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i wish i wrote that
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| the war against cliche... |
| posted by: publius |
10:08 1.4.10 |
or catchphrases, as ron rosenbaum somewhat annoyingly refers to them in this article from slate. i think some of his examples and points are a bit trite and his style is grating, but it's difficult to argue with his motivation.
i think i'll cross-post this one in the "politics and the english language" thread, as orwell's essay is clearly mr. rosenbaum's (uncited) inspiration.
http://www.slate.com/id/2240159/pagenum/all |
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| cute.... |
| posted by: publius |
22:50 1.1.10 |
a rather clever way to play on the fact that it is impossible to see the name "bryan mawr" in print and not think bryn mawr....
"Lacey is an expert proponent of the Chinese whisper, whereby he quotes somebody who quotes somebody who knew the subject in question. Thus, he turns to “the screenwriter Bryan Mawr,” of whom I can find no other trace (was he an old friend of Vossar?)..."
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2010/01/04/100104crbo_books_lane?currentPage=all |
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| mea culpa |
| posted by: publius |
09:23 12.15.09 |
the bad metaphors/cliches issue is most often the result of writing too fast and thinking too little. reading back through old tentfort posts i'm often tempted to apply a bit of "editorial correctness" to things i've written. but i don't. they're there, errors and all, and are an accurate representation of how well (or not) my mind was working at the time i wrote them (or at least how focused i was on writing them).
consider it one of my new year's resolutions: "i will pay more attention to the words i write"...which can be extrapolated to "i will pay more attention to what i am doing as i am doing it". |
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| my reaction. |
| posted by: simplicissimus |
23:53 12.14.09 |
ok.
ok
ok.
...awesome.
i'm amazed at how many people write bad metaphors (let alone mixed ones) when they could just write something like that. |
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| we have one for photos... |
| posted by: publius |
16:19 12.14.09 |
which works out well, but i figure i run into a pleasantly constructed sentence or verbal image just as often. so those will go in this thread.
to start off, here's a description of christopher plummer from the new yorker by ian parker:
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For some years in the nineteen-fifties, Christopher Plummer lived in the Algonquin Hotel, on West Forty-fourth Street. One morning last week, a few days before his eightieth birthday, he returned there, from his home, in southwestern Connecticut, and took a round booth at the back of the dining room and recalled his residency. He was wearing a gray tweed jacket over a black sweater, and carried wraparound sunglasses. He seemed happy and fit—punchy—as if he had just won a tennis match against Errol Flynn.
__________
if you don't find the phrase "as if he had just won a tennis match against errol flynn" wonderfully evocative, i'm not sure we have very much to talk about...
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2009/12/21/091221ta_talk_parker
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