Couldn't resist...
Freely adapted from an anonymous poem in Eugenics Review (July 1929) and found in my Oxford Dictionary of Quotations:
See the happy Luddite.
He doesn't give a damn.
I wish I were a Luddite.
My God! Perhaps I am!
...except in my case, there's no perhaps about it!
When I walked out to the bike rack after work, my back tire was flat. I usually leave 15 minutes before the end of the largest shift, but the flat put me in the traffic mix going out the gate just after 3:30. It wasn't a problem, though, because I'd worked that shift often, and those motorists going north have all seen me on the road at that time.
I had a light tailwind all the way home. I really need to get the Bianchi back on the road and take advantage of these days. My fixed gear - the Luddite's choice of bicycle - is just geared a bit too low for tailwind rides.
See the happy Luddite.
He doesn't give a damn.
I wish I were a Luddite.
My God! Perhaps I am!
...except in my case, there's no perhaps about it!
When I walked out to the bike rack after work, my back tire was flat. I usually leave 15 minutes before the end of the largest shift, but the flat put me in the traffic mix going out the gate just after 3:30. It wasn't a problem, though, because I'd worked that shift often, and those motorists going north have all seen me on the road at that time.
I had a light tailwind all the way home. I really need to get the Bianchi back on the road and take advantage of these days. My fixed gear - the Luddite's choice of bicycle - is just geared a bit too low for tailwind rides.
posted by Ed W at 6:18 PM
2 Comments:
*ahem* Eugenics Review? In 1929, that would have included articles about coercive sterilization or contraception for people with "undesirable" traits, like dark colored skin.
Yep. I found the original anonymous poem in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, Second Edition, 1955. I was somewhat leary of the 'Eugenics Review' citation, too. But I included it anyway. While we may find the subject repugnant and inherently racist, in 1929 it was likely more acceptable.
The book of quotations was originally British and heavily favors British authors. The first edition was published in London in 1941. In the Compilers to the Reader foreword, it says, "The foreign quotations are not intended to satisfy the foreigner..." Apparently, 'foreigner' includes Americans.
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