You said we were make believe and I thought you said ‘maple leaves’*

The internets is so funny. Sometimes I experience meta-jealousy about the cool lives that peoples lead. I think of my quotidian struggles that revolve around developmental milestones, diapers, and spills. Then a writer who makes interesting cultural commentaries on life, the universe, and everything makes a little err and I swoop in via email with my erudite corrections and experience a moment of meta-Schadenfreude. To wit:
“Did anyone happen to catch the news today when several elected officials–liberal and conservative–were rebutting Hugo Chavez’ insulting comments about Bush II? Nancy Pelosi, who I respect a great deal, in a press conference, seemed a wee bit flustered. I could have sworn, correct me if I’m going deaf (which is a possible side effect of years of punk rock and house music), that she said that Chavez “fancies himself a modern day Simone BeauDevoir.â€� I tried to double check this online but came up empty windowed. Could this smart, sassy politician possibly have uttered such a malapopism? Perhaps only noticable to the intelligencia (so was it really a malapropism since most of the country is part of what Mike Judge terms an “Idiocracy“), Pelosi was referring, I assume to Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre’s feminist partner for years. Apart from the name error–BeauDevoir in French actually translates into, “Handsome Assignment,â€� isn’t that an odd reference? Comparing a South American dictator to a feminist existentialist. It’s kind of like Dada. I just don’t get it.“

The only reason I am quick to make the connection between Simone DeBeauvoir and Simon Bolivar is that we recently watched a video of President Ikeda whence he quoted the great man. “In Strength lies Virtue.” “I have a thousand times more trust in the people than in their deputies.”

But the she handles it so gracefully that she only rises in my esteem. Must work on my mudita.

*Ah, Jens Lekman, I loves ya! The man has a lyric for everything.