i had three perfectly juicy and soury-sweet clementines but the fourth turned out to be just as the classical chinese text mai4 gan1 zhe3 yan2 (the mandarin seller's speech) describes: jin1 yu4 qi2 wai4, bai4 xu4 qi2 zhong1 (its exteriors are of gold and jade, its interiors rotten cotton) it was a political satire comparing the bai xu qi zhong mandarins with the officials in government. (no puns on mandarin please!) i am in a panic because i don't understand any of this jakobsonian stuff. or, i think i could, if i could just stop panicking and read, but i can't, so vicious cycle, etc. prof nohrnberg explained some of it through the example of "see you later, alligator." "in a while crocodile." but i'm still not sure. i wonder if my brains are like the gan1s in the story. unthinking rotten cotton.