the.com/catalog
A list that promises order and delivers desire instead.
means A systematic list or record of items, often with descriptions, meant to help you find or choose something.
from From Greek 'katalogos' — 'kata' (thoroughly, down to the last detail) plus 'legein' (to say, to count, to reckon). It traveled through Late Latin 'catalogus' into French and English, keeping its original job description the whole way: an exhaustive, item-by-item reckoning. The irony is baked in from the start — a word built to mean 'totally accounted for' ended up naming the very documents that make you want things you never knew you lacked.
- origin
- Greek katalogos meant simply to count up
- ikea trick
- arranged to make you walk the whole store
- sears era
- once sold entire houses by mail, 1908-1940
- raisonne twist
- art catalogs can make or erase authenticity