¶ Sunclipse
Index Entry
In 1934 as noted in the ‘New Yorker’ profile of Bucky Fuller by Calvin Tomkins, BF offered a prize to anyone who could invent words equal poetically and euphonically to the misinforming words ‘sunset’ and ‘sunrise,’ which new words would also effectively describe the fact that the Earth’s rotation from west toward east rotates the Spaceship Earth’s passengers into the shadow and out of sight of the Sun.
Hundreds of name suggestions showed up in the mail but none seemed to satisfy the conditions until the poet of San Francisco, Gene Fowler, suggested the use of the motion picture production words ‘out’ and ‘take’ and put forth the words ‘sunout’ and ‘suntake,’ Stimulated by this William Wainwright of Cambridge, Massachusetts, suggested ‘Sunclipse’ and this in turn suggested its companion word ‘Sunsight,’ in which two words the Sun becomes subjective instead of objective. The first prize goes to Gene Fowler for describing the problem systematically and thereby swiftly inducing its logical solution. Second prize goes to William Wainwright of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
