The Friday Fillip

Have you any idea how hard it is to find a Jack O Lantern carved in the image of a lawyer? I’ll tell you how hard: impossible. That’s how hard. You’d think “lawyer” would be perfect, right? Scary for most people… often seen wearing long black garments… heard to spout strange rituals in a strange language… But no.

It’s just part of the trials of working in a profession that deals in abstracts: there’s a paucity of images to symbolize us, hence the proliferation of those silly little wooden hammers that only belong in the U.S. and those silly big wooly wigs that only belong in the U.K (and then not so much anymore). Scales, either in the hands of a woman or not: that’s it, really. So it’s words words words for us. All caption, no picture, makes Jack a dull lantern.

But once you let go of a connection to the law, carving a jack o lantern turns into a whole lot of fun. Imaginations run riot and surprising skill is revealed (by candlelight). There’s no better place to see this than on Flickr, which gives us over 60,000 results for “jack o lantern.” Let me suggest that at some point you direct the family computer to that site, click the “slideshow” link, and simply marvel at the parade of spookyheads.

Then, inspired, you might let Google offer you 5,000-plus videos on “pumpkin carving.” There’s sure to be something here to test your mettle — and the sharpness of your knife.