Humor

The English word “BS” has become one of the most successful insults in the language. It is not merely a synonym for falsehood. It is a way of refusing the dirty weight of a more vulgar word while still naming the same condition. In Spanish, mierda carries the smell of the body and the street. In French, merde carries the bluntness of matter and the ugly dignity of the real. English gives us BS, crisp, abstract, almost courteous. It is a very elegant way of saying that something is full of air. …

There was an eleventh-century Tibetan lama known to his students as Gloomy Face. His given name was Langthangpa Dorje Senge; the nickname came from a vow he had taken never to smile. He was also one of the teachers responsible for transmitting the Lojong mind-training slogans — a collection of pithy instructions whose recurring theme is the danger of taking oneself too seriously. The irony, apparently, was intentional. He lived the joke so completely that he became it. …