to "fashion"; "in the weeds"

[Laurence Horn]

On May 6, 2012, at 9:18 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> 
> II
> This morning a defense analyst explained that Osama bin Laden had been "in
> the weeds" with Al Qaeda planning, and that one of his lieutenants "did a
> very in-the-weeds analysis of CNN."
> 
> 'Involved in or involving the close examination of detail.'
> 
> When I first heard "in the weeds" in the early '90s, waiters and waitresses
> were using it to mean "overwhelmed with work."   Pilots use it to mean "at
> minimum flying altitude" (1982, but semi-literal "wheels in the weeds" in
> 1966; a couple of firsthand sources use the former in a Vietnam War
> context.).
> 
Speaking of OBL and his buddies in the weeds, I've noticed that now that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is back in the news, he's once again identified as "the mastermind of 9-11".  Tricky, since many of the google hits for "mastermind" are references to Bin Laden as "the mastermind of 9-11".  Besides that little problem (co-mastermind?), this usage reinforces my impression that masterminds (outside of fantasy and gaming uses) tend to be evil ones, at least when the label is connected to a particular episodic act.  Steve Jobs may be described as "the mastermind of Apple" in various obituaries, or "the mastermind behind the development of the iPhone, iPod,….", but even those uses strike me as a bit unnatural.  For me, the evil mastermind is the prototype (the "good mastermind" seems almost oxymoronic), and evidently I'm not alone.  Here's the OED entry:

2. spec. A person who plans and directs a complex and ingenious enterprise, esp. a criminal operation.
1872   Trollope Eustace Diamonds lxix, in Fortn. Rev. 18 725   The police thought that I had been the master-mind among the thieves.
1920   ‘Sapper’ Bull-dog Drummond v. 121   A gang of international criminals‥controlled by a master-mind.
1960   Observer 24 Jan. 5/2   These were recognised prop-men or putters up of jobs, what the mugs called master minds.
1997   Esquire Feb. 67/1   TV-network masterminds‥now spent their evenings cozying up with‥melon-domed intellectual dinner-party types.


Maybe we tend to distrust intellect, so while the hero acts from courage, bravery, godliness, moxie, and undauntable physical resilience, someone who is defined by their intellect is either suspect (scientists played by Jeff Goldblum and their ilk) or downright evil and amoral in his (rarely her) machinations.   Braveheart vs. Mastermind.  

LH 

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