J
C
Chalo
Guest
jim beam wrote:
>
> i still can't get over the length of that call! or the way my cheek
> muscles are aching. ouch.
Context is everything, man.
Chalo
>
> i still can't get over the length of that call! or the way my cheek
> muscles are aching. ouch.
Context is everything, man.
Chalo
P
Phil Holman
Guest
"Chalo" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> jim beam wrote:
>>
>> i still can't get over the length of that call! or the way my cheek
>> muscles are aching. ouch.
>
> Context is everything, man.
>
> Chalo
I figured JB hit the wrong e-mail address.
Phil H
news:[email protected]...
>
> jim beam wrote:
>>
>> i still can't get over the length of that call! or the way my cheek
>> muscles are aching. ouch.
>
> Context is everything, man.
>
> Chalo
I figured JB hit the wrong e-mail address.
Phil H
N
jim beam wrote:
> i still can't get over the length of that call! or the way my cheek
> muscles are aching. ouch.
Never occurred to me before but Jim Beam and Jobst Brandt share the
same initials. Scary, huh?
Nigel Grinter
Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
wellspokenwheels.com
> i still can't get over the length of that call! or the way my cheek
> muscles are aching. ouch.
Never occurred to me before but Jim Beam and Jobst Brandt share the
same initials. Scary, huh?
Nigel Grinter
Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
wellspokenwheels.com
P
Phil Holman
Guest
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> jim beam wrote:
>> i still can't get over the length of that call! or the way my cheek
>> muscles are aching. ouch.
>
> Never occurred to me before but Jim Beam and Jobst Brandt share the
> same initials. Scary, huh?
>
> Nigel Grinter
> Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
> wellspokenwheels.com
>
Almost, one is upper case (JB) and the other is lower case (jb).
Warning, this is a troll
Phil H
news:[email protected]...
>
> jim beam wrote:
>> i still can't get over the length of that call! or the way my cheek
>> muscles are aching. ouch.
>
> Never occurred to me before but Jim Beam and Jobst Brandt share the
> same initials. Scary, huh?
>
> Nigel Grinter
> Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
> wellspokenwheels.com
>
Almost, one is upper case (JB) and the other is lower case (jb).
Warning, this is a troll
Phil H
L
Leo Lichtman
Guest
<[email protected]> wrote: Never occurred to me before but Jim Beam and
Jobst Brandt share the
> same initials. Scary, huh?
>
> Nigel Grinter
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yeah, but have you noticed that your initials are NG?
Jobst Brandt share the
> same initials. Scary, huh?
>
> Nigel Grinter
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yeah, but have you noticed that your initials are NG?
4
41
Guest
[email protected] wrote:
> Never occurred to me before but Jim Beam and Jobst Brandt share the
> same initials. Scary, huh?
The word you were searching for is "creepy".
"
> Never occurred to me before but Jim Beam and Jobst Brandt share the
> same initials. Scary, huh?
The word you were searching for is "creepy".
"
N
Good grief! You're right. Uuuuuuuh......
Nigel Grinter
Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
wellspokenwheels.com
Nigel Grinter
Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
wellspokenwheels.com
N
You're right. What's more, in addition to not being
shift-key-challenged, I imagine Jobst would probably insist on the use
of periods, viz: J. B.
Nigel Grinter
Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
wellspokenwheels.com
shift-key-challenged, I imagine Jobst would probably insist on the use
of periods, viz: J. B.
Nigel Grinter
Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
wellspokenwheels.com
N
Good grief! You're right. Uuuuuuuh......
Nigel Grinter
Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
wellspokenwheels.com
Note: This response was intended for to Leo Lichtman and somehow got
misplaced.
Nigel Grinter
Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
wellspokenwheels.com
Note: This response was intended for to Leo Lichtman and somehow got
misplaced.
C
On 30 Apr 2006 15:53:12 -0700, [email protected] wrote:
>You're right. What's more, in addition to not being
>shift-key-challenged, I imagine Jobst would probably insist on the use
>of periods, viz: J. B.
>
>Nigel Grinter
>Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
>wellspokenwheels.com
Dear N.G.,
We at Well-Written Purists, Inc., are appalled by the
hideous and unnecessary space betwixt a person's initials,
but will not stoop to insisting on the comma demanded by
common decency before Inc., much less the period that
signifies that viz. is the modern abbreviation for the Latin
videlicit.
John Dacey would inform us that the ancient Greek and Latin
authors scorned punctuation.
Two further remarks of interest will follow this lengthy
excerpt from The Devil's Dictionary:
FLY-SPECK, n. The prototype of punctuation. It is observed
by Garvinus that the systems of punctuation in use by the
various literary nations depended originally upon the social
habits and general diet of the flies infesting the several
countries. These creatures, which have always been
distinguished for a neighborly and companionable familiarity
with authors, liberally or ****ardly embellish the
manuscripts in process of growth under the pen, according to
their bodily habit, bringing out the sense of the work by
a species of interpretation superior to, and independent of,
the writer's powers. The "old masters" of literature --
that is to say, the early writers whose work is so esteemed
by later scribes and critics in the same language -- never
punctuated at all, but worked right along free-handed,
without that abruption of the thought which comes from the
use of points. (We observe the same thing in children
to-day, whose usage in this particular is a striking and
beautiful instance of the law that the infancy of
individuals reproduces the methods and stages of development
characterizing the infancy of races.) In the work of these
primitive scribes all the punctuation is found, by the
modern investigator with his optical instruments and
chemical tests, to have been inserted by the writers'
ingenious and serviceable collaborator, the common house-fly
-- _Musca maledicta_. In transcribing these ancient MSS,
for the purpose of either making the work their own or
preserving what they naturally regard as divine revelations,
later writers reverently and accurately copy whatever marks
they find upon the papyrus or parchment, to the unspeakable
enhancement of the lucidity of the thought and value of the
work. Writers contemporary with the copyists naturally
avail themselves of the obvious advantages of these marks in
their own work, and with such assistance as the flies of
their own household may be willing to grant, frequently
rival and sometimes surpass the older compositions, in
respect at least of punctuation, which is no small glory.
Fully to understand the important services that flies
perform to literature it is only necessary to lay a page of
some popular novelist alongside a saucer of
cream-and-molasses in a sunny room and observe "how the wit
brightens and the style refines" in accurate proportion to
the duration of exposure.
--Ambrose Bierce
First, note the antique beauty of the double-spaces after
the periods in the passage scanned above, a typist's habit
long since abandoned in the efficient computer age, but
sometimes retained in the early writings on RBT of Jobst
Brandt.
Second, note that Bierce, a writer noted for his elegant
style and careful diction, has happily penned a lengthy
exegesis that likens punctuation to fly ****.
C.F.
>You're right. What's more, in addition to not being
>shift-key-challenged, I imagine Jobst would probably insist on the use
>of periods, viz: J. B.
>
>Nigel Grinter
>Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
>wellspokenwheels.com
Dear N.G.,
We at Well-Written Purists, Inc., are appalled by the
hideous and unnecessary space betwixt a person's initials,
but will not stoop to insisting on the comma demanded by
common decency before Inc., much less the period that
signifies that viz. is the modern abbreviation for the Latin
videlicit.
John Dacey would inform us that the ancient Greek and Latin
authors scorned punctuation.
Two further remarks of interest will follow this lengthy
excerpt from The Devil's Dictionary:
FLY-SPECK, n. The prototype of punctuation. It is observed
by Garvinus that the systems of punctuation in use by the
various literary nations depended originally upon the social
habits and general diet of the flies infesting the several
countries. These creatures, which have always been
distinguished for a neighborly and companionable familiarity
with authors, liberally or ****ardly embellish the
manuscripts in process of growth under the pen, according to
their bodily habit, bringing out the sense of the work by
a species of interpretation superior to, and independent of,
the writer's powers. The "old masters" of literature --
that is to say, the early writers whose work is so esteemed
by later scribes and critics in the same language -- never
punctuated at all, but worked right along free-handed,
without that abruption of the thought which comes from the
use of points. (We observe the same thing in children
to-day, whose usage in this particular is a striking and
beautiful instance of the law that the infancy of
individuals reproduces the methods and stages of development
characterizing the infancy of races.) In the work of these
primitive scribes all the punctuation is found, by the
modern investigator with his optical instruments and
chemical tests, to have been inserted by the writers'
ingenious and serviceable collaborator, the common house-fly
-- _Musca maledicta_. In transcribing these ancient MSS,
for the purpose of either making the work their own or
preserving what they naturally regard as divine revelations,
later writers reverently and accurately copy whatever marks
they find upon the papyrus or parchment, to the unspeakable
enhancement of the lucidity of the thought and value of the
work. Writers contemporary with the copyists naturally
avail themselves of the obvious advantages of these marks in
their own work, and with such assistance as the flies of
their own household may be willing to grant, frequently
rival and sometimes surpass the older compositions, in
respect at least of punctuation, which is no small glory.
Fully to understand the important services that flies
perform to literature it is only necessary to lay a page of
some popular novelist alongside a saucer of
cream-and-molasses in a sunny room and observe "how the wit
brightens and the style refines" in accurate proportion to
the duration of exposure.
--Ambrose Bierce
First, note the antique beauty of the double-spaces after
the periods in the passage scanned above, a typist's habit
long since abandoned in the efficient computer age, but
sometimes retained in the early writings on RBT of Jobst
Brandt.
Second, note that Bierce, a writer noted for his elegant
style and careful diction, has happily penned a lengthy
exegesis that likens punctuation to fly ****.
C.F.
M
Michael Press
Guest
In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] wrote:
> On 30 Apr 2006 15:53:12 -0700, [email protected] wrote:
>
> >You're right. What's more, in addition to not being
> >shift-key-challenged, I imagine Jobst would probably insist on the use
> >of periods, viz: J. B.
> >
> >Nigel Grinter
> >Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
> >wellspokenwheels.com
>
> Dear N.G.,
>
> We at Well-Written Purists, Inc., are appalled by the
> hideous and unnecessary space betwixt a person's initials,
> but will not stoop to insisting on the comma demanded by
> common decency before Inc., much less the period that
> signifies that viz. is the modern abbreviation for the Latin
> videlicit.
>
> John Dacey would inform us that the ancient Greek and Latin
> authors scorned punctuation.
>
> Two further remarks of interest will follow this lengthy
> excerpt from The Devil's Dictionary:
>
> FLY-SPECK, n. The prototype of punctuation. It is observed
> by Garvinus that the systems of punctuation in use by the
> various literary nations depended originally upon the social
> habits and general diet of the flies infesting the several
> countries. These creatures, which have always been
> distinguished for a neighborly and companionable familiarity
> with authors, liberally or ****ardly embellish the
> manuscripts in process of growth under the pen, according to
> their bodily habit, bringing out the sense of the work by
> a species of interpretation superior to, and independent of,
> the writer's powers. The "old masters" of literature --
> that is to say, the early writers whose work is so esteemed
> by later scribes and critics in the same language -- never
> punctuated at all, but worked right along free-handed,
> without that abruption of the thought which comes from the
> use of points. (We observe the same thing in children
> to-day, whose usage in this particular is a striking and
> beautiful instance of the law that the infancy of
> individuals reproduces the methods and stages of development
> characterizing the infancy of races.) In the work of these
> primitive scribes all the punctuation is found, by the
> modern investigator with his optical instruments and
> chemical tests, to have been inserted by the writers'
> ingenious and serviceable collaborator, the common house-fly
> -- _Musca maledicta_. In transcribing these ancient MSS,
> for the purpose of either making the work their own or
> preserving what they naturally regard as divine revelations,
> later writers reverently and accurately copy whatever marks
> they find upon the papyrus or parchment, to the unspeakable
> enhancement of the lucidity of the thought and value of the
> work. Writers contemporary with the copyists naturally
> avail themselves of the obvious advantages of these marks in
> their own work, and with such assistance as the flies of
> their own household may be willing to grant, frequently
> rival and sometimes surpass the older compositions, in
> respect at least of punctuation, which is no small glory.
> Fully to understand the important services that flies
> perform to literature it is only necessary to lay a page of
> some popular novelist alongside a saucer of
> cream-and-molasses in a sunny room and observe "how the wit
> brightens and the style refines" in accurate proportion to
> the duration of exposure.
>
> --Ambrose Bierce
>
> First, note the antique beauty of the double-spaces after
> the periods in the passage scanned above, a typist's habit
> long since abandoned in the efficient computer age, but
> sometimes retained in the early writings on RBT of Jobst
> Brandt.
>
> Second, note that Bierce, a writer noted for his elegant
> style and careful diction, has happily penned a lengthy
> exegesis that likens punctuation to fly ****.
A language with six noun cases; a plethora of verb forms;
gender forms; and strict rules forming them through
adjunction to the root has little need for punctuation. An
amoral language such as English where few distinguish
`who' and `whom', and fewer still do so correctly, needs
these fly specks. At least we have not got a plague of
diacritical marks.
--
Michael Press
[email protected] wrote:
> On 30 Apr 2006 15:53:12 -0700, [email protected] wrote:
>
> >You're right. What's more, in addition to not being
> >shift-key-challenged, I imagine Jobst would probably insist on the use
> >of periods, viz: J. B.
> >
> >Nigel Grinter
> >Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
> >wellspokenwheels.com
>
> Dear N.G.,
>
> We at Well-Written Purists, Inc., are appalled by the
> hideous and unnecessary space betwixt a person's initials,
> but will not stoop to insisting on the comma demanded by
> common decency before Inc., much less the period that
> signifies that viz. is the modern abbreviation for the Latin
> videlicit.
>
> John Dacey would inform us that the ancient Greek and Latin
> authors scorned punctuation.
>
> Two further remarks of interest will follow this lengthy
> excerpt from The Devil's Dictionary:
>
> FLY-SPECK, n. The prototype of punctuation. It is observed
> by Garvinus that the systems of punctuation in use by the
> various literary nations depended originally upon the social
> habits and general diet of the flies infesting the several
> countries. These creatures, which have always been
> distinguished for a neighborly and companionable familiarity
> with authors, liberally or ****ardly embellish the
> manuscripts in process of growth under the pen, according to
> their bodily habit, bringing out the sense of the work by
> a species of interpretation superior to, and independent of,
> the writer's powers. The "old masters" of literature --
> that is to say, the early writers whose work is so esteemed
> by later scribes and critics in the same language -- never
> punctuated at all, but worked right along free-handed,
> without that abruption of the thought which comes from the
> use of points. (We observe the same thing in children
> to-day, whose usage in this particular is a striking and
> beautiful instance of the law that the infancy of
> individuals reproduces the methods and stages of development
> characterizing the infancy of races.) In the work of these
> primitive scribes all the punctuation is found, by the
> modern investigator with his optical instruments and
> chemical tests, to have been inserted by the writers'
> ingenious and serviceable collaborator, the common house-fly
> -- _Musca maledicta_. In transcribing these ancient MSS,
> for the purpose of either making the work their own or
> preserving what they naturally regard as divine revelations,
> later writers reverently and accurately copy whatever marks
> they find upon the papyrus or parchment, to the unspeakable
> enhancement of the lucidity of the thought and value of the
> work. Writers contemporary with the copyists naturally
> avail themselves of the obvious advantages of these marks in
> their own work, and with such assistance as the flies of
> their own household may be willing to grant, frequently
> rival and sometimes surpass the older compositions, in
> respect at least of punctuation, which is no small glory.
> Fully to understand the important services that flies
> perform to literature it is only necessary to lay a page of
> some popular novelist alongside a saucer of
> cream-and-molasses in a sunny room and observe "how the wit
> brightens and the style refines" in accurate proportion to
> the duration of exposure.
>
> --Ambrose Bierce
>
> First, note the antique beauty of the double-spaces after
> the periods in the passage scanned above, a typist's habit
> long since abandoned in the efficient computer age, but
> sometimes retained in the early writings on RBT of Jobst
> Brandt.
>
> Second, note that Bierce, a writer noted for his elegant
> style and careful diction, has happily penned a lengthy
> exegesis that likens punctuation to fly ****.
A language with six noun cases; a plethora of verb forms;
gender forms; and strict rules forming them through
adjunction to the root has little need for punctuation. An
amoral language such as English where few distinguish
`who' and `whom', and fewer still do so correctly, needs
these fly specks. At least we have not got a plague of
diacritical marks.
--
Michael Press
C
On Mon, 01 May 2006 02:23:39 GMT, Michael Press
<[email protected]> wrote:
>In article <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] wrote:
>
>> On 30 Apr 2006 15:53:12 -0700, [email protected] wrote:
>>
>> >You're right. What's more, in addition to not being
>> >shift-key-challenged, I imagine Jobst would probably insist on the use
>> >of periods, viz: J. B.
>> >
>> >Nigel Grinter
>> >Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
>> >wellspokenwheels.com
>>
>> Dear N.G.,
>>
>> We at Well-Written Purists, Inc., are appalled by the
>> hideous and unnecessary space betwixt a person's initials,
>> but will not stoop to insisting on the comma demanded by
>> common decency before Inc., much less the period that
>> signifies that viz. is the modern abbreviation for the Latin
>> videlicit.
>>
>> John Dacey would inform us that the ancient Greek and Latin
>> authors scorned punctuation.
>>
>> Two further remarks of interest will follow this lengthy
>> excerpt from The Devil's Dictionary:
>>
>> FLY-SPECK, n. The prototype of punctuation. It is observed
>> by Garvinus that the systems of punctuation in use by the
>> various literary nations depended originally upon the social
>> habits and general diet of the flies infesting the several
>> countries. These creatures, which have always been
>> distinguished for a neighborly and companionable familiarity
>> with authors, liberally or ****ardly embellish the
>> manuscripts in process of growth under the pen, according to
>> their bodily habit, bringing out the sense of the work by
>> a species of interpretation superior to, and independent of,
>> the writer's powers. The "old masters" of literature --
>> that is to say, the early writers whose work is so esteemed
>> by later scribes and critics in the same language -- never
>> punctuated at all, but worked right along free-handed,
>> without that abruption of the thought which comes from the
>> use of points. (We observe the same thing in children
>> to-day, whose usage in this particular is a striking and
>> beautiful instance of the law that the infancy of
>> individuals reproduces the methods and stages of development
>> characterizing the infancy of races.) In the work of these
>> primitive scribes all the punctuation is found, by the
>> modern investigator with his optical instruments and
>> chemical tests, to have been inserted by the writers'
>> ingenious and serviceable collaborator, the common house-fly
>> -- _Musca maledicta_. In transcribing these ancient MSS,
>> for the purpose of either making the work their own or
>> preserving what they naturally regard as divine revelations,
>> later writers reverently and accurately copy whatever marks
>> they find upon the papyrus or parchment, to the unspeakable
>> enhancement of the lucidity of the thought and value of the
>> work. Writers contemporary with the copyists naturally
>> avail themselves of the obvious advantages of these marks in
>> their own work, and with such assistance as the flies of
>> their own household may be willing to grant, frequently
>> rival and sometimes surpass the older compositions, in
>> respect at least of punctuation, which is no small glory.
>> Fully to understand the important services that flies
>> perform to literature it is only necessary to lay a page of
>> some popular novelist alongside a saucer of
>> cream-and-molasses in a sunny room and observe "how the wit
>> brightens and the style refines" in accurate proportion to
>> the duration of exposure.
>>
>> --Ambrose Bierce
>>
>> First, note the antique beauty of the double-spaces after
>> the periods in the passage scanned above, a typist's habit
>> long since abandoned in the efficient computer age, but
>> sometimes retained in the early writings on RBT of Jobst
>> Brandt.
>>
>> Second, note that Bierce, a writer noted for his elegant
>> style and careful diction, has happily penned a lengthy
>> exegesis that likens punctuation to fly ****.
>
>A language with six noun cases; a plethora of verb forms;
>gender forms; and strict rules forming them through
>adjunction to the root has little need for punctuation. An
>amoral language such as English where few distinguish
>`who' and `whom', and fewer still do so correctly, needs
>these fly specks. At least we have not got a plague of
>diacritical marks.
Dear Michael,
While proper punctuation is helpful in deciphering the
written word, the theory that English would fall into
unintelligible chaos without it occasionally falls afoul of
the fact that punctuation is often inaudible.
[Incidentally, there is no punctuation associated with the
often-overlooked difference between the subjective who and
the objective whom.]
(The lack of quotation marks around "who" and "whom" in the
second paragraph reminds us of the point of the first
paragraph concerning inaduibility. Similarly, the lack of
indentation in this majestic parenthesis reminds us that
electronic paper is so cheap that whole lines now serve to
separate paragraphs, where once we thriftily satisfied
ourselves by merely tapping the space bar three to five
times.)
Cheers,
Carl Fogel
<[email protected]> wrote:
>In article <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] wrote:
>
>> On 30 Apr 2006 15:53:12 -0700, [email protected] wrote:
>>
>> >You're right. What's more, in addition to not being
>> >shift-key-challenged, I imagine Jobst would probably insist on the use
>> >of periods, viz: J. B.
>> >
>> >Nigel Grinter
>> >Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
>> >wellspokenwheels.com
>>
>> Dear N.G.,
>>
>> We at Well-Written Purists, Inc., are appalled by the
>> hideous and unnecessary space betwixt a person's initials,
>> but will not stoop to insisting on the comma demanded by
>> common decency before Inc., much less the period that
>> signifies that viz. is the modern abbreviation for the Latin
>> videlicit.
>>
>> John Dacey would inform us that the ancient Greek and Latin
>> authors scorned punctuation.
>>
>> Two further remarks of interest will follow this lengthy
>> excerpt from The Devil's Dictionary:
>>
>> FLY-SPECK, n. The prototype of punctuation. It is observed
>> by Garvinus that the systems of punctuation in use by the
>> various literary nations depended originally upon the social
>> habits and general diet of the flies infesting the several
>> countries. These creatures, which have always been
>> distinguished for a neighborly and companionable familiarity
>> with authors, liberally or ****ardly embellish the
>> manuscripts in process of growth under the pen, according to
>> their bodily habit, bringing out the sense of the work by
>> a species of interpretation superior to, and independent of,
>> the writer's powers. The "old masters" of literature --
>> that is to say, the early writers whose work is so esteemed
>> by later scribes and critics in the same language -- never
>> punctuated at all, but worked right along free-handed,
>> without that abruption of the thought which comes from the
>> use of points. (We observe the same thing in children
>> to-day, whose usage in this particular is a striking and
>> beautiful instance of the law that the infancy of
>> individuals reproduces the methods and stages of development
>> characterizing the infancy of races.) In the work of these
>> primitive scribes all the punctuation is found, by the
>> modern investigator with his optical instruments and
>> chemical tests, to have been inserted by the writers'
>> ingenious and serviceable collaborator, the common house-fly
>> -- _Musca maledicta_. In transcribing these ancient MSS,
>> for the purpose of either making the work their own or
>> preserving what they naturally regard as divine revelations,
>> later writers reverently and accurately copy whatever marks
>> they find upon the papyrus or parchment, to the unspeakable
>> enhancement of the lucidity of the thought and value of the
>> work. Writers contemporary with the copyists naturally
>> avail themselves of the obvious advantages of these marks in
>> their own work, and with such assistance as the flies of
>> their own household may be willing to grant, frequently
>> rival and sometimes surpass the older compositions, in
>> respect at least of punctuation, which is no small glory.
>> Fully to understand the important services that flies
>> perform to literature it is only necessary to lay a page of
>> some popular novelist alongside a saucer of
>> cream-and-molasses in a sunny room and observe "how the wit
>> brightens and the style refines" in accurate proportion to
>> the duration of exposure.
>>
>> --Ambrose Bierce
>>
>> First, note the antique beauty of the double-spaces after
>> the periods in the passage scanned above, a typist's habit
>> long since abandoned in the efficient computer age, but
>> sometimes retained in the early writings on RBT of Jobst
>> Brandt.
>>
>> Second, note that Bierce, a writer noted for his elegant
>> style and careful diction, has happily penned a lengthy
>> exegesis that likens punctuation to fly ****.
>
>A language with six noun cases; a plethora of verb forms;
>gender forms; and strict rules forming them through
>adjunction to the root has little need for punctuation. An
>amoral language such as English where few distinguish
>`who' and `whom', and fewer still do so correctly, needs
>these fly specks. At least we have not got a plague of
>diacritical marks.
Dear Michael,
While proper punctuation is helpful in deciphering the
written word, the theory that English would fall into
unintelligible chaos without it occasionally falls afoul of
the fact that punctuation is often inaudible.
[Incidentally, there is no punctuation associated with the
often-overlooked difference between the subjective who and
the objective whom.]
(The lack of quotation marks around "who" and "whom" in the
second paragraph reminds us of the point of the first
paragraph concerning inaduibility. Similarly, the lack of
indentation in this majestic parenthesis reminds us that
electronic paper is so cheap that whole lines now serve to
separate paragraphs, where once we thriftily satisfied
ourselves by merely tapping the space bar three to five
times.)
Cheers,
Carl Fogel
M
Michael Press
Guest
In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] wrote:
> On Mon, 01 May 2006 02:23:39 GMT, Michael Press
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >In article <[email protected]>,
> > [email protected] wrote:
> >
> >> On 30 Apr 2006 15:53:12 -0700, [email protected] wrote:
> >>
> >> >You're right. What's more, in addition to not being
> >> >shift-key-challenged, I imagine Jobst would probably insist on the use
> >> >of periods, viz: J. B.
> >> >
> >> >Nigel Grinter
> >> >Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
> >> >wellspokenwheels.com
> >>
> >> Dear N.G.,
> >>
> >> We at Well-Written Purists, Inc., are appalled by the
> >> hideous and unnecessary space betwixt a person's initials,
> >> but will not stoop to insisting on the comma demanded by
> >> common decency before Inc., much less the period that
> >> signifies that viz. is the modern abbreviation for the Latin
> >> videlicit.
> >>
> >> John Dacey would inform us that the ancient Greek and Latin
> >> authors scorned punctuation.
> >>
> >> Two further remarks of interest will follow this lengthy
> >> excerpt from The Devil's Dictionary:
> >>
> >> FLY-SPECK, n. The prototype of punctuation. It is observed
> >> by Garvinus that the systems of punctuation in use by the
> >> various literary nations depended originally upon the social
> >> habits and general diet of the flies infesting the several
> >> countries. These creatures, which have always been
> >> distinguished for a neighborly and companionable familiarity
> >> with authors, liberally or ****ardly embellish the
> >> manuscripts in process of growth under the pen, according to
> >> their bodily habit, bringing out the sense of the work by
> >> a species of interpretation superior to, and independent of,
> >> the writer's powers. The "old masters" of literature --
> >> that is to say, the early writers whose work is so esteemed
> >> by later scribes and critics in the same language -- never
> >> punctuated at all, but worked right along free-handed,
> >> without that abruption of the thought which comes from the
> >> use of points. (We observe the same thing in children
> >> to-day, whose usage in this particular is a striking and
> >> beautiful instance of the law that the infancy of
> >> individuals reproduces the methods and stages of development
> >> characterizing the infancy of races.) In the work of these
> >> primitive scribes all the punctuation is found, by the
> >> modern investigator with his optical instruments and
> >> chemical tests, to have been inserted by the writers'
> >> ingenious and serviceable collaborator, the common house-fly
> >> -- _Musca maledicta_. In transcribing these ancient MSS,
> >> for the purpose of either making the work their own or
> >> preserving what they naturally regard as divine revelations,
> >> later writers reverently and accurately copy whatever marks
> >> they find upon the papyrus or parchment, to the unspeakable
> >> enhancement of the lucidity of the thought and value of the
> >> work. Writers contemporary with the copyists naturally
> >> avail themselves of the obvious advantages of these marks in
> >> their own work, and with such assistance as the flies of
> >> their own household may be willing to grant, frequently
> >> rival and sometimes surpass the older compositions, in
> >> respect at least of punctuation, which is no small glory.
> >> Fully to understand the important services that flies
> >> perform to literature it is only necessary to lay a page of
> >> some popular novelist alongside a saucer of
> >> cream-and-molasses in a sunny room and observe "how the wit
> >> brightens and the style refines" in accurate proportion to
> >> the duration of exposure.
> >>
> >> --Ambrose Bierce
> >>
> >> First, note the antique beauty of the double-spaces after
> >> the periods in the passage scanned above, a typist's habit
> >> long since abandoned in the efficient computer age, but
> >> sometimes retained in the early writings on RBT of Jobst
> >> Brandt.
> >>
> >> Second, note that Bierce, a writer noted for his elegant
> >> style and careful diction, has happily penned a lengthy
> >> exegesis that likens punctuation to fly ****.
> >
> >A language with six noun cases; a plethora of verb forms;
> >gender forms; and strict rules forming them through
> >adjunction to the root has little need for punctuation. An
> >amoral language such as English where few distinguish
> >`who' and `whom', and fewer still do so correctly, needs
> >these fly specks. At least we have not got a plague of
> >diacritical marks.
>
> Dear Michael,
>
> While proper punctuation is helpful in deciphering the
> written word, the theory that English would fall into
> unintelligible chaos without it occasionally falls afoul of
> the fact that punctuation is often inaudible.
The spoken word differs markedly from the written word.
Sentences are much shorter with the spoken word.
> [Incidentally, there is no punctuation associated with the
> often-overlooked difference between the subjective who and
> the objective whom.]
Punctuation is not the only aid to deciphering a language
that has abandoned strict typing. In languages with strict
typing, even word order becomes optional; prepostions
become subsumed in the decorations on root words. `Who'
and `whom' in English are vestigal; their use a
shibboleth.
> (The lack of quotation marks around "who" and "whom" in the
> second paragraph reminds us of the point of the first
> paragraph concerning inaduibility. Similarly, the lack of
> indentation in this majestic parenthesis reminds us that
> electronic paper is so cheap that whole lines now serve to
> separate paragraphs, where once we thriftily satisfied
> ourselves by merely tapping the space bar three to five
> times.)
What `lack of quotation marks around "who" and "whom"'?
All this reminds me of a passage from a novel:
`At Tolimundarni, on the fringe of the war zone itself,
they'd been thrown off the train by military police who
weren't falling for Y'sul's pre-emptively outrage-fuelled
arguments regarding the summit-like priority and blatant
extreme officiality of an expedition -- nay, a quest! --
he was undertaking with these -- yes, these, two --
famous, well-connected, honoured alian guests of
immeasurably high intrinsic pan-systemic cross-species
reputation, concerning a matter of the utmost import the
exact details of which he was sadly not at liberty to
divulge even to such patently important and obviously
discreet members of the armed forces as themselves, but
who would, nevertheless, he was sure, entirely understand
the significance of their mission and thus their clear
right to be accorded unhindered passage due to simple good
taste and a fine appreciation of natural justice and would
in no way be swayed by the fact that their cooperation
would be repaid in levels of subsequent kudos almost
beyond crediting ...'
--
Michael Press
[email protected] wrote:
> On Mon, 01 May 2006 02:23:39 GMT, Michael Press
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >In article <[email protected]>,
> > [email protected] wrote:
> >
> >> On 30 Apr 2006 15:53:12 -0700, [email protected] wrote:
> >>
> >> >You're right. What's more, in addition to not being
> >> >shift-key-challenged, I imagine Jobst would probably insist on the use
> >> >of periods, viz: J. B.
> >> >
> >> >Nigel Grinter
> >> >Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
> >> >wellspokenwheels.com
> >>
> >> Dear N.G.,
> >>
> >> We at Well-Written Purists, Inc., are appalled by the
> >> hideous and unnecessary space betwixt a person's initials,
> >> but will not stoop to insisting on the comma demanded by
> >> common decency before Inc., much less the period that
> >> signifies that viz. is the modern abbreviation for the Latin
> >> videlicit.
> >>
> >> John Dacey would inform us that the ancient Greek and Latin
> >> authors scorned punctuation.
> >>
> >> Two further remarks of interest will follow this lengthy
> >> excerpt from The Devil's Dictionary:
> >>
> >> FLY-SPECK, n. The prototype of punctuation. It is observed
> >> by Garvinus that the systems of punctuation in use by the
> >> various literary nations depended originally upon the social
> >> habits and general diet of the flies infesting the several
> >> countries. These creatures, which have always been
> >> distinguished for a neighborly and companionable familiarity
> >> with authors, liberally or ****ardly embellish the
> >> manuscripts in process of growth under the pen, according to
> >> their bodily habit, bringing out the sense of the work by
> >> a species of interpretation superior to, and independent of,
> >> the writer's powers. The "old masters" of literature --
> >> that is to say, the early writers whose work is so esteemed
> >> by later scribes and critics in the same language -- never
> >> punctuated at all, but worked right along free-handed,
> >> without that abruption of the thought which comes from the
> >> use of points. (We observe the same thing in children
> >> to-day, whose usage in this particular is a striking and
> >> beautiful instance of the law that the infancy of
> >> individuals reproduces the methods and stages of development
> >> characterizing the infancy of races.) In the work of these
> >> primitive scribes all the punctuation is found, by the
> >> modern investigator with his optical instruments and
> >> chemical tests, to have been inserted by the writers'
> >> ingenious and serviceable collaborator, the common house-fly
> >> -- _Musca maledicta_. In transcribing these ancient MSS,
> >> for the purpose of either making the work their own or
> >> preserving what they naturally regard as divine revelations,
> >> later writers reverently and accurately copy whatever marks
> >> they find upon the papyrus or parchment, to the unspeakable
> >> enhancement of the lucidity of the thought and value of the
> >> work. Writers contemporary with the copyists naturally
> >> avail themselves of the obvious advantages of these marks in
> >> their own work, and with such assistance as the flies of
> >> their own household may be willing to grant, frequently
> >> rival and sometimes surpass the older compositions, in
> >> respect at least of punctuation, which is no small glory.
> >> Fully to understand the important services that flies
> >> perform to literature it is only necessary to lay a page of
> >> some popular novelist alongside a saucer of
> >> cream-and-molasses in a sunny room and observe "how the wit
> >> brightens and the style refines" in accurate proportion to
> >> the duration of exposure.
> >>
> >> --Ambrose Bierce
> >>
> >> First, note the antique beauty of the double-spaces after
> >> the periods in the passage scanned above, a typist's habit
> >> long since abandoned in the efficient computer age, but
> >> sometimes retained in the early writings on RBT of Jobst
> >> Brandt.
> >>
> >> Second, note that Bierce, a writer noted for his elegant
> >> style and careful diction, has happily penned a lengthy
> >> exegesis that likens punctuation to fly ****.
> >
> >A language with six noun cases; a plethora of verb forms;
> >gender forms; and strict rules forming them through
> >adjunction to the root has little need for punctuation. An
> >amoral language such as English where few distinguish
> >`who' and `whom', and fewer still do so correctly, needs
> >these fly specks. At least we have not got a plague of
> >diacritical marks.
>
> Dear Michael,
>
> While proper punctuation is helpful in deciphering the
> written word, the theory that English would fall into
> unintelligible chaos without it occasionally falls afoul of
> the fact that punctuation is often inaudible.
The spoken word differs markedly from the written word.
Sentences are much shorter with the spoken word.
> [Incidentally, there is no punctuation associated with the
> often-overlooked difference between the subjective who and
> the objective whom.]
Punctuation is not the only aid to deciphering a language
that has abandoned strict typing. In languages with strict
typing, even word order becomes optional; prepostions
become subsumed in the decorations on root words. `Who'
and `whom' in English are vestigal; their use a
shibboleth.
> (The lack of quotation marks around "who" and "whom" in the
> second paragraph reminds us of the point of the first
> paragraph concerning inaduibility. Similarly, the lack of
> indentation in this majestic parenthesis reminds us that
> electronic paper is so cheap that whole lines now serve to
> separate paragraphs, where once we thriftily satisfied
> ourselves by merely tapping the space bar three to five
> times.)
What `lack of quotation marks around "who" and "whom"'?
All this reminds me of a passage from a novel:
`At Tolimundarni, on the fringe of the war zone itself,
they'd been thrown off the train by military police who
weren't falling for Y'sul's pre-emptively outrage-fuelled
arguments regarding the summit-like priority and blatant
extreme officiality of an expedition -- nay, a quest! --
he was undertaking with these -- yes, these, two --
famous, well-connected, honoured alian guests of
immeasurably high intrinsic pan-systemic cross-species
reputation, concerning a matter of the utmost import the
exact details of which he was sadly not at liberty to
divulge even to such patently important and obviously
discreet members of the armed forces as themselves, but
who would, nevertheless, he was sure, entirely understand
the significance of their mission and thus their clear
right to be accorded unhindered passage due to simple good
taste and a fine appreciation of natural justice and would
in no way be swayed by the fact that their cooperation
would be repaid in levels of subsequent kudos almost
beyond crediting ...'
--
Michael Press
C
On Mon, 01 May 2006 05:12:50 GMT, Michael Press
<[email protected]> wrote:
[snip]
[Carl wrote]
>> Dear Michael,
[first paragraph]
>> While proper punctuation is helpful in deciphering the
>> written word, the theory that English would fall into
>> unintelligible chaos without it occasionally falls afoul of
>> the fact that punctuation is often inaudible.
[second paragraph]
>> [Incidentally, there is no punctuation associated with the
>> often-overlooked difference between the subjective who and
^^^
>> the objective whom.]
^^^^
[third paragraph]
>> (The lack of quotation marks around "who" and "whom" in the
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>> second paragraph reminds us of the point of the first
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>> paragraph concerning inaudibility. Similarly, the lack of
>> indentation in this majestic parenthesis reminds us that
>> electronic paper is so cheap that whole lines now serve to
>> separate paragraphs, where once we thriftily satisfied
>> ourselves by merely tapping the space bar three to five
>> times.)
>
>What `lack of quotation marks around "who" and "whom"'?
Cheers,
Carl Fogel
<[email protected]> wrote:
[snip]
[Carl wrote]
>> Dear Michael,
[first paragraph]
>> While proper punctuation is helpful in deciphering the
>> written word, the theory that English would fall into
>> unintelligible chaos without it occasionally falls afoul of
>> the fact that punctuation is often inaudible.
[second paragraph]
>> [Incidentally, there is no punctuation associated with the
>> often-overlooked difference between the subjective who and
^^^
>> the objective whom.]
^^^^
[third paragraph]
>> (The lack of quotation marks around "who" and "whom" in the
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>> second paragraph reminds us of the point of the first
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>> paragraph concerning inaudibility. Similarly, the lack of
>> indentation in this majestic parenthesis reminds us that
>> electronic paper is so cheap that whole lines now serve to
>> separate paragraphs, where once we thriftily satisfied
>> ourselves by merely tapping the space bar three to five
>> times.)
>
>What `lack of quotation marks around "who" and "whom"'?
Cheers,
Carl Fogel
A
41 wrote:
> [email protected] wrote:
>
> > Never occurred to me before but Jim Beam and Jobst Brandt share the
> > same initials. Scary, huh?
>
> The word you were searching for is "creepy".
>
> "
What the F... are you all talking about? Are you all part of a secret
society?
> [email protected] wrote:
>
> > Never occurred to me before but Jim Beam and Jobst Brandt share the
> > same initials. Scary, huh?
>
> The word you were searching for is "creepy".
>
> "
What the F... are you all talking about? Are you all part of a secret
society?
M
Michael Press
Guest
In article
<[email protected]>,
[email protected] wrote:
> 41 wrote:
> > [email protected] wrote:
> >
> > > Never occurred to me before but Jim Beam and Jobst Brandt share the
> > > same initials. Scary, huh?
> >
> > The word you were searching for is "creepy".
> >
> > "
>
>
> What the F... are you all talking about? Are you all part of a secret
> society?
Public forum. No secrecy possible.
--
Michael Press
<[email protected]>,
[email protected] wrote:
> 41 wrote:
> > [email protected] wrote:
> >
> > > Never occurred to me before but Jim Beam and Jobst Brandt share the
> > > same initials. Scary, huh?
> >
> > The word you were searching for is "creepy".
> >
> > "
>
>
> What the F... are you all talking about? Are you all part of a secret
> society?
Public forum. No secrecy possible.
--
Michael Press
A
Michael Press wrote:
> In article
> <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] wrote:
>
> > 41 wrote:
> > > [email protected] wrote:
> > >
> > > > Never occurred to me before but Jim Beam and Jobst Brandt share the
> > > > same initials. Scary, huh?
> > >
> > > The word you were searching for is "creepy".
> > >
> > > "
> >
> >
> > What the F... are you all talking about? Are you all part of a secret
> > society?
>
> Public forum. No secrecy possible.
Then you are all talking in code or something. Maybe you are all making
fun of "W" but trying to keep Mark Hickey out of the discussion.
>
> --
> Michael Press
> In article
> <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] wrote:
>
> > 41 wrote:
> > > [email protected] wrote:
> > >
> > > > Never occurred to me before but Jim Beam and Jobst Brandt share the
> > > > same initials. Scary, huh?
> > >
> > > The word you were searching for is "creepy".
> > >
> > > "
> >
> >
> > What the F... are you all talking about? Are you all part of a secret
> > society?
>
> Public forum. No secrecy possible.
Then you are all talking in code or something. Maybe you are all making
fun of "W" but trying to keep Mark Hickey out of the discussion.
>
> --
> Michael Press
N
[email protected] wrote:
> On Mon, 01 May 2006 02:23:39 GMT, Michael Press
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >In article <[email protected]>,
> > [email protected] wrote:
> >
> >> On 30 Apr 2006 15:53:12 -0700, [email protected] wrote:
> >>
> >> >You're right. What's more, in addition to not being
> >> >shift-key-challenged, I imagine Jobst would probably insist on the use
> >> >of periods, viz: J. B.
> >> >
> >> >Nigel Grinter
> >> >Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
> >> >wellspokenwheels.com
> >>
> >> Dear N.G.,
> >>
> >> We at Well-Written Purists, Inc., are appalled by the
> >> hideous and unnecessary space betwixt a person's initials,
> >> but will not stoop to insisting on the comma demanded by
> >> common decency before Inc., much less the period that
> >> signifies that viz. is the modern abbreviation for the Latin
> >> videlicit.
> >>
> >> John Dacey would inform us that the ancient Greek and Latin
> >> authors scorned punctuation.
> >>
(Lengthy quotation removed)
> >> First, note the antique beauty of the double-spaces after
> >> the periods in the passage scanned above, a typist's habit
> >> long since abandoned in the efficient computer age, but
> >> sometimes retained in the early writings on RBT of Jobst
> >> Brandt.
> >>
> >> (snip)
> >
> >A language with six noun cases; a plethora of verb forms;
> >gender forms; and strict rules forming them through
> >adjunction to the root has little need for punctuation. An
> >amoral language such as English where few distinguish
> >`who' and `whom', and fewer still do so correctly, needs
> >these fly specks. At least we have not got a plague of
> >diacritical marks.
>
> Dear Michael,
>
> While proper punctuation is helpful in deciphering the
> written word, the theory that English would fall into
> unintelligible chaos without it occasionally falls afoul of
> the fact that punctuation is often inaudible.
>
> [Incidentally, there is no punctuation associated with the
> often-overlooked difference between the subjective who and
> the objective whom.]
>
> (The lack of quotation marks around "who" and "whom" in the
> second paragraph reminds us of the point of the first
> paragraph concerning inaduibility. Similarly, the lack of
> indentation in this majestic parenthesis reminds us that
> electronic paper is so cheap that whole lines now serve to
> separate paragraphs, where once we thriftily satisfied
> ourselves by merely tapping the space bar three to five
> times.)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Carl Fogel
Dear Carl,
Oh dear. I try to avoid ever criticising grammar or spelling as it
inevitably sets one up to be embarrassed. ("Let he who is without
sin....." etc.) My intention was purely to make a (feeble) joke. As
to whether punctuation (and some of the other formalities that abound
in written communications) is useful, your point:
> "While proper punctuation is helpful in deciphering the
> written word, the theory that English would fall into
> unintelligible chaos without it occasionally falls afoul of
> the fact that punctuation is often inaudible."
is valid, but the key work is "often". In "Eats, Shoots And Leaves",
Lynn Truss gives many examples where these innocent and unspoken
fly-droppings contribute significantly to meaning and, when neglected
or misplaced, can have consequences, usually humorous, but sometimes
catastrophic.
That's enough from me - many people are already convinced I have far
too much time on my hands.
Best wishes,
Nigel Grinter
Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
wellspokenwheels.com
> On Mon, 01 May 2006 02:23:39 GMT, Michael Press
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >In article <[email protected]>,
> > [email protected] wrote:
> >
> >> On 30 Apr 2006 15:53:12 -0700, [email protected] wrote:
> >>
> >> >You're right. What's more, in addition to not being
> >> >shift-key-challenged, I imagine Jobst would probably insist on the use
> >> >of periods, viz: J. B.
> >> >
> >> >Nigel Grinter
> >> >Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
> >> >wellspokenwheels.com
> >>
> >> Dear N.G.,
> >>
> >> We at Well-Written Purists, Inc., are appalled by the
> >> hideous and unnecessary space betwixt a person's initials,
> >> but will not stoop to insisting on the comma demanded by
> >> common decency before Inc., much less the period that
> >> signifies that viz. is the modern abbreviation for the Latin
> >> videlicit.
> >>
> >> John Dacey would inform us that the ancient Greek and Latin
> >> authors scorned punctuation.
> >>
(Lengthy quotation removed)
> >> First, note the antique beauty of the double-spaces after
> >> the periods in the passage scanned above, a typist's habit
> >> long since abandoned in the efficient computer age, but
> >> sometimes retained in the early writings on RBT of Jobst
> >> Brandt.
> >>
> >> (snip)
> >
> >A language with six noun cases; a plethora of verb forms;
> >gender forms; and strict rules forming them through
> >adjunction to the root has little need for punctuation. An
> >amoral language such as English where few distinguish
> >`who' and `whom', and fewer still do so correctly, needs
> >these fly specks. At least we have not got a plague of
> >diacritical marks.
>
> Dear Michael,
>
> While proper punctuation is helpful in deciphering the
> written word, the theory that English would fall into
> unintelligible chaos without it occasionally falls afoul of
> the fact that punctuation is often inaudible.
>
> [Incidentally, there is no punctuation associated with the
> often-overlooked difference between the subjective who and
> the objective whom.]
>
> (The lack of quotation marks around "who" and "whom" in the
> second paragraph reminds us of the point of the first
> paragraph concerning inaduibility. Similarly, the lack of
> indentation in this majestic parenthesis reminds us that
> electronic paper is so cheap that whole lines now serve to
> separate paragraphs, where once we thriftily satisfied
> ourselves by merely tapping the space bar three to five
> times.)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Carl Fogel
Dear Carl,
Oh dear. I try to avoid ever criticising grammar or spelling as it
inevitably sets one up to be embarrassed. ("Let he who is without
sin....." etc.) My intention was purely to make a (feeble) joke. As
to whether punctuation (and some of the other formalities that abound
in written communications) is useful, your point:
> "While proper punctuation is helpful in deciphering the
> written word, the theory that English would fall into
> unintelligible chaos without it occasionally falls afoul of
> the fact that punctuation is often inaudible."
is valid, but the key work is "often". In "Eats, Shoots And Leaves",
Lynn Truss gives many examples where these innocent and unspoken
fly-droppings contribute significantly to meaning and, when neglected
or misplaced, can have consequences, usually humorous, but sometimes
catastrophic.
That's enough from me - many people are already convinced I have far
too much time on my hands.
Best wishes,
Nigel Grinter
Well-Spoken Wheels Inc.
wellspokenwheels.com
J
Carl Fogel writes:
> Dear N.G.,
> We at Well-Written Purists, Inc., are appalled by the hideous and
> unnecessary space betwixt a person's initials, but will not stoop to
> insisting on the comma demanded by common decency before Inc., much
> less the period that signifies that viz. is the modern abbreviation
> for the Latin videlicit.
> John Dacey would inform us that the ancient Greek and Latin authors
> scorned punctuation.
> Two further remarks of interest will follow this lengthy excerpt
> from The Devil's Dictionary:
> FLY-SPECK, n. The prototype of punctuation. It is observed
> by Garvinus that the systems of punctuation in use by the
> various literary nations depended originally upon the social
> habits and general diet of the flies infesting the several
> countries. These creatures, which have always been
> distinguished for a neighborly and companionable familiarity
> with authors, liberally or ****ardly embellish the
> manuscripts in process of growth under the pen, according to
> their bodily habit, bringing out the sense of the work by
> a species of interpretation superior to, and independent of,
> the writer's powers. The "old masters" of literature --
> that is to say, the early writers whose work is so esteemed
> by later scribes and critics in the same language -- never
> punctuated at all, but worked right along free-handed,
> without that abruption of the thought which comes from the
> use of points. (We observe the same thing in children
> to-day, whose usage in this particular is a striking and
> beautiful instance of the law that the infancy of
> individuals reproduces the methods and stages of development
> characterizing the infancy of races.) In the work of these
> primitive scribes all the punctuation is found, by the
> modern investigator with his optical instruments and
> chemical tests, to have been inserted by the writers'
> ingenious and serviceable collaborator, the common house-fly
> -- _Musca maledicta_. In transcribing these ancient MSS,
> for the purpose of either making the work their own or
> preserving what they naturally regard as divine revelations,
> later writers reverently and accurately copy whatever marks
> they find upon the papyrus or parchment, to the unspeakable
> enhancement of the lucidity of the thought and value of the
> work. Writers contemporary with the copyists naturally
> avail themselves of the obvious advantages of these marks in
> their own work, and with such assistance as the flies of
> their own household may be willing to grant, frequently
> rival and sometimes surpass the older compositions, in
> respect at least of punctuation, which is no small glory.
> Fully to understand the important services that flies
> perform to literature it is only necessary to lay a page of
> some popular novelist alongside a saucer of
> cream-and-molasses in a sunny room and observe "how the wit
> brightens and the style refines" in accurate proportion to
> the duration of exposure.
> --Ambrose Bierce
> First, note the antique beauty of the double-spaces after the
> periods in the passage scanned above, a typist's habit long since
> abandoned in the efficient computer age, but sometimes retained in
> the early writings on RBT of Jobst Brandt.
> Second, note that Bierce, a writer noted for his elegant style and
> careful diction, has happily penned a lengthy exegesis that likens
> punctuation to fly ****.
> C.F.
Hard to imagine such a text being written without paragraph breaks. I
am told this is "modern" but I doubt it. How did this piece become
one solid "thought" so to speak. When I encounter such writing, my
first impression is that I can't hold my breath long enough survive
with an idea that must be contained therein.
http://www2.actden.com/Writ_Den/tips/paragrap/index.htm
Jobst Brandt
> Dear N.G.,
> We at Well-Written Purists, Inc., are appalled by the hideous and
> unnecessary space betwixt a person's initials, but will not stoop to
> insisting on the comma demanded by common decency before Inc., much
> less the period that signifies that viz. is the modern abbreviation
> for the Latin videlicit.
> John Dacey would inform us that the ancient Greek and Latin authors
> scorned punctuation.
> Two further remarks of interest will follow this lengthy excerpt
> from The Devil's Dictionary:
> FLY-SPECK, n. The prototype of punctuation. It is observed
> by Garvinus that the systems of punctuation in use by the
> various literary nations depended originally upon the social
> habits and general diet of the flies infesting the several
> countries. These creatures, which have always been
> distinguished for a neighborly and companionable familiarity
> with authors, liberally or ****ardly embellish the
> manuscripts in process of growth under the pen, according to
> their bodily habit, bringing out the sense of the work by
> a species of interpretation superior to, and independent of,
> the writer's powers. The "old masters" of literature --
> that is to say, the early writers whose work is so esteemed
> by later scribes and critics in the same language -- never
> punctuated at all, but worked right along free-handed,
> without that abruption of the thought which comes from the
> use of points. (We observe the same thing in children
> to-day, whose usage in this particular is a striking and
> beautiful instance of the law that the infancy of
> individuals reproduces the methods and stages of development
> characterizing the infancy of races.) In the work of these
> primitive scribes all the punctuation is found, by the
> modern investigator with his optical instruments and
> chemical tests, to have been inserted by the writers'
> ingenious and serviceable collaborator, the common house-fly
> -- _Musca maledicta_. In transcribing these ancient MSS,
> for the purpose of either making the work their own or
> preserving what they naturally regard as divine revelations,
> later writers reverently and accurately copy whatever marks
> they find upon the papyrus or parchment, to the unspeakable
> enhancement of the lucidity of the thought and value of the
> work. Writers contemporary with the copyists naturally
> avail themselves of the obvious advantages of these marks in
> their own work, and with such assistance as the flies of
> their own household may be willing to grant, frequently
> rival and sometimes surpass the older compositions, in
> respect at least of punctuation, which is no small glory.
> Fully to understand the important services that flies
> perform to literature it is only necessary to lay a page of
> some popular novelist alongside a saucer of
> cream-and-molasses in a sunny room and observe "how the wit
> brightens and the style refines" in accurate proportion to
> the duration of exposure.
> --Ambrose Bierce
> First, note the antique beauty of the double-spaces after the
> periods in the passage scanned above, a typist's habit long since
> abandoned in the efficient computer age, but sometimes retained in
> the early writings on RBT of Jobst Brandt.
> Second, note that Bierce, a writer noted for his elegant style and
> careful diction, has happily penned a lengthy exegesis that likens
> punctuation to fly ****.
> C.F.
Hard to imagine such a text being written without paragraph breaks. I
am told this is "modern" but I doubt it. How did this piece become
one solid "thought" so to speak. When I encounter such writing, my
first impression is that I can't hold my breath long enough survive
with an idea that must be contained therein.
http://www2.actden.com/Writ_Den/tips/paragrap/index.htm
Jobst Brandt
