ABOUT
This blog
had originally been created to gather links about the magazine Mainmise for the purpose of creating a Wikipedia page about it. #Then Georges Khal, one of the founders of Mainmise, died on July 17 2010. Emails began pouring in, first about the news then mutual friends reported stories about Georges. So I decided to open up this blog to give a special place to this diaspora. #
Hopefully, in a few weeks we will be able to open 4 pages in Wikipedia: about Mainmise, about Georges, in English and in French. Remember that a page has a better chance to stand for long in Wikipedia when it links to many different sources. So if you already have access to a blog or a website, please post there and then post a link here. #
Language
This is now a collective blog and members can write in the language of their choice. Google Translate is your friend. Otherwise, just ask. #The title of this blog
is a pun that, as most puns, is better left unexplained. But if you really insist, be prepared for a long and boring explanation. #“Main”, in French, means “hand”. Mainmise means to “seize”, “to put your hands on” because the creators of the magazine intended in 1970 to use any relevant content they could put their hands on. During the 80s, we sometimes talked with Georges about creating another magazine. I once said jokingly that we could call it “Piedmise”, replacing “Hand” with the French word for “Foot”, which makes for an absurd and impossible word in French. For some reason this bad pun delighted Georges and he used it occasionally over the years with great hilarity. So I started from “pied” for creating the title of this blog. You think it was boring till now? Read on. “Pas pied” (“No foot”) is pronounced in French exactly as “papier” wich means “paper”. As I was originally looking only for links, not for documents, I used the title “paspied” with the subtitle “Ceci n’est pas du papier”, “This is not paper”. Hahaha. #
Later I realized that their was another meaning hidden in “pas pied” in French: when you are swimming and you can’t touch the bottom any more with your feet, one says “je n’ai pas pied”, “I am out of my depth”, kinda “I lost my footing”. It gave me a pause. Elizabeth’s story (add link) convinced me that it was the right title. #
Note: I generally try to create bilingual titles but this one is not. How do you pronounce paspied in English or for that matter Mainmise? #
