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Discussion Groups / English Usage / July 2009"[T]hat sounds almost impossibly Abe Lincoln"
Ladies and Gentlemen: It's Stephen King's /On Writing/ again. ------------------------- I wrote after work; when we lived on Grove Street, which was close to the New Franklin, I would sometimes write a little on my lunch hour, too. I suppose that sounds almost impossibly Abe Lincoln, but it was no big deal - I was having fun. (Pocket edition, p. 60) ------------------------ "[T]hat sounds almost impossibly Abe Lincoln." What does that mean? Sincerely, Tacia > It's Stephen King's /On Writing/ again. > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > "[T]hat sounds almost impossibly Abe Lincoln." This is American teenage oral style, written down as prose (thus likely to be bad prose style even of acceptable colloquial style.) When a person (e.g. Lincoln) or a place (e.g. Hollywood) suggests a whole bundle of ideas, American speech invokes this bundle simply by citing the name. Tradition associates Lincoln with hard work and self-education (the ideas invoked here: the future prolific author began writing stories as a schoolboy -- "no big deal" because he enjoyed such work.)  SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) > I wrote after work; when we lived on Grove Street, which was close to > the New Franklin, I would sometimes write a little on my lunch hour, > too. I suppose that sounds almost impossibly Abe Lincoln, but it was > no big deal - I was having fun. My reading is: that sounds to be in the manner of Lincoln, the way he used to do things, which of course it was impossible, or out of reach, for this (regular) person. Marius Hancu "Tacia": > > I wrote after work; when we lived on Grove Street, which was close to > > the New Franklin, I would sometimes write a little on my lunch hour, > > too. I suppose that sounds almost impossibly Abe Lincoln, but it was > > no big deal - I was having fun. Marius Hancu: > that sounds to be in the manner of Lincoln, In other words, Lincoln's name is being used as an adjective. The person might also have said, "this sounds impossibly like an Abe Lincoln thing to do." > the way he used to do things, Or is popularly believed to have done things. In case it isn't clear, "Abe" is short for Abraham. We're talking about the man who was president of the US during their Civil War. > which of course it was impossible, or out of reach, for this > (regular) person. Yes. SignatureMark Brader "...but the past thousand years Toronto, msb@vex.net have been atypical." My text in this article is in the public domain. > "Tacia": > > > I wrote after work; when we lived on Grove Street, which was close to [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > In case it isn't clear, "Abe" is short for Abraham. We're talking about > the man who was president of the US during their Civil War. Also, it would be odd to refer to him as "Abraham" in the context being discussed. Some how, when it's the young Abe Lincoln splitting rails, or writing his schoolwork with a burnt twig from the fire because his family couldn't afford ink or pencils, or studying law by the light of embers in the boiler room after working two shifts daily as a stevedore and three on Sundays (or whatever...okay, I made that last one up, but a lot of legends of hard work and adversity attached to the man over the years) -- it's always "Abe", not "Abraham". > > which of course it was impossible, or out of reach, for this > > (regular) person. > > Yes. Not so much out of reach, as requiring a firmness of purpose and determination in the face of obstacles that, despite being within reach of anyone, is more often admired than attained, simply because it is easier to admire than to do. SignatureRoland Hutchinson He calls himself "the Garden State's leading violist da gamba," ... comparable to being ruler of an exceptionally small duchy. --Newark (NJ) Star Ledger ( http://tinyurl.com/RolandIsNJ ) > It's Stephen King's /On Writing/ again. > ------------------------- > I wrote after work; when we lived on Grove Street, which was close > to the New Franklin, I would sometimes write a little on my lunch > hour, too. I suppose that sounds almost impossibly Abe Lincoln, but > it was no big deal - I was having fun. > (Pocket edition, p. 60) > ------------------------ > "[T]hat sounds almost impossibly Abe Lincoln." > What does that mean? I agree with what others have said, but I think it is also a reference to the widespread tendency to mythologise the lives of national heroes, emphasising their virtues in a perhaps slightly unrealistic way. Abraham Lincoln ("Honest Abe") may, as the story goes, once have walked twenty miles through rough country to return the correct change to a woman he had overcharged for something, and he may have studied long hours after work by the light of the fire in his humble log cabin, but it's pretty certain that George ("I cannot tell a lie") Washington didn't manfully admit to his father, as another story has it, that he had chopped down a valued cherry-tree. "That sounds almost impossibly like the laudatory and morally uplifting tales we hear of our heroic ancestors." CDB a écrit : >> It's Stephen King's /On Writing/ again. > [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > heroes, emphasising their virtues in a perhaps slightly unrealistic > way. [...] > "That sounds almost impossibly like the laudatory and morally uplifting tales we > hear of our heroic ancestors." I got the Abraham Lincoln reference. What I don't get is "almost impossibly"; I really can't understand it. Trying to fathom how something --anything--could sound "almost impossibly like" something --anything-- else really makes my head all giddy. The other difficulty I have with the text quoted by Tacia is to understand how writing after work, or writing "a little" on one's lunch hour could be considered a heroic endeavour on the part of a would-be writer. SignatureIsabelle Cecchini > CDB a écrit : >> [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > something --anything--could sound "almost impossibly like" something > --anything-- else really makes my head all giddy. How about: - He was almost impossibly cute. - She is almost impossibly rude. It indicates that the person has the characteristic to such an extent that it's very nearly impossible to believe. > The other difficulty I have with the text quoted by Tacia is to > understand how writing after work, or writing "a little" on one's lunch > hour could be considered a heroic endeavour on the part of a would-be > writer. I don't know what characteristics are ascribed to Lincoln, but it probably doesn't mean heroic. It doesn't sound particularly positive tm me. Abe might have written novels in his lunch break. SignatureDavid the Omrud a écrit : >> CDB a écrit : >>> [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > It indicates that the person has the characteristic to such an extent > that it's very nearly impossible to believe. Ah thanks, David. "Very nearly impossible to believe" did it for me. >> The other difficulty I have with the text quoted by Tacia is to >> understand how writing after work, or writing "a little" on one's [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > probably doesn't mean heroic. It doesn't sound particularly positive tm > me. Abe might have written novels in his lunch break. My understanding of what Stephen King seems to be saying is: "Look! When I was a struggling writer-to-be, I wrote after work; I even wrote during my lunch-hour. I know that sounds like the kind of fairy-tale story told about Abraham Lincoln, who, as we all know, went through terrible hardship when he was young, but, even if it's almost impossible to believe, that's what I did." Stephen King then reassures his readers and tells us that it really was rather fun, contrary to what was expected. SignatureIsabelle Cecchini "Tacia" quotes Stephen King: > >>>> I wrote after work; when we lived on Grove Street, which was close > >>>> to the New Franklin, I would sometimes write a little on my lunch > >>>> hour, too. I suppose that sounds almost impossibly Abe Lincoln, but > >>>> it was no big deal - I was having fun. Isabelle Cecchini paraphrases: > My understanding of what Stephen King seems to be saying is: "Look! When > I was a struggling writer-to-be, I wrote after work; I even wrote during [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Stephen King then reassures his readers and tells us that it really was > rather fun, contrary to what was expected. Exactly. It sounds like more work than anyone would have done (except Abraham Lincoln, the way people talk about him), but it wasn't. SignatureMark Brader, Toronto | "Domine, defende nos msb@vex.net | Contra hos motores bos!" -- A. D. Godley My text in this article is in the public domain. > "Tacia" quotes Stephen King: >>>>>> I wrote after work; when we lived on Grove Street, which was close [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > Exactly. It sounds like more work than anyone would have done (except > Abraham Lincoln, the way people talk about him), but it wasn't. That's what I was missing. People around here don't talk about Abe Lincoln in any way. SignatureDavid > >>>> It's Stephen King's /On Writing/ again. > >>> [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > >>>> "[T]hat sounds almost impossibly Abe Lincoln." > >>>> What does that mean? [snip lots of discussion] > My understanding of what Stephen King seems to be saying is: "Look! When > I was a struggling writer-to-be, I wrote after work; I even wrote during > my lunch-hour. I know that sounds like the kind of fairy-tale story told > about Abraham Lincoln, who, as we all know, went through terrible > hardship when he was young, but, even if it's almost impossible to > believe, that's what I did." That's almost it. It's not suffering hardship as it is working amazingly hard (to overcome such obstacles) that Lincoln was famous for. There's the apocryphal "Young Lincoln walked X miles to return Y cents to a customer." This looks like a more reliable and relevant example: 'His early companions all agree that he employed every spare moment in keeping on with some one of his studies. His stepmother tells us that "When he came across a passage that struck him, he would write it down on boards if he had no paper, and keep it there until he did get paper. Then he would rewrite it, look at it, repeat it. ... He spent long evenings doing sums ...' ---- The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln, by Helen Nicolay >> CDB a écrit : >>>> It's Stephen King's /On Writing/ again. >>>> ------------------------- >>>> I wrote after work; when we lived on Grove Street, which was >>>> close to the New Franklin, I would sometimes write a little on >>>> my lunch hour, too. I suppose that sounds almost impossibly Abe >>>> Lincoln, but it was no big deal - I was having fun. >>>> (Pocket edition, p. 60) >>>> ------------------------ >>>> "[T]hat sounds almost impossibly Abe Lincoln." >>>> What does that mean? >>> I agree with what others have said, but I think it is also a >>> reference to the widespread tendency to mythologise the lives of >>> national heroes, emphasising their virtues in a perhaps slightly >>> unrealistic way. [...] "That sounds almost impossibly like the >>> laudatory and morally uplifting tales we hear of our heroic >>> ancestors." >> I got the Abraham Lincoln reference. What I don't get is "almost >> impossibly"; I really can't understand it. Trying to fathom how >> something --anything--could sound "almost impossibly like" >> something --anything-- else really makes my head all giddy. > How about: > - He was almost impossibly cute. > - She is almost impossibly rude. > It indicates that the person has the characteristic to such an > extent that it's very nearly impossible to believe. I meant to indicate the doubtful nature of such stories when I threw in the apocryphal cherry-tree. Davy Crockett kilt him a b'ar when he was only three, or was that Hercules? Sorry I didn't make it more explicit. >> The other difficulty I have with the text quoted by Tacia is to >> understand how writing after work, or writing "a little" on one's >> lunch hour could be considered a heroic endeavour on the part of a >> would-be writer. It's ironically self-deprecating humour, I would say. King doesn't expect the claim to be taken seriously, not even the "almost impossibly", which is really just another signal that he is not serious. > I don't know what characteristics are ascribed to Lincoln, but it > probably doesn't mean heroic. It doesn't sound particularly > positive tm me. Abe might have written novels in his lunch break. In my defense: it was the ancestors I called heroic, not the particular activity mentioned . CDB a écrit : [...] [...] >>> The other difficulty I have with the text quoted by Tacia is to >>> understand how writing after work, or writing "a little" on one's [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > impossibly", which is really just another signal that he is not > serious. Thanks. I really must get myself a measuring jug for irony. SignatureIsabelle Cecchini > > CDB a écrit : > >> [quoted text clipped - 40 lines] > probably doesn't mean heroic. It doesn't sound particularly positive tm > me. Abe might have written novels in his lunch break. No, not heroic in the conventional sense (as would be Odysseus, Caesar, Patton, John Wayne). Hard working, diligent, intellectually gifted and tenacious, cheerful about it all, fair and honest towards everyone he meets. Naturally unassuming and modest in a Jimmy-Stewart sort of way. The hero as Everyman-who-can-grow-up-to-be-President. Held up as a role model to American children since at least the 1860s. (We went into all that upthread somewhere, I think.) That's our honest Abe. Patriot, Liberator, and Martyr, too -- but those are _consequences of his nature, not the defining characteristics of it. SignatureRoland Hutchinson He calls himself "the Garden State's leading violist da gamba," ... comparable to being ruler of an exceptionally small duchy. --Newark (NJ) Star Ledger ( http://tinyurl.com/RolandIsNJ ) [...] > The other difficulty I have with the text quoted by Tacia is to > understand how writing after work, or writing "a little" on one's lunch > hour could be considered a heroic endeavour on the part of a would-be > writer. Back in the day, when Lincoln was held up to all schoolchildren as a heroic model, the legend included his reading, while a child, long hours in the evening by only dim, flickering firelight, which--presumably--was quite a trial, one that few others would have submitted themselves to. The legend, once an integral part of the national lore, appears now, judging by most of the responses, to have become archaic. SignatureCordially, Eric Walker, Owlcroft House http://owlcroft.com/english/ |
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