books read in 2015: L E X I C O N by Max Barry
“Give me an analogy.” “There’s a tree in a park. A tree you want cut down, for some reason. You phone the city and ask which department you need to contact and which forms you need to fill out. Your application goes to a committee, which decides whether it makes a good case, and if so, they send out a guy to cut down the tree. That’s the brain’s regular decision-making process. What I do, which you call ‘word voodoo,’ is I bribe the committee. It’s the same process. But I’m neutralizing the parts that can say no. With me so far?” “Yes.” “All right. What’s in Broken Hill is a bareword. A bareword, in this analogy, is me getting out my chainsaw and cutting down the tree.” Wil waited. “It’s a separate pathway to the same outcome. I don’t use the committee. I skip it. Does that make sense?” “It does for trees.” “It’s no different. Your brain has multiple pathways to action. You see a hot stove, you consciously decide to stay clear of it. But if you stumble onto it, you’ll jerk back without conscious thought.” “So it’s the difference between a voluntary action and a reflex,” Wil said. “Yes.” “Why didn’t you just say that?” “Because that’s not an analogy. That’s exactly what fucking happens. You asked for an analogy.”
