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December 28, 2003

Quadrophobia

she.jpgReading through the NYT listing of new DVD releases, I learned an unwelcome new word. It seems all four Alien movies have been released as "The Alien Quadrilogy." Quadrilogy. I ask you, people. Is something wrong with tetralogy that I don't know about? Here we have a perfectly good word, and so few opportunities to use it. Gene Wolfe's many tetralogies provide most of us with our only chances (and all of them are also teratologies, inasmuch as they're chock full of monsters, ha ha. OK, I thought it was funny.) We have to fight against the scourge of quadriolgy. It may seem quixotic, but if each of us can tell four friends...aww, this is a losing battle, isn't it. This is four kinds of lame.

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Comments

Bryan

Quadrilogy: The study of the Quadrille.

Posted by: Bryan | December 29, 2003 at 06:44 AM

msw

"Four part series" would have been better, but if we must fancy it up and risk the return of fascism, maybe sticking with just one dead language isn't such a bad idea. As one who recently had to remember (under timed conditions) that heptane has 7 carbons, I say leave the ancient greek to the ancient greeks.

(My least favorite O Chem taxonomical crime is r and s enantiomers. Not "right" and "left", or at least "dexta" and "sinistra". Nope. "right" and "sinistra". Jesus Christi! Jesu Christ!)

Posted by: msw | December 30, 2003 at 01:24 AM

an owner

My household received the "quadrilogy" as a gift; I was amazed by how stupid such a large group of people could be.

Posted by: an owner | January 08, 2004 at 06:39 AM

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