E
Early morning
Traditionally, the period immediately after dawn.
A time of day when birds feel it is safe to sing and milkmen to do their rounds. A time of day invented by coffee producers. A time of day which composers of classic al music love, but then so do the producers of early morning television since they can get rid of all the junk which even their day time audiences would object to.
Ecology
The study of the balance of nature.
Most political systems seem to have self interest as their core philosophy, as do a lot of religions, but ecology appears to have a concern for others, even animals. And ecology is a religion, make no doubt about it. It may be natural history for men with big beards, or the countryside when viewed by people who don’t own green wellingtons, but in the end it is a science which concentrates on disasters, which makes it very religious indeed. See also green.
Economic downturn
A time when it is difficult to sell things.
For those in employment, or trying to say that way, it means redundancy notices. For those who do the employing, it is a time when they can get tough with the unions. For the politician it means the probability of having to go back to the day job, or finding work as a toilet cleaner. An economic downturn is a phenomena where money simply disappears out of the system and no one goes looking for it. See also paranormal.
Economic growth
An improvement in the trading potential of a country.
When that happens, and for those who are employed or trying to stay that way; there is an absence of redundancy notices. For supermarket proprietors it means being able to sell incredibly small cauliflower’s and Third World fruits which Third World farmers can not afford to eat themselves. For the politician it means being able to hire a toilet cleaner once more, but at incredibly low wages of course.
Economics
One of the political sciences.
Actually science is not be a good description for economics, cabalistic magic would be better when even weather forecasting is more rooted in the physical world. Economics is the art of making wild guesses about the way the greedy panic and then sounding very erudite about the whole thing. Economics are to a politician what omens are to a magician. And economic theory is the sensible policies of the ruling party as opposed to the mess left by their predecessors.
Education
The process of teaching and/or learning. Human children are alone in the animal kingdom in that they are forced to learn rather than being allowed to learn what is necessary for their survival. Education is something that is done to children rather than for children. It is a process designed to ensure that information, belief and opinion, will never be put to good use. It is the grooming process for the Committee Man. It is a competitive sport for parents using children as the targets. It is a period of childhood and adolescence which comes before the start of true learning.Emotion
An intensity of feeling.
High on that list of imaginary virtues and qualities which the true Englishman holds dear to his true Englishness is the much vaunted stiff upper lip. Perhaps this Englishman, by which we probably mean a public schoolboy, didn’t cry when his prefects were buggering him, or his father was beating him, but where is the virtue in denying the fact? Pain is a fact, so show pain then conquer it. Hurt is a fact so admit that there has been hurt then come to terms with it. There is nothing wrong with emotion. Emotion is crying over spilled milk before mopping it up, and gaining benefit from both.
English
A language spoken by a lot of people, or the nationality of a very few people.
English is not a language, it is a conglomerate, and it shares words with just about every other major language, but the English will never admit that. And the English race is a conglomerate of all the European races, but the English never feel kinship. So then, Englishness, an assumption of superiority on the part of a few million white men who lack the ability to speak any language other than their own.
Environmental hazard
Anything which is dangerous to the ecology, and therefore to the humans who inhabit it.
Greed has ramifications, always. If one man takes more than his fare share then another end up with less than his fare share, and that has long been understood. Greed causes pain to someone, always, but that branch of greed which is known as monopoly capitalism, which is known as the power industries, that seems intent on doing the most hurt, to the most people, and all in the name of a higher profit margin for someone. An environmental hazard then is any dangerous situation which is denied by big business or the Government which supports it. An environmental hazard is the government itself, in most cases.
Equal rights
The granting of comparable status to minority groups.
The future historian, that person on whom we place so much responsibility for the understanding of our own confusion, that person will wonder why the question of equal rights was ever a question. Meanwhile equal rights have become the removal of the libel laws. thus allowing the rest of the world to get at those who previously had the money to protect them. Or equal rights should have become telling a man who has been sexually harassed that it is all his fault because his trousers were two inches above his ankle.
Erotic art
Creative works with a subtly sexual content rather than a blatantly pornographic content.
Animals don’t wear clothes so animals don’t have problems with their bodies. Humans do wear clothes so humans have a lot of problems with their bodies, so much so that they have had to devise degrees of guilt when it comes to looking at the human body. Viewing erotic art is one of the less guilty activities. Erotic art is showing only the left breast, and then in shadow. Or it is full frontal nudity with the legs crossed. Or it is showing naked men because they look good and not because they are lying on top of a naked woman.
Establishment
An organisation dedicated to a specific end.
There is an ‘establishment’, which is a common noun, then there is the ‘Establishment’, which is a proper noun referring to an improper situation. For those who no longer believe that the world is ruled by four monkeys and a Chinese sex goddess then there is the Establishment, a conspiracy to rule on the part of those who either believe in blood or genes.
Ethnic
That which is peculiar to a place or region.
The people who have green as a preferred political colour are the ones who have ethnic rugs in their lounge, or eat ethnic foods when their friends come to supper. They do not always invite the producers of the ethnic rugs to sleep in their lounge, or the producers of the ethnic foods to eat at their supper table, but it does make them feel good for having thought about it. What they do not think about is the fact that somewhere in the world there might be someone eating fish and chips because it is ethnic to the British. This fashion for supporting ethnic cultures is actually very conceding, unless of course you are willing to do something about the lousy conditions which exist in many ethnic cultures. Maybe you could even work for very low wages to put double glazing into mud huts, now there would be something wouldn’t it?
Evolution
Progress, on a large scale.
The caveman looked at pictures of naked people and it didn’t bother him. We look at pictures of naked people and it bothers us a lot. We have come a long way, most certainly we have. And evolution is said to be a series of revolutionary discoveries interspersed by long periods of inertia. Evolution is actually the process by which a monkey learns to drive a car, but still remains a monkey with no clothes and no interest in designer labels.
Executive
The highest echelon of any organisation.
There are a lot of car workers who could, if they wanted, make it to the board room. There are very few car company executives who would survive more than one day on the production line, which is why they have to spend so much time protecting their privileged positions in the board room. The executive then is the non functioning, non productive, branch of any organisation. It is those who have their cars paid for rather than those who have their bus fares paid. It is why they need their own toilets, the existence of which suggests that they all have small or deformed genitals and as a result have to hide themselves away when they are urinating. It also begs the questions as to who cleans the toilets.
Existence
The state of being.
The cause of the need for black coffee first thing in the morning, or my own ability to say that I don’t have problems in my life, I have a life in my problems.
Eye contact
A form of body language which is said to show great self confidence.
It is looking at someone else while they are looking at you, even when you have been telling lies. It is also the ability to look at a naked person and not blink. See assertiveness.
