Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons

I recall having a sudden insight into what Kurt Vonnegut was getting at with the terms “wampeters,“ “foma“ and “granfalloons“ in Cat’s Cradle, especially “granfalloon,” which Vonnegut called “a proud and meaningless association,” such as a sports team. (He uses the term “Hoosiers” as an example in something he wrote, I forget the reference. Vonnegut was from Indiana. I don’t know what a Hoosier is, but I gather there are some there.)

Vonnegut explained these terms in the book Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons, but it was much more fun encountering them through his stories. His genius was in part an ability to transform the ordinary into the absurd and vice versa.

(“And the excrement hit the air conditioning,” for example, or surviving the Dresden bombing, which he did only because he was imprisoned in an underground bunker.)

There’s a bit of magic that never evaporates when the mundane is wrapped in something beautiful, like a poem or a picture or a song or a movie, or the nonsensical, like granfalloons.

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Being great at something has less value when lots of people are good at it and the difference doesn't matter.

[2013-10-28]

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