The Crux Of The Biscuit

[Barry]

A dutch fellow over at http://www.thebignote.com/guestbook/ just asked if we could help in understanding "the crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe".

As he's dutch, I responded in dutch:

"the crux of the biscuit" betekent "de essentie" of "wat uiteindelijk echt telt" - dus:
"de essentie is uiteindelijk de apostrophe". En wat is dan de apostrophe? Datgene wat ervoor zorgt dat bepaalde dingen weggelaten worden; of op zijn minst niet zo overduidelijk aanwezig zijn - FZ gebruikt een linguistisch gegeven en geeft het politieke/sociologische betekenis. Dat of ik heb het grandioos verkeerd voor, natuurlijk. :-)

Transcribed:

"the crux of the biscuit" means "the essence" or "that which really counts in the end" - so: "the essence is the apostrophe". So then what is the apostrophe? It is the instance that takes care of omitting certain things, or at the very least, that which makes things less transparent, less obvious to discover. FZ uses a given linguistical character (the apostrophe) and gives it political/sociological meaning. Either that or I'm totally mistaken, obviously :-)

Ben Watson anyone?

* ducks *

[Bobo]

This specific question seems to be popular:

http://plateaupress.com.au/wfw/cruxofth.htm:
 
http://www.arf.ru/Notes/Apostro/stfoot.html:

http://www.apostropher.com/blog/archives/000091.html

http://spanghew.blogspot.com/2004/08/crux-of-biscuit.html

http://www.faginfamily.net/barry/columns/14%20January%207th%202005.htm

http://www.militantesthetix.co.uk/ice-z/DOMIN.htm

http://www.killuglyradio.com/hot-poop/2004/04/27/apostrophe

...

Maybe not a Watsonian way, but still: happy reading !

[tahoejim]

Barry is correct about "the crux of the biscuit"— it is the essence, or the pivotal point. Apostrophe, though poses interesting possibilities. It is not only name of the punctuation mark (') – it has another meaning as a literary term or device, seldom used in modern English:

Apostrophe
Apart from its use as the name of a mark of punctuation ('), the term apostrophe is used for a kind of formal invocation. Sometimes the invocation is to an absent (or even dead) person: "Milton," writes Wordsworth, "thou shouldst be living at this hour;/ England hath need of thee." At other times, an inanimate object can be invoked: "O you gentle day sky!" Apostrophizing an inanimate object may involve personifying it.

Apostrophe
Apostrophe, figure of speech in which an absent person, a personified inanimate being, or an abstraction is addressed as though present. The term is derived from a Greek word meaning “a turning away,” and this sense is maintained when a narrative or dramatic thread is broken in order to digress by speaking directly to someone not there, e.g., “Envy, be silent and attend!”—Alexander Pope, “On a Certain Lady at Court.”

[MentalTossFlycoon]

I always thought it meant that the points at the end of Milk Bones look like apostrophes...

... which they do.

The deep, hidden meanings in Zappa songs were often neither deep nor hidden. Sometimes, all you needed to figure them out was a dog.