Word: menckenism
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...generation of jazz-age iconoclasts, Mencken was a demigod who cut down false idols with a meatax. He fought the censors and prohibitors like an enraged impala, and destroyed shibboleths with a whimsical delight that has seldom been equaled. On his overheated typewriter he minted words and phrases that became part of the national currency: "booboisie," "bozart," "Comstockery," "Bible Belt." With roars of laughter, Mencken insulted at least half his countrymen as "morons" and "boobs" led by "medicine men." He enraged a lot of people, and capitalized on their anger by fielding their barbs into an anthology, Schimpflexikon...
Bicycle Rider. Mencken's day faded fast. First the Depression and then the repeal of Prohibition outdated both him and his straw men. He tried to laugh off the Depression. But the college men, now unemployed, who had always laughed with Mencken, failed to get the joke. The old Mercury lost its following, and less than five years later many a bright college boy did not know who Mencken was. At a political convention, when a photographer asked him his name and occupation, Mencken solemnly wrote: "Retired six-day bicycle rider." But in his sundown. Mencken found new activities...
Under his hardboiled shell Mencken was a kindly man, with a dozen godchildren, and legions of good friends who disagreed with every one of his opinions and prejudices. He had a passion for great literature, classical music and for people (even preachers, politicians and boobs). He liked nothing better than a terrapin dinner, washed down with good beer (and a toast to Lydia E. Pinkham), followed by an Upmann cigar and an evening of sparkling conversation. In his robust way, he loved America, once said: "As an American I naturally spend most of my time laughing." He also loved...
...final volume, covering Mencken's days as a magazine editor, will be published in 50 years...
Died. Henry Louis Mencken, 75, essayist and critic-of-all-things; after long illness; in Baltimore (see THE PRESS...