"Even William Strunk, that Mussolini of rhetoric, ..."

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Tacia - 30 Jul 2009 22:10 GMT

Ladies and Gentlemen:

What does it mean to describe a person as Mussolini?

------------------------
Must you write complete sentences each time, every time? Perish the
thought. If your work consists only of fragments and floating clauses,
the Grammar Police aren't going to come and take you away. Even
William Strunk, that Mussolini of rhetoric, recognized the delicious
pliability of language. "It is an old observation," he writes, "that
the best writers sometimes disregard the rules of rhetoric." Yet he
goes on to add this thought, which I urge you to consider: "Unless he
is certain of doing well, [the writer] will probably do best to follow
the rules."

/On Writing/, by Stephen King; pocket edition; pp 113-114.
------------------------

"Even William Strunk, that Mussolini of rhetoric, ..."

Because of Strunk's regimentation?
Would it be of merit to be called so?

Sincerely,
Tacia

Reply to this Message

CDB - 30 Jul 2009 22:15 GMT

> Ladies and Gentlemen:
>
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> Because of Strunk's regimentation?
> Would it be of merit to be called so?

Perhaps a mixture of praise and criticism is intended. The hackneyed
description of Mussolini is that he was a brutal dictator, but one who
made the trains run on time.

Reply to this Message

J. J. Lodder - 31 Jul 2009 12:02 GMT

> > Ladies and Gentlemen:
> >
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
> description of Mussolini is that he was a brutal dictator, but one who
> made the trains run on time.

Mussolini's image as it has survived
is more ridiculous than brutal.

Jan

Reply to this Message

Don Phillipson - 31 Jul 2009 02:46 GMT

> What does it mean to describe a person as Mussolini?
>
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> /On Writing/, by Stephen King; pocket edition; pp 113-114.
> ------------------------

This is good history: Mussolini headed the first fascist/corporatist
government in the world and was the first in modern times to
proclaim himself a "dictator" (reviving an old Latin term.) He was
thus the prototype, later emulated by Hitler, Dolfuss, Stalin and
other politicians: e.g. Communists called their variety of denial
of democracy "the dictatorship of the proletariat." King deplores
Strunk as antidemocratic.

Signature

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Reply to this Message

Discussion Groups / English Usage / July 2009

"Even William Strunk, that Mussolini of rhetoric, ..."