Hi:
I'm beginning to realize that I'm going to have to cope with the time difference. When it's daytime for me most of you are asleep. When my day is winding down you're just hitting your stride. As a Grumpy Old Man (did you see that BBC TV series in the US?) I made two comments the other day that seemed different the next morning.
Specificially the apostrophe and the name of our literary benefactor. I can live with both. Thing is, when I think of reading I think of Mr. Vincent and Comp Lit. Most of my memories of Mrs. Biggs have to do with her temperament.
Pam: We could discuss the use of the AP style book for professional work. But since you're not doing that anymore I guess we can pass. After all these years it actually looks funny to me to see "Biggs'" without the "apostrophe s" at the end. No big deal.
Ed
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Hey Paula: I quit reading after 10 pgs. How about you? Pam
Books being read / discussed
- Pam says "Link to good review about Bolano below"
- www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2007/03/26/070326crat_atlarge_zalewski
- novels of Roberto Bolano--Larry
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot Diaz)--Ed
New book nominations
- East is East (T.C. Boyle)
- The Battle for God (Karen Armstrong)
- Divisadero (Michael Ondaatje)
Nominations for Book 3
- Atlas Shrugged -- Ayn Rand
- Honorary Consul -- Graham Greene
- People of the Book -- Geraldine Brooks
- The Double Bind -- Chris Bohjalian
Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland
Hey Paula: I quit reading after 10 pgs. How about you? Pam
Nominations for Book 2
- 1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Zvi)
unusual words in "Little, Big"
- orgulous
- minatory
- arras
- muzzy
- discarnate
- celandine
- machicolated
- malapert
- condign
- atomies
- marmoreal
- infundibular
- ewer
Reading this now...
- Audition by Barbara Walters (PMJ --what can I say? I'm a celebrity junkie)
- American Made: A History of the WPA (lrf)
- Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski (fox)
- Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog (PMJ and Pam)
- The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Murakami (Zvi: Thanks, Fox)
- The Underground City by H.L. Humes (lrf)
- Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran (Pam)
- The Panama Hat Trial by Tom Miller (lrf)
- Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie (ZV)
- Pastoralia by George Saunders (Pam)
Nominations for Book 1
- 7. The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian (Paula/Pam)
- 6. Song Yet Sung by James McBride (Camy)
- 5. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Camy)
- 4. The Republic of Suffering by Drew Gilpin Faust (Camy)
- 3. The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem (Zvi)
- 2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Zvi)
- 1. Little, Big by John Crowley (LF)
Blog Archive
-
▼
2008
(89)
-
▼
March
(31)
- Pronouns and Language
- Language
- Lie Down in Darkness (Styron)
- Who's in the boat?
- While we are waiting to start
- Ok, so all of the above sounds great to me except ...
- Sunday night
- I haven't checked in on the blog in several days b...
- A suggestion
- Third, how do we do this?
- Second, choosing the book
- First, a word from our leader
- Doug votes for the McBride book
- Summaries of the 7 nominees
- The count so far
- Time to vote
- Yes, Pam, I pore over every diagram. Sometimes, I...
- Russell Banks
- Day and Night
- Boyle nomination withdrawn because...
- East is East by T.C. Boyle
- Voting Deadline: 11:59 AM (DC time), Sat March 15
- Suggestions
- Oops,
- From the Little Engine Who Could
- Miscellaneous
- Camy's suggestions
- Comments on recommended books: The Fortress of Sol...
- A favorite passage from Fox
- Making a decision
- Greetings from the Middle East
-
▼
March
(31)
2 comments:
Dear Grumpy OM,
I respectfully disagree: no one involved in a blog has to "cope with the time difference." Blogging isn't a real-time experience.
You'll note that I added the damn apostrophe es to the blog title. (I still think it looks crowded and fussy.)
(& BTW, just b/c I'm retired doesn't mean I've lost interest in debates over style, grammar, etc.)
Pam
Pam:
Pyrrhic victory on my part. You're right: It looks crowded and fussy. She deserves no less. (Ouch.)
Did I make it clear enough that with the passage of time I have vague recollections of certain people. In her case it's a negative vague impression.
At any rate when her name appears in all caps it looks strange. However, when it's c+lc I think it looks fine. But of course I'm used to reading newspapers from right to left so what do I know.
As for your interest in style debates, I'm glad to hear you're still in there to fight the good fight. Next time I have a tiff with someone or find some egregious examples of high tech gobbledegook I'll send them to you.
Two of my least favorite high tech-isms are the use of grow when what they mean is increase. As in "Grow your business." The other is to describe a particular application as compelling. Yawn.
That brings me to another question: Eats, Shoots and Leaves. What did you think? I got fed up very early. I didn't finish half of it. I do this grammar and style stuff all day long so I felt that's about the last thing I want to read about.
One more thing. When Hagit was sick (four years ago) I read almost no books. I couldn't concentrate long enough. (Spoke to other parents of cancer patients and apparently most have/had the same difficulty.) For quite a while afterwards the situation didn't change much. These days I read but somewhat selectively.
BTW, something very weird is happening with my email. For some reason email to Comcast addresses (you, Paula and Fox) is being blocked at my end. I spoke to my ISP yesterday and they admitted they're having a problem. But of course they didn't suggest the solution.
That's it for now.
Ed
Post a Comment