[lit-ideas] The Longest Hour

From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 9 Jun 2009 22:56:15 EDT

In a message dated 6/7/2009 10:23:44 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
THE ENEMY IS ME

>Food for the colony,  the teensy-weensy babies,
>not begged but worked for,
>long hours of  laborious labor.

----

So, I am puzzled.

Am I stupid -- or what?

I find

(1) This hour is long.

otiose, or possibly tautological. The correct seems to be:

(2) This hour is an hour long.

This poses the problem of 

(3) This meter is one meter long (Wittgenstein, Philosophical  
Investigations)
            --  referring to the standard meter in Paris.
            -- as  paradoxical.

(4) I spent long summer holidays.
              Victoria Ocampo

(5) In memory of the long summer days
            (Carroll).

In (4) and (5), it seems to make sense: a holiday can be more or less long, 
 ditto days are more or less long and summer days are the longest.

But an _hour_?

So, I submitted it's a Bergsonian metaphor.

I would bet my Vulva that there are, pessimistic as people are, more google 
 hits for 'long hours' than 'short hours'.

Cheers,

JLS
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[lit-ideas] The Longest Hour

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