As Bugs Once Said (Many Times), ...

I woke up in the middle of the night with the word unlax in my head. At first, I could not remember who'd used that word, but it wasn't too long (well, not too long for a dotard like me) before I remembered it was that wascally wabbit, of course.

How could I have forgotten?

In my boyhood, Bugs and Daffy Duck were my two favorite cartoon characters (along, sometimes, with Mighty Mouse--though I did not like his singing: "Here I come to save the day!"--link to the theme song). I never really liked the Disney characters, though Donald was okay. I liked it when he spazzed out.

But Bugs? There was just something about him I ... dug (dating myself?). Perhaps it was his irreverence, his Huck-Finn cleverness, his perpetual defeats of his enemies (Elmer Fudd, say). I got hooked on him in the days when movies at the theater were preceded by newsreels and cartoons.

Our little boy, Steve, loved Bugs, too. I'm proud to say I introduced him to Bugs and to Shakespeare! We used to watch Bugs & friends on Saturday mornings together. Once, when he was still little, my folks were visiting us at our home on Forest Dr. in Kent (mid-70s), and I awoke one Saturday morning to the sound of laughter. I went downstairs: My dad and Steve, howling away at Bugs on the TV ...

And now ... Steve's own sons are Bugs-o-philes. Good taste marches on!

And as for unlax? I guess I loved it that Bugs, like Shakespeare, created words (I could not, of course, have articulated this ... just a feeling). (Just checked: The OED does not list unlax ... what is wrong with that elitist publication!?) Unlax had the virtue of being instantly understandable (unlike some of the Bard's contributions), and there have been many times in my adult years when I would have liked to have said the word to people who were upset with me. But I'm guessing unlax would not have eased the tension much? I will definitely not use it with Joyce ... only when it's safe to do so. Which, of course, is never.

Anyway, as our political and cultural divisions widen--and as the chasm between us is almost too expansive to see across--I think it might be good if we told one another, occasionally, to, you know, "unlax." See if that helps ...