Homonculus

Another word I have rubbed up against in my life, love the sound of it, but never really knew what it meant.

I thought it was some horribly malformed or grotesque individual.

It goes deeper than that.

The free on-line dictionary defines it as: "a diminutive human; a miniature, fully formed individual believed by adherents of the early biological theory of preformation to be present in the sperm cell."

A little guy at the amusement park riding a wild ride called The Ejaculator.

Merriam-Webster says: " A little man; a miniature adult that in the theory of preformation inhabits the germ cell and to produce a mature individual merely by an increase in size."

It says germ. Did they mean sperm? Do dictionaries make mistakes?

I went to an educational website and learned that the word was used in 1572 by Paracelsus referencing alchemy in which he gave instructions in how to create an infant human without fertilization or gestation in the womb.

Apparently this guy was a failure in the dating world.

Turns out preformation was an Enlightenment-era theory that said the homonculus was a fully formed individual that existed within the germ cell of one of its parents prior to fertilization and would grow in size in gestation until ready to be born.

In any event, it fascinates me that there was a time in history, absent of unlimited data, when people just made stuff up and got credit for it.

I would love to live in an era like that. I have a fabulous imagination.

I work with somebody like that. The woman is a pathological liar whose truth is whatever comes out of her mouth. Sometimes when she looks me in the eye and lies to me about why this didn't get done and that didn't get done, I imagine movie images of psychedelic swirls and insanely bright colors, weird sounds and deformed animals, inhabiting the space around her empty head as she speaks.

Apparently gullibility was all the rage back then too. Imagine somebody pulling you aside today and telling you there is a tiny but fully formed man inside a germ cell who will grow in size until ready to be born.

You probably wouldn't buy it.

Homunculus is a good word.

The next time a little man pisses me off I am going to say "Screw you, Homunculus" and then laugh hysterically as he tries desperately to kick my shins with his tiny, little feet.