Number 91
Regarding the poem "The Naming of Parts" by World War II poet Henry Reed (see PO 48), I received this e-mail from Mike Sykes, a former RAF pilot who is . . .
"the guy that's credited with the audio files of Lessons of the War that you link to."I'm currently in an email discussion with the owner of that site about the layout of the printed text of Naming of Parts in particular. I'm convinced I have seen the (inner) voice of the listener italicised, and am convinced it should be. You have it that way. Can you quote a source, or is it that you just happen to feel it's right?"
Moi: "I'm not sure where I found the version with italics last year, but it was not my own thought ~ I wouldn't have changed it on my own recognizance. I've mostly seen the poem without italics, but I may have copied this version from http://www.augustpoetry.org/poets/Reed.htm. That may be the only place I've seen it that way, so I guess I liked it and decided to use it without really knowing what the original looked like. You'd have to find a first edition publication of the poem to settle your argument. But I believe that when I first read the poem in college years ago, there were no italics, and I think it works well that way too ~ I always remembered it."
Mike: "When I say 'I'm convinced it should be', I don't mean I would bow to the first printed edition as the ultimate authority. I mean that there is a better chance that the reader will understand what it's about without having it explained by a teacher of Eng. Lit., whether or not that's the way most people may meet it for the first time."I'm slightly less interested in what the author intended, and much less in the views of his editor.
"Anyway, I shall count you on my side,
"Regards,
"Mike (did that basic training in the RAF in 1947)"
Mike ~ let us know the outcome of your debate with the site owner, and thanks! And I'd love to hear from you about your RAF training, particularly in comparison to Henry Reed's description, and your part with the MP3 files.
Tim S. wrote about "lie of the land" (PO 88):
"Yes, it has to be 'the lay of the land' if for no other reason than to support the rather dated and certainly no-longer-pc sotto voce comment that a given female of unusually free charms has gotten a reputation as the lay of the land. The late Peter DeVries used that one somewhere in one of his twenty-plus comic novels (which I recently heard are all now, sadly, out of print). His day job for many years involved developing and editing cartoons for the New Yorker (think of how much karma he must have chewed up falling into that gig), and most of his short stories and novels were set in East Coast suburban commuter communities populated by slightly frazzled and overly self-aware folk. Sort of low-rent Cheever with more laughs. DeVries used pretty much any technique available to generate his humor, but he was probably best known for his wordplay. I fondly recall stumbling across a brief passage in one of his lesser later novels in which an incidental character is making apologies to the host of an afternoon cocktail party for having to leave early. He didn't mean to be rude, he said, 'But I have premises to keep, and miles to mow before I sleep.' Seeing not a flicker of recognition in his audience, he tried again. 'And miles to mow before I sleep?' They don't write 'em like that anymore."
Was that good or bad karma for DeVries? Do you readers think, by the way, that my habit of usually using only first names and last initials for the sake of my readers' privacy makes it sound as if we're all in a big AA group? And don't you think Tim S. ought to be writing his own newsletter for our amusement?
Dan E. writes regarding PO 90:
"The safety of mailing checks from your mailbox with the flag up is questionable. There was a recent spate* of theft from these mailboxes in Lee County, Florida. The thieves eradicated the payees' names and amounts and replaced them with other payees and amounts, and then proceeded to cash them. Having read about this in Fort Myers News-Press, I will never again put anything valuable in my mailbox for pickup."*I don't think I ever used that word before, but since it came to me, I had to look it up to confirm its usage."
Thanks for the warning, Dan. But on the whole, the US PO is a better bet than the ones I've been hearing about elsewhere. And good work with "spate".
Well, I wasn't there myself and haven't seen the photos yet, but Britney Spears just got married again, second time this year (third time's a charm, Brit!) and I read that she outfitted the guests in velour tracksuits ~ pink for the girls, reading "The Maids", and white for the guys, reading "Pimps", with a special suit for her dad reading "Pimp Daddy". Sweet. I don't get "The Maids", though. Pimps and hos go together like ~ love and marriage.
I know for sure now what "squirrelly" means because lately so many young squirrels have been playing chicken with me while I'm driving. So far, I'm the chicken. Also, just heard an old Bill Monroe bluegrass song, "Tenbrooks and Molly," about racehorses, where Molly says to Tenbrooks, "You're looking mighty squirrel" (not squirrelly).
"Expiry date" (on a coupon) appeared in the cartoon strip "Tina's Groove." I'd never heard it, only "expiration date," but it turns out that "expiry" is really a word. I kind of like the sound of it. I'm going to look for opportunities to use it: expiry expiry expiry.
A reporter asked someone regarding 9/11, now that three years have passed, "What do you think the feeling is in regard to the intelligence agencies?" I want to know what the intelligence is in regard to that question. Does it mean, how do you feel about the agencies, in a Barbara Walters kind of way? Or does it mean, how do the agencies feel about 9/11, ditto? I didn't hang around long enough to find out for sure. I hope there are some thoughts mixed in with the feelings.
"Kerry is to the left of Genghis Khan," somebody said on TV. This is getting to be a stock joke format, but in this case the joker didn't seem to get it. Usually one says somebody is to the right of a famous historical character who was not known for his liberality and generosity of heart, such as Genghis Khan or Attila the Hun, meaning that the person being criticized is even more severely reactionary or radical, depending on your point of view. It doesn't make sense to emphasize someone's leftishness by saying that person is to the left of Genghis Khan, since almost everyone is. Kerry is to the left of ~ Karl Marx? Doubtful.
And by the way, my title for this bit caused me to think about marching cadence, and go to the Net (most things can do that), where I found this for your pleasure and edification, a soldier's site called The Cadence Page.
Oddly enough, I was thinking of meter and the Army the other day. In an English class I taught at Fort Carson, while talking about meter, I was trying to remember a line from a Billy Joel song, "Leave a Tender Moment Alone." In fact the title was the line I couldn't remember, and I came up with "Don’t disturb a tender moment" ~ same idea, wrong meter. My line was very regular and very clunky. "Leave a tender moment alone" works well with the meaning, light and airy and not so mechanical.
The sister of a murder victim pointed out that, unlike the man who ordered the killing, her brother is "dead for life."
. . . to everyone who writes. I enjoy the conversation, and use as much as I can.
In the paragraph beginning "Deconstruction methods," "only" modifies "to literature" and should immediately precede it. Also, "principal" should be "principle." Just so you know I know.
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