Cat’s Cradle

I’m re-re-re-reading Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut.

The first thing to surprise me was that it was published in 1963. It seems like the kind of book that was published the day before you read it, or re-read it, or re-re-read it.

What is a Cat’s Cradle?

According to Meriam-Webster….

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Semi-sequitur: one cannot think of the word quagmire without thinking of Howard Cosell. I remember a Tuesday morning (after a rainy Monday night football game) in junior high where every boy would find a way to slip the word “quagmire” into a sentence.

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WLBOTT Time Machine

Meriam-Webster has a very cool “date of origin” feature:

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Some Trivia

Mental Floss has an interesting trivia article about Cat’s Cradle:

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WLBOTT as Kan-Kan

“If you find your life tangled up with somebody else’s life for no very logical reasons,” writes Bokonon, “that person may be a member of your karass.” (p. 2)

So WLBOTT is a kan-kan, and it’s board of elders are members of it’s karass. Or is it all a granfalloon?

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Cat’s Cradle Glossary

The following glossary is found at https://www.gradesaver.com/cats-cradle/study-guide/glossary-of-terms

boko-maru
a Bokononist ritual in which individuals press the soles of their feet together to “mingle their awarenesses”; Bokononists believe that it is impossible to be sole to sole with an individual without loving that person

Bokononism
religion created by Bokonon, outlined in the Books of Bokonon, and practiced in the Republic of San Lorenzo

Bokononist
follower of the religion of Bokononism

Borasisi
the sun

busy, busy, busy
Bokononist phrase uttered in response to how unpredictable and complicated life is

calypso
a Bokononist poem

duffle
the destiny of thousands of people when placed in the hands of a stuppa

duprass
a karass made up of only two people

Dynamic Tension
Bokononist theory that good societies could be built only by pitting good against evil and keeping the tension between the two high at all times

Fata Morgana
a mirage named after Morgan le Fay, a fairy who lived at the bottom of a lake

foma
harmless untruths, intended to comfort simple souls

granfalloon
a proud and meaningless association of human beings; a false karass or a team that is meaningless in terms of the ways God gets things done (e.g., the Communist party, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the General Electric Company)

kan-kan
the instrument that brings individuals into their karass

karass
team of individuals who do God’s will without ever discovering what they are doing; every person belongs to one

pool-pah
“shit storm”; the wrath of God

Pabu
the moon

saroon
to submit to the demands of one’s vin-dit

sin-wat
a man who wants all of somebody’s love

sinookas
components of an individual’s life that can become entangled with those of other members of his karass
stuppa
a fogbound child

vin-dit
a sudden, very personal shove in the direction of Bokononism

wampeter
an object around which the lives of many otherwise unrelated people may revolve; at any time, each karass has two wampeters, one that is becoming more important and one that is becoming less important; the wampeter of Jonah’s karass is ice-nine

wrang-wrang
a person who steers people away from a line of thinking by reducing that line, with the example of the wrang-wrang’s own life, to an absurdity

zah-mah-ki-bo
fate; inevitable destiny

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Snippets / Things Remembered

Interesting thought experiment – what scenes and phrases do I recall from last reading the book 25 or 35 or 50 years ago?

As it happened—”as it was meant to happen,” Bokonon would say.(p. 22) – in my mind, this had become, “as it turns out, as it was meant to turn out.”

“poetic crap” (p. 83) – I remember thinking, finally an author that will admit not everything in the literary world is golden.

“What is the secret of life?’ I asked.
‘I forget,’ said Sandra.
‘Protein,’ the bartender declared. ‘They found something out about protein.‘
‘Yeah,’ said Sandra, ‘that’s it.”
(p. 25)

“As things turned out, we had both overestimated our apathies, but not by much.” (p. 22) – Just a really funny line.

“I am always moved by that seldom-used treasure, the sweetness with which most girls can sing.” (p. 46) I remember thinking about this the first time I heard my then girlfriend sing. We are no longer dating. She is no longer my girlfriend. She is now my spousal unit.

“There was nothing funny about national security, nothing at all.” (p35) Even as a young person, I realized that jerks were often attracted to positions of (often petty) authority.

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Semi-sequitur: the Flag of San Lorenzo:

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[ed. note: all page references are from this edition of Cat’s Cradle]: