i wonder about plain as it refers to the female face. was it originally conceived so negatively? the plain landscape is one of simplicity and space -- uncluttered such that one could breathe endlessly within it (not that the confines truly confine but in the most technical sense). romance novelists always endow their heroines with a "plain face" (balanced by their "quick minds"). would a romance novel survive if built around a woman with a quick face and a plain mind? and haven't i heard that somewhere before, the notion of an uncluttered mind?

why should the face and its internal stuffs diverge like this? why can't we live in harmony?!?

archaically, plain means/t having no visible elevation or depression in other words flat like the landscape which we now associate with the middle of our fair country. if a woman had an archaically plain face, then a game could be played looking for her nose. and then there would be no breath but through the mouth which then puts a screw in our romantic landscape rendering of plain.

although if the alternative is a cluttered face (cluttered with kitch? monkeys? maps of new zealand?), i think the female face is in no small amount of trouble and/or i'm getting a veil.