everything is encapsulated

This past Christmas:

Mom: Let's all go for a walk at Maclay Gardens.
Me: No way, that place is boring. There is no there there.
Mom: What do you mean, "no there there"?
Me: It's what Gertrude Stein said about Oakland.
Mom: Oh. Have you read a lot of books by Gertrude Stein?
Me: No, but I have played a lot of Trivial Pursuit.

Comments

[Dan Burt]

I once had an IT instructor use that quote in class. He said it was a quote by Emily Dickinson, when she was referring to Hollywood. He was not joking. I started to raise my hand and correct him, but decided I did not want to cause a stir among the computer geeks. Of course, others may have been thinking the same. Alas, I let it pass.