[ 06.2014 | Florence ]

in one of Florence’s rather un­spec­tac­ular parts (if there even is any) an entrance to a back­yard caught my atten­tion. Utopia. this word of Greek origin was coined by the English huma­nist Sir Tho­mas More. his legen­dary book, in which he des­cribes a fic­tional island society in the Atlan­tic Ocean, was pub­lished in 1516. ‘Utopia’ stands for commu­nities (real or fictional) which try to create ideal socie­ties with highly desi­rable or nearly perfect quali­ties (esp. social, poli­tical, and eco­nomic).

nearly perfect quali­ties are surely hard to achieve. the quali­ties of Lewis Carroll’s fic­tional charac­ter the mad hatter in ‘Alice’s Adven­tures in Wonder­land’ are – let’s say – ‘special’. the expres­sion ‘as mad as a hatter’ refers to com­plete crazi­ness; a term that was already common in 1865. in Tim Burton’s 2010 movie, the figure was por­trayed by Johnny Depp – who dances the ‘Futter­wacken’ to express overly joy.

sources: merriam-webster.com | alice-in-wonderland.net