GG- All Those Ns

[Josh Randall <please.dont@spam.me.man>]

I recall reading somewhere, probably Friedrich's biography, that GG said he
used one N in "Glenn" because if he wrote two, he was "...afraid he
wouldn't be able to stop." Which struck me as maybe one-third put-on, the
rest, would it be "compulsiveness?" Or perhaps a defense against
compulsiveness. I got the feeling that for someone as defensive in public
as GG, the act of signing a document was perhaps also a little too public
for comfort & he feared falling into a sort of embarrassing trance, drawing
that up-down-loop-up-&-down forever, or at least to the edge of the paper.
Perhaps beyond. There's also the sound that a sonically-oriented person
like GG might have heard in his head as he wrote: n-n-n-n, a sort of trancy
beeish buzzing. Puts you right under. It sounds like a little joke, or a
self-deprecating "Oh, I'm so spaced out" sort of thing. But GG certainly
seemed a bit superstitious & compulsive, & not too surprisingly adopted the
altered signature permanently.

If Jenny, Joanie, Patty & John can become Jeni, Joni, Patti & Jon, we can
afford Glen, too.

A member of the Heesen household writes, re Jeff vs. Jef: "...But, normal
convention had its way. And Jeffrey is sorry it did." Please, encourage
Jef(f) to buck convention if he feels the need! Bucking convention can be a
long row to hoe, but it's an absolutely vital job. Convention is entirely
too smug &, um, conventional.

In a trance, Josh "Bactrian Or Dromedary?" Randall

_____________________________________________________
  j o s h  .  r a n d a l l      .      g r a p h i c  .  d e s i g n
    j o s h r @ g l y f f . c o m      .      w w w  .  g l y f f . c o m