Mrs. Silo

In the early English translations of some of Silo’s talks you find the honorific “señor” translated as, “Mister”. That’s not necessarily wrong by any means, however depending on context though “lord”, “sir” or even “gentleman” might be closer to the intent.

I was charmed by those phrases referring to Mr. Buddha, Mr. Jesus, etc. I believe that it was in Corfu that I first called Negro — Mr. Silo. He responded by referring to me as Mr. Danny, or at other times Grucho (pronounced with the long Spanish U, i.e. Groocho). Apparently I shared something in common with this middle child of the famous Marx Brothers. Certainly we had a number of obvious attributes in common: bushy eyebrows, a thick moustache (mine was not painted on) and round “granny” glasses.

One day I addressed Ana Louisa as Mrs. Silo her response was immediate and memorable: “I may have an external center of gravity but it’s not that external.” I wonder if she remembers saying that? I wonder if I remember the incident correctly?