A type of building designed by Jeremy Bentham in the late 1700s. A panopticon is designed to be a circular prison where all the cells can be seen by a central guard tower, as you can see in this example. It's both a Latin term (all observed) as well as a nod to Greek mythology (Panoptes was a hundred-eyed giant).
Lest you think we're going too highbrow with all the classical music this week, here's a good stupid belly laugh:
This might be my favorite Borge routine because there's something to it: how do you communicate punctuation clearly in speech? It's the inverse of the tone-in-writing question. And that's what makes Borge's idea so intriguing at first until we realize how horrifyingly hilarious it is. ("...and cah-ressed her fploink") Say it, don't spray it, indeed.
ComedyLanguageVictor BorgeDenmarkHenry!PunctuationSplash warning for the front rowThings you shouldn't do with your mouth