Word: absurdity
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...oneself. This kind of humor is found in several of Mr. Herbert's contemporaries and compatriots; notably Hilaire Belloc and H. M. Bateman's drawings. But Mr. Herbert is alone in his remarkable simplicity of style and his difficult--almost apologetic--manner which as he sets forth the most absurd and ridiculous of matter are in themselves entrancing...
...word about rules. I sometimes get an absurd letter from some man, who fails to grasp what seems a simple point, and apparently thinks that rules are set up to suit the whim of the Librarian, and therefore it is a fair game to circumvent them; that fines or other charges are designed to enrich the institution or its employees, and therefore that one is at liberty to keep any book as long as he likes if only he pays the fines that accrue. What foolishness! Fines and charges are for the purpose of getting books back at the proper...
...person drunk enough. It is fairly easy to be foolish, but it is the hardest thing in the world to be a clever Fool. Both wit and humor require intelligence, wit chiefly in the manner of presenting an idea, humor in the sympathetic study of life's absurdities. Satire, another form of art that makes its points by emphasis on the absurd, depends also for its force chiefly on the intelligence behind the ridicule. For satire is a form of criticism and as criticism gives opportunity for the highest critical ability, the most logical thought to discover and emphasize...
Very annoying as well as amusing is your attitude toward Ireland. All the absurd bigotry of the "Transcript" has prevaded your editorials, and, like the snobbish offspring of a similarly snobbish parent you now patronize Ireland in her new freedom. "Through Tara's Hall", your most recent plaint, is particularly snotty...
...that the University can learn nothing from the Academy is equality absurd. The mere fact that it is an institution of the highest rank with entirely different aims is basis enough for advocating an exchange of ideas. By ending professors, who are officers in the Reserves and thus eligible for West Point's teaching staff, and receiving men from the military faculty, or by some other feasible plan, Harvard might benefit to no small degree from West Point's educational methods-something it never can do as long as the Utopian democracy idea persists...