European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 23, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Words and wit multiplying the Multi prefix William Safire on language Multi is a prefix that has a special place in my heart. As a cub reporter for a column in the old new York Herald Tribune i interviewed the italian movie actress Gina Lollobrigida then making her first splash in pane Amore e fantasia. I was then Short of All three a bread love and dreams a and treasured a picture she gave me which shows her posing in revealing rags and pouting defiantly and is inscribed a Molto  Multi like the italian Molto is from the latin cultus a a much miss Lollobrigida was offering fans much affection. Stuck on the beginning of nouns like multivitamin it Means Quot More than one several on the beginning of adjectives like multifaceted Multi Means  a a multilateral raise Hopes is the headline on a recent Issue of the weekly near East report. The liberated modifier multilateral used to be part of multilateral discussions now on its own it was used Here to refer to the talks Between Israel and Many Arab states about regional issues. This figurative use of the adjective was started by sir William Jones the English Jurist in a 1784 letter to the conservative statesman Edmund Burke a the charter of Justice. Makes me multilateral it gives me an equity Side a Law Side an ecclesiastical Side a Crown Side an admiralty  for some reason Jones was dissatisfied with Many sided. That Early anti Man ism has caught on although few is doing Fine Many is in disuse. If Han Suyin were writing her Hong Kong novel today she would change the title and the subsequent movie and song to love is a Multi Splendore thing. We used to be in a bipolar world using a term Zbigniew Brzezinski popularized after the term polarization was used to Cluck Cluck at political partisanship. In fact the world has always been bipolar rotating As it does on an Axis with North and South poles but that geopolitical sense has led to the replacement of by two with Multi count Mem. With the dissolution of one of the two superpowers the world has become Multi Polar a word once associated with Henry Kissinger whose clients Are multinational. Such companies require multilingual interpreters and hire Mur Mart of executives who engage in multitasking rather than do anything to remind the invitation seemed eerily robotic a the offices of a the attorney general a and a the Deputy attorney general a request the pleasure of your company a at a a Holiday  i had heard of office parties but a a party Given by offices this was a matter for miss manners. Judith Martin does for the nations etiquette what i try to do for its grammar. Run it i shot the curiously worded invitation on to her at United feature Syndicate with the query a should an office invite a person to a party even an office party a miss manners reply in the most Beautiful writing hand i have Ever seen a although i never much cared for talking furniture a rulings from chairs messages from desks a of a i Welcome the clarification that a party is actually being Given by offices rather than people a if the attorney general and his Deputy want tothe naked truth about wacko performance Art Tony Kornheiser p performance arts is once again in the news As the National endowment for the arts denied Federal funding to an Avant Garde establishment in new York called the Franklin Furnace. What extinguished the Furnace was the submission of a videotape of the stage act of one is. Scarlett o. To sum up is. Of a act she takes off her clothes and asks members of the audience to apply lotion to her naked body. Sort of a hands on Coppertone and. Golly in a probably not doing Justice to the larger context of is. Of a performance. Maybe she has a Socko ending where she urges you to floss regularly. But my guess is a and Call me a party proper for even suggesting it a if she did the same act on the Comer shed be hauled off in a Paddy Wagon. But lets not be too Quick to condemn performance Art merely because it is different or unfamiliar. Many great innovations were initially met with scepticism and Lack of understanding. The steam engine for example. Sure you could Cook on it but How did you get the meat to run alongside who is to say that performance Art Isnit the Harbinger of a new age of self expression As opposed to say a hunk of baloney. In a not exactly sure what performance Art is a other than it seems like everybody who does it gets naked. Does that mean when in a taking a Shower in a a performance artist because if that a the Case i want the Nea to Spring for the soap. Below Are 20 performance Art routines. Eleven of them i made up. Nine of them were actually performed for audiences. At least two of the artists were federally funded answers at Bottom. 1. A Man uses a catapult to fling dog carcasses across the length of a football Field. 2. A woman wearing Only galoshes a a Symbol of the rising decay in american life a stands on stage and weeps. Every 10 minutes she launches into a Broadway show tune culminating with 76 trombones. 3. A Man washes his car with his Tongue. 4. Three men wearing flight suits slide Down a pole and play musical chairs but instead of taking a seat when the music stops they stuff bananas into their cars. When the Supply of bananas is exhausted they smear themselves with chocolate dive into a Large vat of whipped Cream and Roll around in sprinkles and shaved nuts. This concludes the food portion of their program. For the next hour they read aloud from the Telephone Book. 5. A Man urinates on stage. This is not his entire act but Trust me its the show stopper. 6. A Man paints portraits of . Presidents on his behind. 7. A Man and a woman tie themselves together with an 8-foot rope and padlocks. They remain chained to each other for a full year. 8. A woman inserts vegetables into her orifices. In our House we Call her a the Yam  As Long As you done to invite her Over for thanksgiving dinner what a the problem Gina Lollobrigida in new York City in 1954, shortly after filming pane Amore e fantasia. Give a party they May not have to make the hours do oeuvres but they should pay for them and they should sustain the illusion that they invited people they happened to like not those from whom they expect any professional advantage. A guests of an office need not reciprocate As they have incurred no social obligation. There is far too much confusion about this sort of thing although i admired the thank you letter a Friend wrote the presidents wife after a state dinner a a lets do this again real soon which is Why i am willing to approve the crude admission that a party is being Given by an  the new York times 9. A Man Staples live minks muskrats and rabbits to his skin. Two other men protesting unethical treatment of animals Rescue the furry animals and slowly torture the Man with Toenail clippers. 10. A Leader brings seven naked men and women on stage and wraps them in cloth. They pretend to be Patio furniture. While grilling a Steak the Leader performs a monologue about the disingenuous Ness of american politicians. The performance concludes with the others disrobing tying the Leader to the front bumper of a vow bus and covering him with Turtle Wax and Coconut flakes. 11. A Man gives the audience darts and asks them to throw them at him. They do. He bleeds. 12. A woman sits in the Comer under a Large photograph of Manuel Noriega eating from a huge bowl of fruit. She vomits. 13. A Man has a Friend shoot him in the Arm with a .22 Caliper Rifle. 14. Three women appear dressed like lettuce leaves. Standing perfectly still they Are doused from above with raw eggs anchovies and Croutons. The audience is encouraged to chant a pick me Monty pick me Quot 15. A Man spends two Days naked confined inside a High school gym locker. 16. A Man bites the Heads off two live mice. This is his whole act. 17. Six women dressed like nuns carry a coffin onto a basketball court. From inside a Man emerges wearing Only a pair of air Jordans. He proceeds to Dunk repeatedly a Ping Pong Ball. 18. A Man dresses his dog up As a Frog. 19. A Man knocks out his own Eye tooth with a chisel then auctions it to the audience. 20. A woman Cooks a Chicken then flushes it Down a toilet. The following Are real 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 13, 15,16, 18. Scoring if you got 16 or More Correct Contact the Nea. But done to Tell them Scarlet sent you. Creators Syndicate Page 18 a sunday february 23.1992