A man climbs to a mystical peak in search of enlightenment and finds something like the rest of the world.

(from McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales)

Well, this isn’t so much a story as a snarky riffing on our crazy modern times with our pop culture and our sports and our consumerism and our Google. So, while it’s not really predictable, “Goodbye to All That” doesn’t exactly feel like news, either. The writing is purposely over-cooked, but that’s OK since this is a short one. Here is an excerpt.

All that said, the story included some interesting words and phrases we should all use in sentences this week. This is how we will recognize each other:

dromomania: This doesn’t appear to be in any dictionary, and our Google is little help, but story explains this term as compulsive traveling, wanderlust.

Cathexian: This word has only been used once in the history of time, according to our Google, and that one time is in this story. Cathexia, however, is a real word, most likely. I found some medical page with this sentence:

The cancer relying on fermentation for energy (fermentation is only a 15th as efficient as respiration) demands more nutritional sustenance than the body can afford, and so the body, overloaded with toxins, wastes away… this is Cathexia.

ineluctable: impossible to avoid or evade; inevitable.

and the phrases…

The Avalanche has already started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote: Hmm. Looks like this one’s from Babylon 5, of all things. Never saw it. Always looked like the Mummers version of Star Trek to me. Or maybe the phrase is older than that. Anyway, it’s not really like Ellison was trying to steal somebody else’s line — these phrases come from a list of trite bits of wisdom.

The barking dog does no harm to the moon: I like that.

OK, that’s all.