I had not previously been conscious of having been in any way aware of the concept of the "potluck" dinner or supper. I still have no idea what it is, but my blissful ignorance about its existence was knocked out from under me by the following:
A reference to a "potluck supper" in the Jim Harrison short story "Father Daughter" in the March 29, 2004 issue of the New Yorker.
The very next week, same magazine, in Jonathan Lethem's completely brilliant "Super Goat Man" (which you should read), a reference to "potluck dinners".
One week later, you know where, in the same part of the magazine as that week's short story, a cartoon bearing the punchline "Thanks for the potluck."
This is not unlike the consecutive references in the same magazine a few months earlier to "coaling stations" (see an earlier post of mine). Has the "potluck" been making regular appearances in the New Yorker (or anywhere else) that I have failed to pick up on until now, or is something a bit strange going on here?
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