| aeroplane,
A sexual symbol useful for getting rapidly from Berlin
to Vienna. (attributed to FREUD) |
annihilated,
Annulled, by inhaling nothingingness. (LEIRUS) |
| anthrax, Giant
of Greek mythology, son of Thorax and Erysipelas, ravisher
of the nymph Acne. |
aphorism, The
aphorism is a poultice of consolation. (PANNAERS) |
| aquarium, Humid
square of requiems. (LEIRUS) |
art, Art is a pharmaceutical
product for imbeciles. (PICABIA) |
| ash, A disease
of cigars. (PERET) |
atomizer, Built
to please the Khemer king who had the idea of squeezing the
peel of a tangerine into a flame. |
| attic, The idea
of removing it from dwellings goes back to Catius Gracchus'
favorite slave. She hoped in this way to keep the swallows
nesting in the roof from leaving in the autumn.(PERET) |
axiom, Fixed miasma,
malign aroma . . .[LEIRIS] |
| beauty, Beauty
is simply the total consciousness of our perfections. [DALI]
Beauty shall be convulsive or it will not be . . . Convulsive
beauty shall be erotic-veiled, explosive-fixed, magical-circumstantial,
or not be. [BRETON] |
belief, Beliefs
are ideas going bald. [PICABIA] |
| billiards, Constructed
for the purpose of a demonstration by Pico della Mirandola,
who wished to establish that human dialogue depends on nature
and is only opposed (not insurmountably) by the sun. [BRETON
& PERET] |
boat, Looking
at the sea being ploughed by boats, the Buddhist priest Kanguen
asked his deciple Daichi "Could you from your room
stop those boats sailing past?" The young disciple
closed the shutters. Then the master said: "All the
same, you couldn't have stopped the boat if you had no hands."
The young disciple closed his eyes. |
| bordello, Small
cradle on casters used by the Bordelais - She placed her
daughter in a bordello. |
buttons, Made fashionable
by Isabella of Bavaria, who secured her blouse with snowdrops.
[BRETON & PERET] |
| cadence, Quradrature
of silence.[LEIRIS] |
causality, "Notions
of cause and effect concentrate on and are bound up with that
of universal interdependence in whose womb cause and effect
incessantly change place." [ENGELS] |
| chaos, Cloaca.
Not yet encased, where causes croak. [LEIRUS] |
chance, "Chance
would be the manifestation of the exterior necessity which
battles its way through man's unconscious." [BRETON] |
| cocteau, A variety
of small cock with attractive plumage and a taste for ostentatious
display, becomes restive if forced to work. The cocteau is
not a good breeder.. [ANDRE GIDE] |
credulity, Normal
rather than morbid characteristic of the human race. Important
because of its consequences, notably of the body's position
during sleep. [COLINET & KINDS] |
| cynicism, The
worm of mockery that spoils the otherwise delicious fruit
of complete freedom. [LEGRAND] |
dada, Dada is
a virgin microbe that with the fickleness of air enters all
the spaces reason has not been able to overload with words
or conventions. [TZARA] Dada puts mustard in the ciboria,
urine in the fonts, and margarine in the artists tubes of
paint. [RIBEMONT-DESSAIGNES] |
| death, Death is
the horizontal prolongation of a factitious dream, life not
being verifiable. [PICABIA] If you want to die, just carry
on! [DADA PROVERB] |
debauch, Special
organization of one's private life as a reaction against social
insanity. [SCHUSTER] |
| decalcomania,
During a costume ball given in 1854 at the court of Napoleon
III, Seymour appeared disguised as a prowler, his forehead
covered with false tattoos reproducing the portrait of Gabrielle
d'Estree with the Duchess of Villars. [BRETON & PERET] |
depravity, Descending
the ascending path of pleasure. [MIME BENOIT] |
| dog, A dog is not
a hammock [SERNER] |
dream, Dream is
a tunnel running beneath reality. [REVERDY] |
| ejaculation, According
to the PETIT LAROUSSE ILLUSTRE, a short prayer uttered with
fervor. It's brevity is generally to be deplored, as is its
tendency among certain people, to frequent repetition, which
is strictly contrary to the express instructions of the Ecclesiastical
Authorities. A prickly problem of conscience then, which artists,
writers and financiers alone have resolved, so far as it affects
them, by employing it with the strictest economy. |
elephant, Puffed
up elf. [LEIRUS] Elephants are contagious. |
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| enemy, All our
enemies are mortal. [VALERY] |
eternity, Eternity
begins and ends in bed. [ELUARD] |
| folklore, Acid
chemical product extracted with great difficulty from the
earth. |
fornication, A
checmicio-mechanical operation consisting of softening iron
bars and then tempering them in a vat of water brought to
boiling point. [DICTIONARY OF REDISCOVERED WORDS] |
| fossil, Invention
of Leonardo da Vinci [DALI] |
infinity, there
are two infinities, God and stupidity.[VERESE] |
| knowledge, The
known is an exception, the unknown a deception. [PICABIA] |
lace, Created especially
for Laure de Clery who had desired a 'glade-colored nightshirt'. |
| literature, One
of the saddest roads that leads to anything. [BRETON] |
madness, The mad
are those who have lost their mirrors. Suppress mirrors. [RIGAUT] |
| masturbation, The
hand at the service of the imagination. [MIMI BENOIT] |
morality, Morality
is the backbone of half-wits. [PICABIA] |
| music, Music is
the diarrhea of the intellect. [REBEMONT-DESSAIGNES] |
mustard, Produced
in 1165 at the request of the anti-pope Guido da Crema, who
was looking for anti-honey. [BRETON & PERET] |
| ovaries, Ovals
devoured by Eve. [LEIRIS] |
paradise, All paradises
are artificial. [ARAGON] |
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| perception, "One
can affirm the presence or perception of an object when it
is present and perceived, when it is absent and perceived,
when it is neither present nor perceived" [QUERCY] |
perversion, The
infinite variations of the sexual urge have been condensed
by Freud in a famous and still scandalous formula: "The
child is polymorphously perverse." [LEGRAND] |
| phallus, The phallus
is exoteric in bed but usually esoteric in the street. [PICABIA]
|
phallustrade, It
is an alchemical product, composed of the following elements:
autostrade, balustrade and a certain quantity of
phallus. A phallustrade is a verbal collage. [ERNST] |
| poem, A poem must
be intellect's debacle. [BRETON & ELUARD] |
providence, All
approved accidents. [LEIRIS] |
| red eggs, At the
turn of the century, eggs given to the May Day demonstrators
by shopkeepers posted along the parade route. |
revolving doors,
Built at the request of the owner of the Cafe Anglais who,
to honor Evans on his return from Crete, reduced the labyrinth
to its simplest expression. [BRETON & PERET] |
| sacrifice, Factitious
solstice; acrid chalice, riddled with cicatrix. [LEIRIS] |
sanctity, "The
notion of the "soul", "spirit" and eventually
even the "immortal soul"; was invented so as to
bring to everything in life deserving of serious consideration
- food, lodging, learning, health, cleanliness, warmth - only
the most appalling thoughtlessness" [NIETSZCHE] |
| scandal, Sudden
disclosure, for purposes of provocation or challenge, of what
society and conventional morality tolerates only when camouflaged:
the 'shameful' human pudenda, man's exploitation of man, the
existence of torture, but also any outburst too unendurable
from a person out of step with his surroundings. [NORA NITRANI] |
sea, The sea is
the night asleep in the daytime. [DESNOS] |
| sex, The act of
sex is the axis of sects. [DESNOS] |
shadow, The shadow
precedes man, the assassin follows close behind. [NAVILLE] |
| suicide, Suicide
must be a vocation. [RIGAUT] |
surrealism, "The
vice known as Surrealism consists of the disordered and passional
application of the stupefying image" [ARAGON]
"Surrealism, in it's wider sense, represents the
most recent attempts to break with things as they are
and to substitute for them other things - immediately
operational and fully-formed - whose shifting contours are
inscribed in filigree at the very depths of being." [RAYMOND] |
| termite, Monk belonging
to a very strict order, now extinct, whose principle rule
was to put an end to all human activity. [The Devil turned
Termite SAINTE-BEUVE] |
thought, Thought
is considering death and taking a decision. [RIGAUT] |
| virtue, Virtue
is perfumed with crime. [DURTAIN] |
yes, Yes = No [PICABIA] |
The definitions in the above mini-dictionary
were taken from the following sources:
DICTIONNAIRE ABREGE DU SURREALISME, 1938,
edit by Breton & Eluard; LEXIQUE SUCCINCT DE L'EROTISME,
1959, collectively edited; the DICTIONNAIRE GENERAL which
appeared in the review DOCUMENTS 1929-30, edited by Georges
Bataille; CALENDIER TOUR DU MONDE DES INVENTIONS TOLERABLES,
1950, by Breton & Peret; the DA COSTA ENCYCLOPEDIQUE
1947, anonymously and collectively edited; PETIT DICTIONNAIRE
ARBITRAIRE 1970, edited by Annie LeBrun; DICTIONNAIRE DE
MEDICINE AMUSANTE, 1971, edited by Colinet & Kinds;
PETIT DICTIONAIRE DES MOTS RETROUVES, 1954, collective;
PETITE FOLIE COLLECTIVE, 1966, edited by Michel Corvin;
GLOSSAIRE . J'Y SERRE MES GLOSES, 1939, by Michel Leiris.
NOTE:
Those reading this who understand French will forgive me,
I hope, as I have left out the various accents, purely as
a time-saving gesture so this can be seen now instead of
MUCH LATER if they were cut/pasted to where they should
be. Mea-Culpa, etc.
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Erotic Hand Signing Chart
(Please excuse poor quality, had to scan it.)
Click on the image to see a larger version
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If You took the Shortcut to HERE
there are a lot of Definitions starting
here.
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