Word of the Day

Ziggurat

I'm sure you won't mind taking another break from words that sound like tapestry for this gem of a word!  The original question was "is that a pyramid or a ziggurat"?  My impression from the Wikipedia article is that a ziggurat is a fancy type of raised platform, while a pyramid is a building.  So, ziggurat is to pyramid is dais is to stage.  Or something.

Feel free to offer other interpretations!

Brokeology

So I saw this play last night.  I've seen worse plays.  It was a sensitive, funny exploration of emotionally charged subjects with (mostly) believable and likeable characters.

I rate it a .5 on the Dykes to Watch Out For scale from 0 to 3.  It was the most naively and blandly sexist thing I've seen in a while.  It had two female characters -- the perfect wife and the nagging wife.  The perfect wife got a little bit of stage time to establish her credentials and was thriftily reused later in the play.  The nagging wife was played by a cell phone -- everyone knows the stereotype; no need to pay an actor!  She needn't have any lines; her thoughts are only important in as much as they illuminate the character of her partner.

Any of the three main characters could have been replaced by a woman.  I think swapping the father for a mother would weaken the play (which says something about my own sexism), but that replacing either of the two sons with a daughter would make for a very interesting, very different experience.  I'm having a lot of fun thinking about how the message of the play would change with each of these replacements.