Notes & asides.* Dear Bill: "Johannes Eff" rides again. Hope you'll enjoy. Cordially, Jack Kiley Portland, Ore. Dr. Dean and Doctor Faustus A Funversation Dr. D: I'll do anything to get out of the sticks. Dr. F: Anything? I know a few helpful tricks, Provided you've got something precious to sell? Dr. D: Give me a clue, I don't guess very well. Dr. F: How about your soul, Doctor Dean? Dr. D: My soul? That's pretty medieval! I mean, My thing is politics, not religion. In my role As a secular icon, there is no room for soul. Dr. F: Why, the most valuable thing anyone's got Is his or her soul. Mephistopheles is not Going to lift a finger for you except for what'll Be really demonic. I mean your ability to rebottle Moonlight in Vermont into just what the doc Ordered for Republican snakebite snakebite, wound inflicted by the teeth of a snake. The bite of a nonvenomous snake is rarely serious. Venomous snakes have fangs, hollow teeth through which poison is injected into a victim. , depression and lock Jaw is not deviant enough. Your lies are lower class: They need a resounding re·sound v. re·sound·ed, re·sound·ing, re·sounds v.intr. 1. To be filled with sound; reverberate: The schoolyard resounded with the laughter of children. 2. kick in the asseveration ASSEVERATION. The proof which a man gives of the truth of what be says, by appealing to his conscience as a witness. It differs from an oath in this, that by the latter he appeals to God as a witness of the truth of what he says, and invokes him as the avenger of falsehood and perfidy, to sass You produce. Dr. D: You mean I've got to seduce With bigger and better lies? But how? Dr. F: Howie, you must sell your soul to Satan, now, Then you'll be upgraded to a first-class prevaricator. You'll go from a whining alley cat to a sneaky alligator; From a fake-in-the-grass, To a con man, world class. Dr. D: Will this put me in the Oval Office this election? Dr. F: Absolutely. Learn to lie with perfection. And you'll push Junior Bush Into his daddy's past tense. Dr. D: Doctor Faustus, you're making diabolical sense. Get this Mephistopheles guy on the In Ternet. I'll sell my soul to get me a November win. * Dear Mr. Buckley: Ms. Betijean Kinnerly of Houston, Tex. made the point (Sept. 1) about the verb "to sneak." Lately I have noticed a "new" declination declination, in astronomy, one of the coordinates in the equatorial coordinate system. The declination of a celestial body is its angular distance north or south of the celestial equator measured along its hour circle. of the verb "to shine" cropping up. When it occurs it's used like this: "He shined a light on it." I have used "shined" only in connection with shoes. It would seem that there are two declinations depending on the object: To shine, shone, have shone (for light); to shine, shined, have shined (for shoes) in lieu of "polish." This "new" wave must be coming from the same place as "between you and I." Maybe there is a nest somewhere of grammar-destroying bugs. Am I missing something? Best regards, Horst R. Brakel New York, N.Y Dear Mr. Brakel: I think it's okay. See OED OED abbr. Oxford English Dictionary Noun 1. OED - an unabridged dictionary constructed on historical principles O.E.D., Oxford English Dictionary , S-700, 701. "He shined his truth upon them" is okay, but "he shone his truth upon them" is a little fluffy, something of a tushery. Cordially, WFB WFB Warhammer: Fantasy Battle (game) WFB World Fellowship of Buddhists WFB Wells Fargo Bank WFB William Frank Buckley (founder and editor of National Review Magazine) WFB WorkFlow Builder * Dear Mr. Buckley: I have always had difficulty in speaking French with the correct accent, so I felt somewhat justified when, in rereading Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past Remembrance of Things Past records the decay of a society. [Fr. Lit.: Haydn & Fuller, 630] See : Decadence , I found the following statement: "... Those French words which we are so proud of pronouncing pro·nounc·ing adj. Relating to, designed for, or showing pronunciation: a pronouncing dictionary. accurately are themselves only blunders made by the Gallic lips which mispronounced Latin or Saxon, our language being merely a defective pronunciation of several others" (Vol. II, Cities of the Plain Cities of the Plain is the final volume of American novelist Cormac McCarthy's "Border trilogy." It is set in the fall of 1952, and brings together the characters of John Grady Cole, the protagonist of All the Pretty Horses and Billy Parham, the protagonist of The Crossing. ). Sincerely, Helen Hill Kleyla Dear Ms. Kleyla: Mr. Proust, I take it, gave no examples? Cordially, --WFB |
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