The transformation of the Ace of Hearts into Hurts-Ass made me think of a Spanish cartoon I saw ages ago, showing a young man and woman on a date. In the woman’s thought balloon was a heart pierced diagonally by an arrow, symbolizing love. In the man’s thought balloon was the same heart and arrow, but the heart was turned upside down, and the arrow was piercing it vertically from below, right between the lobes.
I went to the night market tonight, and there I passed someone wearing a T-shirt that said “Kiss My Ace” — the same juvenile pun I had just been thinking about. A few minutes later, I passed someone with a T-shirt made to look like the Three of Spades but with the colors reversed (white spades and numerals on a black shirt). The Anglo-French suit of Spades derives from the Italian or Tarot suit of Swords, and in the Rider-Waite Tarot, the Three of Swords looks much like an Ace of Hearts, except that (as in the Spanish cartoon) the heart is pierced, both diagonally and vertically:
That looks like it Hertz.
I’ve interpreted the Ace of Hearts as having to do with references in Mormon scripture to “one heart” and the “pure in heart.” In the Book of Mormon itself, most of the “pure in heart” references are in Jacob 2. Jacob laments that he must preach fire and brimstone “in the presence of the pure in heart,” fearing that his words will be like “daggers placed to pierce their souls.” After dutifully calling the wicked to repentance, he again reminds them of this regrettable collateral damage:
And because of the strictness of the word of God, which cometh down against you, many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds.
He then goes on to address “you that are pure in heart” directly. It’s a major theme.
After the visit to the night market, I happened to see a bit of TV news, reporting on a political convention in the United States. They had a clip of an American commentator saying something like, “One party is getting its butt kissed, and the other party is getting its butt kicked.” That’s a link both to “Kiss My Ace” and to “Hertz-Ass.” And of course the main focus was on a politician with the playing-card name Trump.
Note added: I checked that quote. It was CNN's Van Jones, and he said, "A bullet couldn't stop Trump. A virus just stopped Biden. You've got the nominees of this party getting their butts kissed. Biden's getting his butt kicked by his own party. The Democrats are coming apart. The Republicans are coming together."
And since we've got hearts and butt-kicking, I'll go ahead and throw in this clip:
1 comment:
I am loving these Animalia posts. Forgot about that book and had to buy a copy now. There is something about those pictures.
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