Subject:
Re: [NABOKV-L] perils of learning Russian
From:
Carolyn Kunin <chaiselongue@earthlink.net>
Date:
Mon, 2 Mar 2009 19:16:03 -0800
To:
Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>


On Mar 2, 2009, at 11:10 AM, Stan Kelly-Bootle wrote:
Sublime Weill/Gershwin! Well-spotted, Barry. Well-missed, Carolyn? ...  I expect another “Huh” from CK! 


Dear Mr Kelly-Bootle.,

You are right, I don't understand the question "Well-missed?" or most of the rest of your indignant OUTBURST.  I know my odd sense of humor isn't to everyone's taste, but is it really necessary to typographically SCREAM ABOUT IT? 

And since I'm responding to this post, I request that the editor politely suggest that list members employ a reasonable font size in postings to the list.  Jansy's can be itsy-bitsy but at least they are easy to expand to a legible size.  But Mr Bootle's are O V E R W H E L M I N G and cannot be reduced to anything other than over-sized.

Is this really necessary? And please no Freudian jokes either at my expense or Mr Kelly-Bootle's (marvelous name, by the way). 

"You can range from 17 genders to none"  

I can't!

Ah-BUT, I hear you cry, ONLY Pushkin’s Russian can REALLY convey Evgeni’s motives.

 I have given up crying as I have already written to Jansy  - -  and motives have nothing to do with it. I was talking about the music of the poetry.  

Carolyn

ED's response: I think font size is an issue that has disturbed some subscribers; I think it is unlikely that we will want to impose conformity upon contributors, when there is so much variety among how messages appear in different browsers, on different screen resolutions, etc.  For those who can't find a good way to view varying fonts, there is a "digest" mode that restricts all submissions to plain ascii (no formatting, no html).  If any subscriber has trouble selecting that mode, I will be happy to assist (nabokv-l@utk.edu).

Let me also remind everyone of the fact that any statement about another person that goes beyond simple attribution ("X wrote . . . "), will be interpreted as an overly personal, and perhaps pejorative, comment, even if such overtones were not intended, or if a comment was meant in good humor.  The great majority of subscribers to this list do not want to follow real or imagined commentaries upon the value of personal contributions to the list, and so I remind and implore all to withhold such comments from their contributions.  I will be increasing my own vigilance in restricting messages with comments ad hominem, however innocent they might be or seem.
Thanks for your understanding and cooperation,
SB

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