12 November 2006 - arbitrary convention

Fusty, musty, crusty, and up-to-the-minute: Invented by everyone and understood by no one, you violate it at your own peril, risking paralysis; it is the basis of language, of art, of social behavior, of nearly everything human outside of brass tacks; it is arbitrary convention, made up by chance and nailed down in advance. I call it x because I don’t know what it is, but every time I try to solve for it, it cancels out.