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Re: Nab Forum-- NYTimes Forum Select Boyd's Pale Fire (fwd)
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From: Laura De Risi <laura.derisi@flashnet.it>
How many lovely mails about one infelicitous word! From a provincial abode
in a distant, Mediterranean land, and from the even greater distance of a
non-native English, I've been watching my screen filling up for five days
with the most controversial interpretations of QUIRKY. George Steiner, on
remarking that A. E. Housman's reviews were founded on the axiom that a
false emendation is far worse crime than murder, concluded, "There is
something in philology that appeals to the worst in man."
And yet, and yet--I truly enjoyed the exchange! Happily, I mean, there are
still people of passion and conviction who won't let any shabby usage pass.
Language is worth it. Thanks to Kurt, Tom, Rodney, Mark, Phillip, Jennifer,
and, of course, to Galya. Any more fwds on the topic?
Laura De Risi
Rome, Italy
*** Not yet in today's mail -- but given the gravity of the subject and
the gravitas of the analyses it has spurred, I am sure it will refuse
to die for a while longer. But then online discussions do tend to be
rather "quirky" -- don't they? :) GD***
How many lovely mails about one infelicitous word! From a provincial abode
in a distant, Mediterranean land, and from the even greater distance of a
non-native English, I've been watching my screen filling up for five days
with the most controversial interpretations of QUIRKY. George Steiner, on
remarking that A. E. Housman's reviews were founded on the axiom that a
false emendation is far worse crime than murder, concluded, "There is
something in philology that appeals to the worst in man."
And yet, and yet--I truly enjoyed the exchange! Happily, I mean, there are
still people of passion and conviction who won't let any shabby usage pass.
Language is worth it. Thanks to Kurt, Tom, Rodney, Mark, Phillip, Jennifer,
and, of course, to Galya. Any more fwds on the topic?
Laura De Risi
Rome, Italy
*** Not yet in today's mail -- but given the gravity of the subject and
the gravitas of the analyses it has spurred, I am sure it will refuse
to die for a while longer. But then online discussions do tend to be
rather "quirky" -- don't they? :) GD***