> ... "and then the
> different branches of Arithmetic--
> **Ambition, Distraction, Uglification,**
> and **Derision.**" 
>
> (*Alice in Wonderland*, chapter IX: the Mock Turtle's story)

As a child I wondered for a long time what was the exact meaning of the above partition of Arithmetic quoted in the strange Mock turtle's speech. Today, I like to think it refers to that unpleasant  circumstance many of us experienced sometimes: I want to get a certain difficult result (Ambition) but there is a fatal error somewhere in my argument, or computation (Distraction) and when I realize it, the construction miserably falls (Uglification) with a inner feeling of scorn (Derision). A sort of micro - Greek tragedy. Is that what Lewis Carrol really had in mind? It is possible, as he was a mathematician himself, but then did he refer to a precise incident? Did he left any comment on that passage? Has anybody quoted that passage in this meaning later?