There's a difference between a failure and a fiasco. A failure is simply the
non-presence of success. Any fool can accomplish failure. But a fiasco, a fiasco
is a disaster of mythic proportions. A fiasco is a folktale told to others, that
makes other people feel more alive because it didn't happen to them.



Ed Minch

Oh James,

People are anvil crazy these days.

You can still find deals at 1-2 $ per pound, but the last PW I saw at auction
(90lbs, not mint, some chips) still went for about $5 per pound. Yikes.

Don’t count on getting a deal at an auction, but it’s always a possibility.

Matthew Groves
Springfield, MO

Ed Minch wrote:
>There's a difference between a failure and a fiasco. A failure is 
>simply the non-presence of success. Any fool can accomplish failure. 
>But a fiasco, a fiasco is a disaster of mythic proportions. A fiasco 
>is a folktale told to others, that makes other people feel more 
>alive because it didn't happen to them.

To carry this just a step further:

I recently learned that the origin of the term "fiasco"
is Italian for, roughly, "bottle".   More specifically
it is that round-bottomed bottle that you often
see in movies, being held in a wicker basket,
and typically filled with wine:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiasco_(bottle)

(Furthermore, the phrase "far fiasco" --i.e. "to make a bottle---
is an Italian idiom for "to make a mistake".)

I'm not sure if anyone is sure how this term took
on its current meaning in English, but perhaps we might
look no further than imagining the bottle filled with Chianti
to connect it to Ed's description of "a disaster of
mythic proportions".

N
[Old tool connection:  St Roy's description of pit saws, etc,
as an example of "alcohol-powered tools".]

On 2018-11-07 1:33 PM, Nichael Cramer wrote:
> I recently learned that the origin of the term "fiasco"
> is Italian for, roughly, "bottle".   More specifically
> it is that round-bottomed bottle that you often
> see in movies, being held in a wicker basket,
> and typically filled with wine:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiasco_(bottle)
>
> (Furthermore, the phrase "far fiasco" --i.e. "to make a bottle---
> is an Italian idiom for "to make a mistake".)
>
> I'm not sure if anyone is sure how this term took
> on its current meaning in English, but perhaps we might
> look no further than imagining the bottle filled with Chianti
> to connect it to Ed's description of "a disaster of
> mythic proportions". 

I think it's straightforward. Imagine a round-bottomed bottle full of 
wine, without it's straw wrap. If you uncork and drink it all at one go, 
you'll have a fiasco. OTOH, if you pour yourself a glass and set the 
bottle down on a table, you'll have a fiasco as well. There's no way 
around it. Ifyou hold the bottle in your lap, you'll ultimately have an 
embarrassing fiasco. The possibilities are endless...

FWIW

Don

-- 
Let's make Norheim great again. ( Norsemen )

I am not going bloody bald. I have a very big brain. ( Upstart Crow )

I am not going bald. I have very low eyebrows. ( Upstart Crow )

And for every one who's BS meter is ticking, use flask instead of bottle,
and the story works much better w Google translate.

Nice find Nichael.

You dunk a piece of pipe into a pot of molten glass............

     swirl up a parison (a glob)

pull it out and blow a small bubble

  tool the bubble into a neck (as it spins on the arm of your chair)
with wet wooden tongs

  re-admit the end of the bubble back into the fire for a moment

blow a --bigger-- bubble

  drape a sliver of hot glass around the end of the neck you made

use dull wet shears to lop it off

carry off to the annealing lehr, (part of the furnace, off to the side, 
made to cool glass very slowly)
     by grace of a wet green stick

Chianti bottles since the 1500's

baskets come later

yours scott



-- 
*******************************
    Scott Grandstaff
    Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca  96039
    scottg@s...
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/hpages/index.html