A few blocks away from my apartment, there's an extremely plain storefront bearing the legend AGAPE in big black letters on a stark white background. It's been there for at least a year, but it's not on a route I usually travel, so I don't go by it or think of it often. I'd long assumed that it was a religious bookstore--I suppose just because of the name and the smallness of the establishment.
A month or so ago I walked right past it, looked in the single small window, and was suprised to note that it's actually a hair salon. Huh, I thought. Why on earth does it have that name?
I passed it again yesterday, again marvelled at the bizarre name, and started trying to figure out some logic whereby the love of God for humankind would strike someone as an appropriate name for a hair salon. Agape, I said to myself. Agape. What the fuck?
And then, today, it hit me.
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Margo, darling commented at 9:31 AM~
I give up. What hit you? What does it mean? I'm not seeing it, either. Please help!
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Dr. Virago commented at 11:05 AM~
Lecturess, were you staring agape at the store when it hit you? :)
I would have made the same misreading, by the way.
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La Lecturess commented at 11:49 AM~
Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one! It's weird, too, since I don't think I've ever previously had any occasion to say, write, or even contemplate the noun "agape," while I definitely HAVE used the adverb.
And anyway: the idea that your friends, family, and people on the street will be AGAPE at your new hairdo is not wholly & unequivocally positive, now is it?
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commented at 11:59 AM~
cat fight, cat fight!!
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luckybuzz commented at 12:28 PM~
Well, I'm on the clueless-academic bandwagon too--I had to read the comments before it made any sense to me!
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commented at 1:15 PM~
Yeah, I'm on that clueless bandwagon too. I totally didn't get it until I read your explanation. I still think it's a kind of weird name for a hair salon.
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kermitthefrog commented at 5:42 PM~
Speaking of weirdly named hair salons -- there is one right across from the Natural History Museum park in NY with the name "Amour de Hair." If you just read the first two words in French, that means "Love of Hair." But if you read the whole thing in French (adding an umlaut over the i), it means (slightly ungramatically) "Love of Hating."
Why on earth would you choose to make that pun?? Or is it unintentional? I've never been able to figure that out.
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commented at 5:01 AM~
For what it's worth, first thing I thought of was St. Paul...
