| aeroplane, A sexual symbol
useful for getting rapidly from Berlin to Vienna. (attributed to FREUD) |
annihilated, Annulled, by
inhaling nothingingness. (LEIRUS) |
| anthrax, Giant of Greek mythology, son of
Thorax and Erysipelas, ravisher of the nymph Acne. |
aphorism, The aphorism is a
poultice of consolation. (PANNAERS) |
| aquarium, Humid square of requiems. (LEIRUS) |
art, Art is a pharmaceutical product for
imbeciles. (PICABIA) |
| ash, A disease of cigars. (PERET) |
atomizer, Built to please the Khemer king who
had the idea of squeezing the peel of a tangerine into a flame. |
| attic, The idea of removing it from dwellings
goes back to Catius Gracchus' favorite slave. She hoped in this way to keep the swallows
nesting in the roof from leaving in the autumn.(PERET) |
axiom, Fixed miasma, malign aroma . .
.[LEIRIS] |
| beauty, Beauty is simply the total
consciousness of our perfections. [DALI] Beauty shall be convulsive or it will not be . .
. Convulsive beauty shall be erotic-veiled, explosive-fixed, magical-circumstantial, or
not be. [BRETON] |
belief, Beliefs are ideas going bald.
[PICABIA] |
| billiards, Constructed for the purpose of a
demonstration by Pico della Mirandola, who wished to establish that human dialogue depends
on nature and is only opposed (not insurmountably) by the sun. [BRETON & PERET] |
boat, Looking at the sea being ploughed by
boats, the Buddhist priest Kanguen asked his deciple Daichi "Could you from your
room stop those boats sailing past?" The young disciple closed the shutters.
Then the master said: "All the same, you couldn't have stopped the boat if you
had no hands."
The young disciple closed his eyes. |
| bordello, Small cradle on casters used by the
Bordelais - She placed her daughter in a bordello. |
buttons, Made fashionable by Isabella of
Bavaria, who secured her blouse with snowdrops. [BRETON & PERET] |
| cadence, Quradrature of silence.[LEIRIS] |
causality, "Notions of cause and
effect concentrate on and are bound up with that of universal interdependence in whose
womb cause and effect incessantly change place." [ENGELS] |
| chaos, Cloaca. Not yet encased, where causes
croak. [LEIRUS] |
chance, "Chance would be the
manifestation of the exterior necessity which battles its way through man's
unconscious." [BRETON] |
| cocteau, A variety of small cock with
attractive plumage and a taste for ostentatious display, becomes restive if forced to
work. The cocteau is not a good breeder.. [ANDRE GIDE] |
credulity, Normal rather than morbid
characteristic of the human race. Important because of its consequences, notably of the
body's position during sleep. [COLINET & KINDS] |
| cynicism, The worm of mockery that spoils
the otherwise delicious fruit of complete freedom. [LEGRAND] |
dada, Dada is a virgin microbe that with the
fickleness of air enters all the spaces reason has not been able to overload with words or
conventions. [TZARA] Dada puts mustard in the ciboria, urine in the fonts, and margarine
in the artists tubes of paint. [RIBEMONT-DESSAIGNES] |
| death, Death is the horizontal prolongation
of a factitious dream, life not being verifiable. [PICABIA] If you want to die, just carry
on! [DADA PROVERB] |
debauch, Special organization of one's
private life as a reaction against social insanity. [SCHUSTER] |
| decalcomania, During a costume ball given in
1854 at the court of Napoleon III, Seymour appeared disguised as a prowler, his forehead
covered with false tattoos reproducing the portrait of Gabrielle d'Estree with the Duchess
of Villars. [BRETON & PERET] |
depravity, Descending the ascending path of
pleasure. [MIME BENOIT] |
| dog, A dog is not a hammock [SERNER] |
dream, Dream is a tunnel running beneath
reality. [REVERDY] |
| ejaculation, According to the PETIT LAROUSSE
ILLUSTRE, a short prayer uttered with fervor. It's brevity is generally to be deplored, as
is its tendency among certain people, to frequent repetition, which is strictly contrary
to the express instructions of the Ecclesiastical Authorities. A prickly problem of
conscience then, which artists, writers and financiers alone have resolved, so far as it
affects them, by employing it with the strictest economy. |
elephant, Puffed up elf. [LEIRUS] Elephants
are contagious. |
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| enemy, All our enemies are mortal. [VALERY] |
eternity, Eternity begins and ends in bed.
[ELUARD] |
| folklore, Acid chemical product extracted
with great difficulty from the earth. |
fornication, A checmicio-mechanical operation
consisting of softening iron bars and then tempering them in a vat of water brought to
boiling point. [DICTIONARY OF REDISCOVERED WORDS] |
| fossil, Invention of Leonardo da Vinci [DALI] |
infinity, there are two infinities, God and
stupidity.[VERESE] |
| knowledge, The known is an exception, the
unknown a deception. [PICABIA] |
lace, Created especially for Laure de Clery
who had desired a 'glade-colored nightshirt'. |
| literature, One of the saddest roads that
leads to anything. [BRETON] |
madness, The mad are those who have lost
their mirrors. Suppress mirrors. [RIGAUT] |
| masturbation, The hand at the service of the
imagination. [MIMI BENOIT] |
morality, Morality is the backbone of
half-wits. [PICABIA] |
| music, Music is the diarrhea of the
intellect. [REBEMONT-DESSAIGNES] |
mustard, Produced in 1165 at the request of
the anti-pope Guido da Crema, who was looking for anti-honey. [BRETON & PERET] |
| ovaries, Ovals devoured by Eve. [LEIRIS] |
paradise, All paradises are artificial.
[ARAGON] |
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| perception, "One can affirm the
presence or perception of an object when it is present and perceived, when it is absent
and perceived, when it is neither present nor perceived" [QUERCY] |
perversion, The infinite variations of the
sexual urge have been condensed by Freud in a famous and still scandalous formula: "The
child is polymorphously perverse." [LEGRAND] |
| phallus, The phallus is exoteric in bed but
usually esoteric in the street. [PICABIA] |
phallustrade, It is an alchemical product,
composed of the following elements: autostrade, balustrade and a certain quantity
of phallus. A phallustrade is a verbal collage. [ERNST] |
| poem, A poem must be intellect's debacle.
[BRETON & ELUARD] |
providence, All approved accidents. [LEIRIS] |
| red eggs, At the turn of the century, eggs
given to the May Day demonstrators by shopkeepers posted along the parade route. |
revolving doors, Built at the request of the
owner of the Cafe Anglais who, to honor Evans on his return from Crete, reduced the
labyrinth to its simplest expression. [BRETON & PERET] |
| sacrifice, Factitious solstice; acrid
chalice, riddled with cicatrix. [LEIRIS] |
sanctity, "The notion of the
"soul", "spirit" and eventually even the "immortal soul";
was invented so as to bring to everything in life deserving of serious consideration -
food, lodging, learning, health, cleanliness, warmth - only the most appalling
thoughtlessness" [NIETSZCHE] |
| scandal, Sudden disclosure, for purposes of
provocation or challenge, of what society and conventional morality tolerates only when
camouflaged: the 'shameful' human pudenda, man's exploitation of man, the existence of
torture, but also any outburst too unendurable from a person out of step with his
surroundings. [NORA NITRANI] |
sea, The sea is the night asleep in the
daytime. [DESNOS] |
| sex, The act of sex is the axis of sects.
[DESNOS] |
shadow, The shadow precedes man, the assassin
follows close behind. [NAVILLE] |
| suicide, Suicide must be a vocation. [RIGAUT] |
surrealism, "The vice known as
Surrealism consists of the disordered and passional application of the stupefying
image" [ARAGON]
"Surrealism, in it's wider sense, represents the most recent attempts to break
with things as they are and to substitute for them other things - immediately
operational and fully-formed - whose shifting contours are inscribed in filigree at the
very depths of being." [RAYMOND] |
| termite, Monk belonging to a very strict
order, now extinct, whose principle rule was to put an end to all human activity. [The
Devil turned Termite SAINTE-BEUVE] |
thought, Thought is considering death and
taking a decision. [RIGAUT] |
| virtue, Virtue is perfumed with crime.
[DURTAIN] |
yes, Yes = No [PICABIA] |
The
definitions in the above mini-dictionary were taken from the following sources:
DICTIONNAIRE ABREGE DU SURREALISME, 1938, edit by Breton & Eluard;
LEXIQUE SUCCINCT DE L'EROTISME, 1959, collectively edited; the DICTIONNAIRE GENERAL which
appeared in the review DOCUMENTS 1929-30, edited by Georges Bataille; CALENDIER TOUR DU
MONDE DES INVENTIONS TOLERABLES, 1950, by Breton & Peret; the DA COSTA ENCYCLOPEDIQUE
1947, anonymously and collectively edited; PETIT DICTIONNAIRE ARBITRAIRE 1970, edited by
Annie LeBrun; DICTIONNAIRE DE MEDICINE AMUSANTE, 1971, edited by Colinet & Kinds;
PETIT DICTIONAIRE DES MOTS RETROUVES, 1954, collective; PETITE FOLIE COLLECTIVE, 1966,
edited by Michel Corvin; GLOSSAIRE . J'Y SERRE MES GLOSES, 1939, by Michel Leiris.
NOTE:
Those reading this who understand French will forgive me, I hope, as I have left out the
various accents, purely as a time-saving gesture so this can be seen now instead of MUCH
LATER if they were cut/pasted to where they should be. Mea-Culpa, etc. |
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Erotic Hand Signing Chart
(Please excuse poor quality, had to scan it.)
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If You took
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there are a lot of Definitions starting
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