Jorge Luis Borges, 1938. Quoted in Borges, Jorge Luis. Selected Non-Fictions. Edited by Eliot Weinberger. New York: Penguin Books, 2000, pp. 183--184.

F. T. Marinetti is perhaps the most celebrated example of the kind of writer who lives by his wits and to whom something witty rarely occurs... He has also proposed that Italians replace chic with elettrizzante [electrifying] (five syllables instead of one) and bar with qui si beve [here one drinks]-four syllables for one, and the unresolved enigma of how the plural will be formed. "Our Italian language must not be despoiled by foreignisms!" declares Filippo Tommaso with a Puritanism not unworthy of the aseptic Cejador or the forty stalls of the Spanish Royal Academy. Foreignisms! The old impresario of Futurism cannot abide such mischief.

— Jorge Luis Borges on Filippo Tommaso Marinetti

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "F. T. Marinetti is perhaps the most celebrated example of the kind of writer who lives by his wits and to whom something witty rarely occurs... He has also proposed that Italians replace chic with elettrizzante [electrifying] (five syllables instead of one) and bar with qui si beve [here one drinks]-four syllables for one, and the unresolved enigma of how the plural will be formed. "Our Italian language must not be despoiled by foreignisms!" declares Filippo Tommaso with a Puritanism not unworthy of the aseptic Cejador or the forty stalls of the Spanish Royal Academy. Foreignisms! The old impresario of Futurism cannot abide such mischief." in the context of "Jorge Luis Borges, 1938. Quoted in Borges, Jorge Luis. Selected Non-Fictions. Edited by Eliot Weinberger. New York: Penguin Books, 2000, pp. 183--184." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Filippo Tommaso Marinetti" (Quotes about Filippo Tomasso Marinetti: sorted chronologically, after date of the quotes about F. Marinetti) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Jorge Luis Borges

About Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges (24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine writer who is considered one of the foremost literary figures of the 20th century. Most famous in the English speaking world for his short stories and fictive essays, Borges was also a poet, critic, translator and man of letters.