Friday, April 24, 2009

The Oh Noes throughout history

The Sister and I are both familiar with a concept we call the OH NOES, when, after a night of partying, one begins to recount in one's mind what one did or said the previous evening and then exclaims, either to oneself or others, "OH NO." I'm assured that it's a not uncommon phenomenon.

But until the recent issue of Harpers arrived, I didn't realize that the Oh Noes had afflicted others throughout history. Viz.:

From a July 1842 letter by Edgar Allan Poe to the publishers of the Democratic Review. William Ross Wallace, a friend of Poe’s, was a poet and lawyer. Recently acquired by the University of Virginia, the letter is part of an exhibit on view there this summer in celebration of Poe’s bicentennial.

Gentlemen,

Will you be kind enough to put the best possible interpretation upon my behavior while in N. York? You must have conceived a queer idea of me—but the simple truth is that Wallace would insist upon the juleps, and I knew not what I was either doing or saying.

I hope to see you at some future time, under better auspices.

In the meantime I remain,

Yours very truly,

E. A. Poe

In an amusing footnote to this story, The Sister advises me that, as of this very moment, she is suffering from the Oh Noes occasioned by many drinks at numerous locations, at one point involving singing a Heart song on karaoke at some bar in the Outer Mission. Oh no!

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