NP except circuitously; a metaphor branches; goes mainstream

[Paul Mackin]

Circus is another word for what in the U.S. is often called a traffic 
circle.  Le Carre's Circus is named for Cambridge Circus in Central 
London, fictional location of MI6.

P


On 1/15/2012 8:46 AM, Mark Kohut wrote:
> LeCarre's name for the Intelligence Agency behind it all is "The Circus". Pynchon, others,
> use the concept to describe the crazy acrobatics and performances of (certain)
> social realities. [ I cannot offhand remember an exact use of circus in GR or ATD,
> and am not going to check but I do remember Carnivale, an inexact analogue is
> in AtD.] In Confidence Men, Ron Suskind uses it to describe the 2008 campaign, "What
> amazed Obama was how big the whole circus had become, and how fast." [sic].
>
> I find in an article on Apple, 'the retail circus" .
>
> Below is the NYTimes today:
> "Foreclosure Auctions Show Raw Form of Capitalism
> 16 hours ago ... Foreclosure auctions have grown into a scruffy
> economic circus where bargain hunters from around the world have
> scooped up houses often sold ...
> January 15, 2012 - By KEN BELSON - U.S."
>
> And, to stick the landing, I ran the word 'circus' through Google Trends--
> a mapping of use and voila (and interesting, imho)
> http://www.google.com/trends/?q=circus&ctab=0
>
> Send in the clowns.
>