August Strindberg coined the term knappologi (“buttonology”) for the purportedly scientific systematisation of trivial matters. Now, there really are people who are intensely interested in buttons, as I realised when I came across Neville Poulson's seven-volume work Buttons of the Indian army.
Looking a bit further brought up the web page of the British Button Society. I don't often agree with Strindberg and here, too, I am feeling very pleased to have found the buttonologists and that they are doing fine.
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Rambling recollections of an aging engineer
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- kai
- Back in academia after a decade in industry, with a new generation of students.
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13 comments:
Redan! Haru glömt Klåttdjuret eller?
Inte alls, men han är ju fiktiv i likhet med Strindbergs knappolog. Det här är ju knappsamlare alldeles i levande livet.
Strindberg was making fun not of myopic science in general, but of archaeology in particular. See Stig Welinder's 1994 book Strindberg som arkeologikritiker.
I have directed quite a lot of metal detector fieldwork, and thus I have often had reason to lament the lack of good buttonology in Scandy archaeology. The literature we have on buttons is methodologically very poor, mainly offering statements about e.g. dating without any sound argumentation to back them up.
Interesting, I didn't know that. So there would be good reason for a Swedish Button Society?
It would be very useful if somebody would work through the dress collections of the Royal Armoury and the Nordic Museum, record and photograph all the buttons and publish an illustrated catalogue.
Våga inte ens insinuera att Klåttdjuret inte finns på riktig :((((
Martin, isn't that what undergrads are for?
Vakteln, jag tycker i så fall att vi måste ägna lika stor uppmärksamhet åt Skruttan, som ju är minst lika stor knappsamlare som Klåttdjuret.
Men dah hon samlar ju på stenar från början, det är bara patriarkatets kvinnoförtryck som tvingat henne att ta efter sin makes hänsynslösa knappsamlande.
En queerteoretisk textanalys visar tydligt att Klåttdjurets "knappsamling" i själva verket representerar alla de flyktiga relationer han har med män bakom Skruttans rygg.
Hmm, så patriarkatet driver Skruttan till promiskuitet?
Är det alldeles säkert att det inte bara är en ursäkt?
Kan meddela att v-perforerade bärnstensknappar är en mycket intressant ledartefakt inom Nordeuropeiskt mellanneolitikum. Vissa hävdar att dessa knappar tillhör klockbägarkulturen, men det är tydligt att de främst härrör från ett område kring floden Wislas mynning, inom den s.k. Rzucewo-kulturen, och är en exportvara runt hela Östersjön och ända ut till Atlantkusten.
Strindberg var bara avundsjuk för att han misslyckats som arkeolog och tvingats falla tillbaka på författande...
Jaa, han Strindberg gjorde väl lite utforskningar i Storkyrkan och hittade gamla reliker inuti S:t Göran, har jag bestämt för mig, fast då var han redan skriftställare.
Bärnstensknappar, fint!
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