On Laconic

I've been thinking about what a great word 'laconic' is. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word originates from the mid-16th century and was derived from a region of southern Peloponnese called Laconia. In ancient Greece, Laconia was home to the Spartans who had a reputation among their fellow Greeks for being a people of few words. I don't know if this is true or not, but it is reported that when Philip of Macedon threatened to raze Laconia if he entered the region, the Spartans simply replied "if." Because of their terse reputation, the word 'laconic' was invented to mean "using very few words."

Another way you could put that is 'economic with language' and here's what's really cool about the word. 'Laconic' actually means what it sounds like. It is a near rhyme with 'economic' and both words contain 'con' in them. Plus, 'laconic' and 'language' have their first two letters in common. Apparently, by sheer coincidence, this word of Greek origin contains elements of it's own definition.

I am way too excited about this.

f (x) = 1/x

Alethea, you are the logarithm to my exponent.

For as long as I can remember

I have wanted you to be my tangent,

but as I chase you, always moving

closer, though never crossing understanding,

the only thing I have truly come to learn

is that you are an asymptote.

This desire for your Cartesian curves

finds its way into my every thought.

In my pursuit I have found love letters

written by countless radical minds greater than my own.

 Standing on each other’s shoulders,

they exponentiate themselves to you.

Yet even they were unable to solve for your affection.

How can i even imagine doing better?

Still, the purity of your perfection

is too alluring a plot to abandon.

I want to know you.

But even if that can never be I will continue

to move toward you fraction by fraction,

always the inverse.