Sunday, February 05, 2012

The Rise Of The Filch

Quite a few commonly used words started off in Science Fiction. "Robot" is a good example.

With all the debste over bankers salaries recently - and the extremely wealthy in general - I wonder if the word "Filch" will catch on....

It's found in a 2003 novel by the author L.E. Modessitt Jr. The novel is called "Archform:Beauty" and is set a few hundred years into the future. Earth has suffered an ecological collapse but has generally recovered. Life for most people is good - but especially so for the filch - the filthy rich.

They still have class politics on this 24th century. To quote one passage about a proposed river diversion:

"Senator Cannon, you've opposed the Southern Diversion ever since you were elected to the Continental Senate. Why?"

"The Southern Diversion is nothing more than filch-food. Filch-food for the southwest. Eastslope needs its water... Every liter that goes south raises the cost for the people of Deseret that I represent. It's that simple...!

Senator Cannon, incidentally, is that slightly unusual character in SF - a flawed politician who is nonetheless one of the good guys....

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