It is my firm belief that one should watch assorted Monty Python on a regulated basis, because it makes you think about the important things in life.
Or at the very least, its well-crafted British humour (note the spelling) may lead you to wonder about poignant, worldly intellectual issues. Or at least ponder its funnies.
Take, for example, a scene from The Holy Grail, in which the knights are attempting to decipher an inscription that will lead them to the grail:
Brother Maynard: "It reads: ‘Here may be found the last words of Joseph of Arimathea. He who is valiant and pure of spirit may find the Holy Grail in the Castle of A-a-a-a-a-gh…"
King Arthur: "What?"
Maynard: "The Castle of A-a-a-a-a-gh."
Bedevere: "What is that?"
Maynard: "He must’ve died while carving it."
Lancelot: "Oh, come on."
Maynard: "Well, that’s what it says."
King Arthur: "Look, if he was dying, he wouldn’t bother to carve ‘A-a-a-a-gh.’ He’d just say it."
Maynard: "That’s what’s carved in the rock."
Galahad: "Perhaps he was dictating."
And this made me think of all the times throughout history when spelling, grammar, and authorial intent has gone flying out the window, often spectacularly.
Sometimes, it’s a simple matter of translation:
Mmmm, tasty.
Or maybe, a word is left out:
I don’t see this ending well…
Perhaps, a well-intended handwritten sign:
Or even “intellectuals” asleep on the job
The word ‘phusei’ was spelled with an ‘S’ rather than the Greek letter sigma, which looks similar to a capital ‘E.’ Whoops!
“M-A-R-….O-L-Z…H?”
And then we go back in time, and see odd junk like this, where even the chisel doesn’t make excuses for the illegible mess.
(But, then again, even the Romans F’ed up – and we know they were the shit. )
Or maybe some careless craftsman broke it, and left it there to puzzle future scholars, and to inspire countless future theses and dissertations.
And for that reason, I offer my thanks to humanity, for keeping the wonder/frustration/scholarship/face-palming alive since the B.C’s.
The Art of Book Collecting 
