Shine, shine a Roosevelt dime

[sovay]

I had a doctor's appointment in Brookline this afternoon. Turned out their office is located only a few stops down on the C Line from Mei Mei, so as soon as I got out, I headed up Beacon in the bright cool sunshine and the hope that starting life as a food truck meant the restaurant would sell take-away things in addition to indescribably epic dinners. They were between menus but serving all their sandwiches and drinks, so I left with a Haymaker's Punch and a Porco Rosso. I did not try to eat on the subway. I drank the punch and was so glad that two weeks of acetic acid in my ears four times daily has not removed my ability to enjoy the taste of vinegar.

I caught the Green Line at Fenway. A few stops later, there sat down across from me a young black woman wearing jeans, a denim shirt, a camo-colored jacket, immense tinted sunglasses of a style I associate with the 1970's, and her hair cropped very short except for the front wave of a perfect pompadour, worthy of Janelle Monáe. I could not think of a graceful way to lean across the aisle and tell her she looked fantastic, and then at Park Street everyone instantly dispersed, but she did. If anyone knows a gesture conveying this is not a romantic overture and it is too loud to talk in here anyway but damn, I should like to learn it for next time. I have a related problem when people on crowded public transit are reading books I love.

The Porco Rosso is the meat-based version of Mei Mei's Double Awesome: a scallion pancake sandwich filled with ham and ricotta, cranberry hoisin sauce and fried garlic, and a pile of tart leafy greens that were possibly watercress. The counter staff encouraged me toward it. They were not wrong.

It just occurred to me that Thanchvil is the Etruscan form of the name I knew Latinized as Tanaquil. I should have made the connection before now. I had the sound changes: Tiberius, Thefarie; Tarquinia, Tarchna. Now I may have trouble looking at the sarcophagus in the MFA without thinking of Tanith Lee's Black Unicorn (1991). I thought she'd invented the name until I was in high school.

(I love the sarcophagus in the MFA. I love both of them. They have faces.)

Comments

[thistleingrey]

The well-known one has a footnote in an edition of a medieval text, but I'd forgotten the Etruscan form entirely, not to mention the text. (The text is probably one version or another of the Gesta Romanorum.)

Doesn't a Tanaquil or Taniquil show up in Susan Cooper's Seaward? I don't own a copy, but there's a Janus-faced ?statue and my weak memory wants it to have been female. I'm probably wrong insofar as a web search doesn't turn up anything. ETA What it did turn up is this, for which one need not be logged in, I think.

[genarti]

You have reminded me that going to Mei Mei is really a thing I ought to do. (And now I have plans to do so this weekend. Uncharacteristically organized of me!) And also inspired me to crave a Double Awesome until with Sandry's aiding and abetting I ended up making a sort of cousin of it myself: onion paratha, cheddar cheese, leftover curtido from Maya Sol, and fried eggs over medium. Not as good as the Double Awesome, but nonetheless extremely satisfying.

My this is not a romantic overture but you're awesome! gesture of choice, when I am sufficiently moved to make one, is to do my best to indicate their book/hair/outfit/everything, give a thumbs up with a smile either conspiratorial or impressed, and then pointedly turn my attention immediately back to my book or phone or whatever. (This is basically an adapted version of the hey you're awesome, fellow cosplayer thumbs up and/or nod I do at costuming-heavy cons.) The last part is, of course, important so as not to come across as trying to hit on them. And, of course, if they seem harried or closed-off or like they might be sketchy at me in turn, I don't.

[alankria.livejournal.com]

It just occurred to me that Thanchvil is the Etruscan form of the name I knew Latinized as Tanaquil. I should have made the connection before now. I had the sound changes: Tiberius, Thefarie; Tarquinia, Tarchna.

Sound-changes really fascinate me.

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

What a beautiful sarcophagus. I'd eat the hell out of the Double Awesome.

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

Was your lunch named after the Miyazaki film?

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Faces, bodies, and eternal marriage.

That sandwich is astounding.

Nine

[dacuteturtle.livejournal.com]

"Excuse me, may I give you a complement?" is what I usually say. When I'm done, I say, "That's all I wanted to say. Have a great day."

If she refuses a complement, you answer, cheerfully, "Thank you. You have a great day." Make sure that you break body language.

As long as you are a class act about it, this usually works out fine.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Tanaquil makes me also think of Tinuviel, which, however, is a made-up name.

I like that the article linked behind the name Thanchvil is written by someone named Sebastian Smee. What a great name that is, too!