KILT, n. A costume sometimes worn by Scotchmen in America and Americans in Scotland.
Interpretation
The quote humorously comments on cultural attire and identity.
Ambrose Bierce's quote plays on the humorous ambiguity of cultural costumes, specifically the kilt, as it highlights the irony of how attire can become a marker of identity that is fluid between different cultures, particularly between Scots in America and Americans in Scotland. It suggests that what we choose to wear can often defy and complicate traditional cultural boundaries.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about cultural appropriation in fashion.
PALM, n. A species of tree . . . of which the familiar "itching palm" ("Palma hominis") is most widely distributed . . . . This noble vegetable exudes a kind of invisible gum, which may be detected by applying to the bark a piece of gold or silver.
Human nature is pretty well balanced; for every lacking virtue there is a rough substitute that will serve at a pinch--as cunning is the wisdom of the unwise, and ferocity the courage of the coward.
Indigestion: A disease which the patient and his friends frequently mistake for deep religious conviction and concern for the salvation of mankind. As the simple Red Man of the Western Wild put it, with, it must be confessed, a certain force: 'Plenty well, no pray; big belly ache, heap God.'
Disobey n:To celebrate with an appropriate ceremony the maturity of a command
NOUMENON, n. That which exists, as distinguished from that which merely seems to exist, the latter being a phenomenon. The noumenon is a bit difficult to locate; it can be apprehended only by a process of reasoning - which is a phenomenon.
PARDON, v. To remit a penalty and restore to the life of crime. To add to the lure of crime the temptation of ingratitude.
What a delightful thing is the conversation of specialists! One understands absolutely nothing and it's charming.
There's no more faith in thee than in a stewed prune.
A politician is an arse upon which everyone has sat except a man.
He's the kind of man a woman would have to marry to get rid of.
It should seem that it is easier to square the circle than to get round a mathematician.
I don't know which is more discouraging, literature or chickens.
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