After writing about martians yesterday, I remembered two of my favorite extraterrestrial quotes in the old Mysteries of Mind, Space, and Time collection:
Truth is denied to the constipated.
That which is known as cancer comes through the teeth.
While these are my preferred translations, the editors graciously offer a variation on each. Constipated for ill at ease. From the teeth for through what you eat. Not as much fun, but then again, I wonder about the alien’s knowledge of French, among other things.
I spent some time trying to find sources for these quotes, but couldn’t find anything. I found a list of people who were involved in the 1954 France flap in a document that described the experiences were either false, explained away, or likely some sort of experimental crafts–unfortunately built on Earth. I also realized that I had forgotten some of the vocabulary that went with the Cold War-era UFO sightings.
At first, I confused flap with flapjack, another term for flying saucer. Captain Edward Rupert of Project Blue Book defined a flap as “a condition or situation, or state of being of a group characterized by an advanced degree of confusion that has not yet reached panic proportions.” The 1954 France flap was a series of UFO sightings and odd experiences, which caused some interesting laws to be written (even sparking a wine to be named after all of it). In short, you are not allowed to drive your cigare volant over parts of France.
Flying cigars and flapjacks.
I love this stuff.
And in other news, Nessie could be a giant eel. My interest in lake monsters goes way back.
Stephen McClurg 