I like the sound of these words - like to break them down to thyme and nuclear. Sometimes, my tongue slips, mixes them into a new chemical solution: thalidomide. I do not correct myself.
Thymidine dinucleotide is a fragment of DNA - made from just two nucleotides. When rubbed into the skin, these snippets mimic chromosome damage from ultraviolet radiation, inducing cells to repair themselves. In other words, you get a tan. Skin lesions take much longer to develop.
What interests me is the source for the snippets - how the most basic - and most invisible - components of our bodies, when forced onto the surface, will fool us. Imaginary damage protects us from real damage. Damage at the surface prevents damage deep inside.
What if I wear this lotion in the commission of a crime, my face and lips and fingertips coated in two extra nucleotides? What if my finger traces your lips and leaves just one nucleotide behind?
Imagine slathering yourself in the nucleotides of a lost lover, watching the tan develop, allowing someone to damage you so subtly, so close to the surface. Just so you can be safe from something worse.
Comments (4)
Thyme. I keep hearing that word today. It was used as an embalming agent by the ancient Egyptians. Just as thymidine dinucleotide preserves the skin, so does thyme preserve the body.
Posted by karrie | April 7, 2004 12:17 PM
Posted on April 7, 2004 12:17
Surely thyme has not always been known as thyme? What did the Egyptians refer to it as, do you know?
Posted by Keith | April 7, 2004 3:19 PM
Posted on April 7, 2004 15:19
I have no idea, but I will try and find out. I imagine the Egyptians had a beautiful name for this herb.
PS: I am still loving the similarity of sounds in thyme and thymidine. It is like these words were made for my tongue. Do you ever obsess over particular words in this way? Last week, I was loving the word zamboni.
Posted by karrie | April 7, 2004 3:22 PM
Posted on April 7, 2004 15:22
I'm not sure I think of words in that way. I went without words for such a long, long time that it is hard to tell. Ten years without reading or writing. It's hard to believe. But that's a different story.
But I do like how words look. Sometimes, even typing, I can visualize how certain words would look coming off the tip of my pen. And then, like many who write, I have my hangups about the pen itself, and it becomes nearly as important as the word it will write. At many levels it is sad that nearly everything is pecked out on keyboards these days.
And an odd thing: whenever I pick up and "test" a new pen, I always end up writing the same word - yesterday. Maybe I like how it begins and ends so freely with big free loops. Maybe I just like that John Lennon ends up singing Yesterday in my head. Maybe I just haven't found a new word yet. Or maybe I'm just stuck in the past.
Posted by Keith | April 8, 2004 9:42 AM
Posted on April 8, 2004 09:42