Subject: RE: Words, words, words
From: Paul Kennedy (kennedyp@toronto.cbc.ca)
Date: Mon Jan 24 2000 - 13:50:05 EST
Well, I was going to chide Tim for choosing Fowler over Strunk & White....
and then Cecilia chipped in with her paean of praise. They're BOTH great
books. Desert Island books. Books that belong in ANY English-language library.
It seems that every six months or so, we "oldies" engage in an old-fashioned
celebration of spelling and grammar. (I'm a bit concerned that Becky's AP
teacher doesn't do the same.... Perhaps she's a product of that "whole
language" bullshit that so threatens the very foundation of western
civilization....) To me, it's almost self-evident. If you love words (and
what the hell are you doing in a literary listserve if you don't?) you
respect words. The first paragraph of CATCHER is a masterful example of a
literary genius stretching the language to incorporate the diction of a
mid-20th century teenager. But it's literate from top to tail. If it had
ignored punctuation (as seems to be sadly becoming the norm) nobody would be
reading the novel today.
Cheers,
Paul
PS--But if ANYBODY can explain Fowler's convoluted explication of "which"
and "that", I'd be grateful....
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