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was an illiterate Tennessee farmhand who worked away his years for meals, use of a twelve-by-twelve cabin he called home—"Pete's shack," in local parlance—and a pittance of cash barely enough for the block-tobacco perpetually glistening at the corner of his mouth. Pete's adult life was unimaginably lonely and hard, his human worth never celebrated but habitually unacknowledged. Might not someone, just once, have picked a random day and given the old bibbed horse a birthday party? Certainly not.
A guilty quarter-century after his uncommemorated passing, we cite and salute this man who for a long season under God's sun peaceably carried a world of humility and humiliation on his shoulders. Pete would neither have been able to read nor to take amusement from the lists of names in this Repository. It is enough that he would have raised no complaint against the name artist for doing what must be (or, if we admit it, simply can be) done.
naming names
1978 was the inaugural and first banner-year of unnecessary name production for the young grad student who would become Field Marshal Fibes. His lists of randomly concocted appellations provided the author and fellow scholars and researchers an uncommon amusement that academic realspace lacked.
Now & again through the years, Fibes has returned to the listing-sheet for the same reason a mountain climber returns to the slope: both objectives are, as they say, there. Alarmed at the yellowing of pages (excusing those from yellow-paper pads), and anxious lest his names be lost to any who might need to see them, Fibes has agreed to the construction of this online edifice for housing them on display along with names contributed by others for preservation. Now of course the world is gripped by issues and dire situations. These may be addressed at appropriate times and in appropriate ways. At other times, the name lists may be invoked to open a bit of breathing room, like so: "Yes, but consider this... Tarzan Pruitt... Axil Throwbilly... TeUnsi Spooce... Stad Shad Foreigner... Killard Damndilly... Dr. Elbows McCluster... Jelli Bedd Pullcancer... Ostil Duddle... Naloora Peeyewki... Magraterras Trawls... Day Ray Plater... Yogum Hohups Raint..." Enjoy, if it's your way.
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luminance
