I was reading La Vie Quotidienne au Royaume de Kongo du XVIe au XVIIIe Siecle (“Daily life in the Congo from the 16th to the 18th Century”) by Georges Balandier. (Never mind why—I just was). My attention was caught by this, which I shall translate for monoglots: Symbolically, palms are male trees, and thus in a certain sense noble.
Ah, yes. Maleness equals nobility. Of course.
So when I’m crossing the road outside the Abu Dhabi Mall and two muscle cars scorch by within inches of me, one to my left and one to my right, I should understand that—because both are driven by men—the unsettling effect is actually the result of nobility.
If only I’d realised that before.