Did a Web search on the word "charax," returning 1080 results, of which I viewed only the first few pages. Seems the original meaning was more specific than I'd realized: a _palisade_, a wooden stockade-like barrier or one of the pointed stakes making it up. Evidently a related word is _charagma_, something inscribed, translated "mark" in a notorious passage from the Book of Revelation. And there were indeed some ancient cities by that name.

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Well, this is interesting. Our previously-mentioned former neighbor has admitted making a veiled reference to yours truly in a published column! In turn I had to tell "Dr. Cornell" that I'd done something similar in this weblog. Then I had to tell him where to find it, which meant looking it up myself, since I didn't remember the URL. For all I know, he could be the first (aside from the author) to read this stuff.

His subject involved an incident 40 years ago which we couldn't recall here. It was positive enough, which is nice. Too many memories, though recorded on an inferior version of my brain, suggest that I might often have been a stupid little jerk.