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Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2009Using Time Productively
The pseudo-title, that long attribute -- "Slain protest-organizer So-and-So" -- Is loathed by any writer of repute: "Disgruntled office-seeker Charles Guiteau" (The man who killed James Garfield, as you know). Through Time and over-use it starts to grate, Offending those who like their language pure. It makes a sentence clumsy, overweight. Such prose would need a Banting course for sure (That's slimmed-down joiner William Banting's cure). This lumpish journalese makes me upset. It should be starved, just like a fever stint, Not stuffed, as those who use it ought to get. Paroemiologists, put that in print! (That's proverb scholars, if you need the hint). Appositives like these will seldom earn A positive response. I wince a bit And wonder when these hacks will ever learn To shun the hackneyed Dan-esque incipit (The work of Brown and those who publish it). The ghastly adjectival reticule Anarthrously premodifying names Has now been made a butt of ridicule By storied Usenet poetaster James (James Hogg, and not one of the other James(es)). Note: When reading aloud, be sure to enunciate the words "publish it" with extreme care.  SignatureJH > The pseudo-title, that long attribute -- > "Slain protest-organizer So-and-So" -- [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > By storied Usenet poetaster James > (James Hogg, and not one of the other James(es)). Could this in any way be referenced at Wikipedia? (Or does it fall under the clause of "original verse"?) > The pseudo-title, that long attribute -- > "Slain protest-organizer So-and-So" -- [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] > When reading aloud, be sure to enunciate the words > "publish it" with extreme care. That's more like it, Mr H. (It's a bit damp here today, which makes me achy and wishing I were anarthrous...) SignatureLaura (emulate St. George for email) LFS filted: >That's more like it, Mr H. (It's a bit damp here today, which makes me >achy and wishing I were anarthrous...) What are joints like that doing in a nice girl like you?...r SignatureA pessimist sees the glass as half empty. An optometrist asks whether you see the glass more full like this?...or like this? > LFS filted: >> That's more like it, Mr H. (It's a bit damp here today, which makes me >> achy and wishing I were anarthrous...) > > What are joints like that doing in a nice girl like you?...r <grin> SignatureLaura (emulate St. George for email) > Appositives like these will seldom earn > A positive response. I wince a bit > And wonder when these hacks will ever learn > To shun the hackneyed Dan-esque incipit > (The work of Brown and those who publish it). I don't suppose they will want to shun it when they think about the vast pile of money that famed US author Dan Brown made by writing in this style. Signatureathel >> Appositives like these will seldom earn >> A positive response. I wince a bit [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > I don't suppose they will want to shun it when they think about the vast > pile of money that famed US author Dan Brown made by writing in this style. "Famed US author X" reminds me of "stricken space station Mir", possibly because "famed" and "stricken" are rarely encountered outside such constructions. SignatureLaura (emulate St. George for email) Quoth Athel Cornish-Bowden <athel_cb@yahoo.co.uk>, and I quote: >> Appositives like these will seldom earn >> A positive response. I wince a bit [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >vast pile of money that famed US author Dan Brown made by writing in >this style. I would change your preposition and talk of the money he made "despite writing in this style". I suspect the plot and the media hype attracted readers more than the journalese. SignatureJames -- James > The pseudo-title, that long attribute -- > "Slain protest-organizer So-and-So" -- > Is loathed by any writer of repute: > "Disgruntled office-seeker Charles Guiteau" > (The man who killed James Garfield, as you know). I know exactly who you're parodying. Just remind me, would you? > Through Time and over-use it starts to grate, > Offending those who like their language pure. [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > And wonder when these hacks will ever learn > To shun the hackneyed Dan-esque incipit All this time I've been pronouncing "incipit" wrong! To the extent that I've been pronouncing it. > (The work of Brown and those who publish it). > > The ghastly adjectival reticule > Anarthrously premodifying names > Has now been made a butt of ridicule Is "butt" a delicate allusion to another infelicity near the beginning of /The Da Vinci Code/? "Last month, much to Langdon's embarrassment, Boston Magazine had listed him as one of that city's top ten most intriguing people—a dubious honor that made him the brunt of endless ribbing by his Harvard colleagues." http://www.maiyeuem.net/vtopic32178.html > By storied Usenet poetaster James > (James Hogg, and not one of the other James(es)). > > Note: > When reading aloud, be sure to enunciate the words > "publish it" with extreme care. Works fine. -- Jerry Friedman Quoth Jerry Friedman <jerry_friedman@yahoo.com>, and I quote: >> The pseudo-title, that long attribute -- >> "Slain protest-organizer So-and-So" -- [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > >I know exactly who you're parodying. Just remind me, would you? I wasn't consciously parodying anyone. Having added an explanatory fifth line to the first stanza I wrote (which ended up as the last), I felt compelled to do the same for all the others. >> Through Time and over-use it starts to grate, >> Offending those who like their language pure. [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >All this time I've been pronouncing "incipit" wrong! To the extent >that I've been pronouncing it. I had to check too. >> (The work of Brown and those who publish it). >> [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >Is "butt" a delicate allusion to another infelicity near the beginning >of /The Da Vinci Code/? No, "reticule" led me to the rhyme "ridicule" which naturally led to "butt", which seemed appropriate because the word had just come up in the thread about Butt Hole Road. >"Last month, much to Langdon's embarrassment, Boston Magazine had >listed him as one of that city's top ten most intriguing peoplea >dubious honor that made him the brunt of endless ribbing by his >Harvard colleagues." > >http://www.maiyeuem.net/vtopic32178.html I read the novel without noticing that. That malapropism is perhaps favoured by people who think that "butt" is a dirty word. >> By storied Usenet poetaster James >> (James Hogg, and not one of the other James(es)). [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > >Works fine. SignatureJames > Quoth Jerry Friedman <jerry_friedman@yahoo.com>, and I quote: [...] >>> Appositives like these will seldom earn >>> A positive response. I wince a bit [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > I had to check too. You didn't check with me, though. " 'Ink-i-pit" for weekdays, " 'inch-i-pit" on Sundays. "Ince-" suggests the Victorian schoolmaster: not quite a mumpsimus, but not too far off. (My first Lat master chiz was of that noble breed.) "Ince-a-pit" would be /'insapit/ if there were any such thing. SignatureMike. Quoth "Mike Lyle" <mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk>, and I quote: >> Quoth Jerry Friedman <jerry_friedman@yahoo.com>, and I quote: >> [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >was of that noble breed.) "Ince-a-pit" would be /'insapit/ if there were >any such thing. I consulted the OED and found /'InsIpIt/. COD says the same. Kenyon & Knott agree. Daniel Jones is silent. SignatureJames > Quoth "Mike Lyle" <mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk>, and I > quote: [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > I consulted the OED and found /'InsIpIt/. COD says the same. > Kenyon & Knott agree. Daniel Jones is silent. I spit myself of these Anglo-centristickall mumpsimi. SignatureMike. |
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