N Mutabor Origins: Mutabor is a magic word from Arabian folklore. In Literature: • "The caliph and his grand vizier buy various things and finally notice a container full of dark powder to which is attached a piece of paper with strange letters on it. The learned Selim is able to decipher this writing, which explains in Latin that anyone who sniffs this powder and then says the Latin word mutabor will be transformed into the animal he chooses and will be able to understand the speech of animals. There is no danger in doing this since in order to resume human form the sniffer has only to bow three times to the east and then repeat the magic word mutabor. However, one must be very careful not to laugh during the process of sniffing and transformation, for otherwise the magic world will instantly be forgotten." -- Harald Weinrich, Lethe: The Art and Critique of Forgetting (1997) Mutatis Mutandis Meanings: • "The necessary changes having been made" Origins: Mutatis mutandis is a Latin phrase. In Literature: • "Even in the absence of a reference to Lacan, we can recognize a hallmark Lacanian rhetorical gesture: mutatis mutandis, the magic words which allow different things to be versions of each other without the exact relation being spelled out." -- Edward R. O'Neill, "The Last Analysis of Slavoj Zizek" (2001) Mystery Mystery has a great appeal to human minds, even when it's known to be fantasy. -- Lloyd H. Whitling, The Complete Universe of Memes (2002) Mystique: "The word mystery has a certain inherent hiddenness and a built-in quality of puzzlement."4 However, "[i]t does not mean a puzzle or a conundrum to be figured out. On the contrary: though a mystery may give 4 Jeffrey L. Curry, The Mysteries of the Kingdom (2004)