The Mystery and the Miasma
I was supposed to look up something I used to remember before I fade it out of my mind and think it just a dream.
And then I remember: miasma. Lodged in my brain like a splinter is a short conversation between a man and a woman (who may or may not have been wearing a sandwich-board sign) centering around the word miasma. The young woman uses the word in description, (I don't know what they were talking about) and the man stops her, slightly amused, "miasma?" he says. "Miasma," she affirms, in good humor. They continue their discussion, and use the word again a few times self-consciously, and they may or may not have in a Victorian setting (the woman was in a dress, at least).
This quaint little scene has been floating in my head for several days now, or at least I think it has been. It float up to my consciousness every once in a while and I try to remember to look up what this scene was from. I wonder if it came from a movie or a television show. It's very possible I read it somewhere, except I remember their voices too clearly. I'm pretty sure it didn't happen in real life, but I don't think it was a dream either.
So I finally remember to get to the bottom of all this, I check my dictionary, unsure how to spell it at first. The characters pronounced it "miz ah ma" and the official pronounciation is "my az ma." Uh-oh. That they were deliberately mispronouncing it might have been the source of their amusement over the word, possibly. I had previously been unfamiliar with the word, but it means approximately what I thought, and makes sense in the context of their conversation (they had been discussing a problem).
I google the word, thinking I'll come up with a transcript of the conversation that would settle the matter once and for all. Everything's on the internet, right? No such luck. The word is popular for user names, and google also turns up a PG Wodehouse story, "The Man, the Maid, and the Miasma," some idiot's band or album or something, and an academic paper about miasma in Victorian London (intriguing, but ultimately unsatisfying).
So anyone have any ideas about this? If it was just from a dream, then this is the second time in a few days that I have seriously confused a dream and reality and I apologize for taking up your time.
And then I remember: miasma. Lodged in my brain like a splinter is a short conversation between a man and a woman (who may or may not have been wearing a sandwich-board sign) centering around the word miasma. The young woman uses the word in description, (I don't know what they were talking about) and the man stops her, slightly amused, "miasma?" he says. "Miasma," she affirms, in good humor. They continue their discussion, and use the word again a few times self-consciously, and they may or may not have in a Victorian setting (the woman was in a dress, at least).
This quaint little scene has been floating in my head for several days now, or at least I think it has been. It float up to my consciousness every once in a while and I try to remember to look up what this scene was from. I wonder if it came from a movie or a television show. It's very possible I read it somewhere, except I remember their voices too clearly. I'm pretty sure it didn't happen in real life, but I don't think it was a dream either.
So I finally remember to get to the bottom of all this, I check my dictionary, unsure how to spell it at first. The characters pronounced it "miz ah ma" and the official pronounciation is "my az ma." Uh-oh. That they were deliberately mispronouncing it might have been the source of their amusement over the word, possibly. I had previously been unfamiliar with the word, but it means approximately what I thought, and makes sense in the context of their conversation (they had been discussing a problem).
I google the word, thinking I'll come up with a transcript of the conversation that would settle the matter once and for all. Everything's on the internet, right? No such luck. The word is popular for user names, and google also turns up a PG Wodehouse story, "The Man, the Maid, and the Miasma," some idiot's band or album or something, and an academic paper about miasma in Victorian London (intriguing, but ultimately unsatisfying).
So anyone have any ideas about this? If it was just from a dream, then this is the second time in a few days that I have seriously confused a dream and reality and I apologize for taking up your time.