this device in the fake war." 

I feel like Watson, having watched Holmes solve a case like it was "elementary" 

Hollander signs off: "This is my greatest achievement in life and I am standing by for your praise." 

So give it to him in the comments, folks! 

2 comments:

Lord RC said...

Way to go, Frank! Sounds about right to me! See you in 2024 :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks