Another thing that depressed (her) was prescriptive rhetoric, which supposedly had been done away with but was still around. This was the old slap-on-the-fingers if your modifiers-were-caught-dangling stuff. Correct spelling, correct punctuation, correct grammar. Hundreds of itsy bitsy rules for itsy bitsy people. No one could remember all that stuff and concentrate on what (she) was trying to write about. It was all table manners, not derived from any sense of kindness or decency or humanity, but originally from an egotistic desire to look like gentlemen and ladies. Gentlemen and ladies had good table manners and spoke and wrote grammatically. It was what one identified with the upper classes.
Uh-oh. I'm guilty. I dunno, I agree that grammar in mail correspondence, or grammar in conversation isn't as spectacularly important as most teachers want us to believe. Grammar is still important when it comes to published works though. There has to be some set standard for language usage. Would anyone understand anything that anybody wrote or said if everyone decided to loosely interpret the rules? Or if everyone decided to take liberties with spelling words the way they think it ought to be spelled, wouldn't it kreate krazy konfusion, kaos, and kosmik katastrophe?!?!? KONVOLUTION. Kataklysmik Konundrum!
What is "kwality" in thought and statement?
p.s.
The Boys:
p.p.s.
Are You eXceptionally Bored? Take this:
Quiz: Are You A Suck-Up At Work?
Are you a sycophant? No, it doesn't mean that you have a disease or some kind of strange phobia. Rather, it means you're a self-seeking, servile flatterer; a fawning parasite, according to contemporary English dictionaries. You know, a toady, a suck-up, a bootlicker or a backslapper.
Turns out, sucking up works better in a job interview than bragging about one's accomplishments, according to a study at the University of Florida. "People like being complimented and having others agree with them, and practicing such social niceties can't help but make a favorable impression in the workday world," Professor Timothy Judge says.
So even though it might make you unpopular with co-workers, it's good to be a suck-up. To find out how you play up to people and what it means for your career, take this little test.
1. How often do you get beverages, cigarettes or snacks for your boss? Give yourself 1 point for each refreshment run per week.
2. How many times a month do you get your boss' dry cleaning or car washed? Add 5 points per trip in the last month.
3. How often do you engage your boss in "meaningful" business banter that falls outside of the parameters of your and his/her responsibility for the purpose of "learning from his/her experience?" Score 7 points per monthly occurrence.
4. What have you said to you boss this week? For every time you've said the following phrases to your boss in the last week, give yourself the correlating points-
"Have you been working out?" Take 5 points.
"I love that haircut!" Take 3 points.
"That's a great suit" Take 3 points.
"Why are you on a diet?" Take 5 points.
"I really value your opinion." Take 4 points.
5. Give yourself 1 point for each affirmative response to your boss in a week such as, "yes," "absolutely," "exactly," "mmhmmm," "true," "no problem," "you're so right," etc.
6. How many times a week do you throw your boss a "lob ball" in front of executive management by asking him questions that you know he can readily answer? Log 5 points per instance.
7. In a meeting, count how many times you nod your head in a positive way in support of your boss as he or she speaks. Add 1 point per nod.
8. How often do you feign interest in a dirt-dull hobby (collections of bobbleheads or matchboxes from every diner in Branson, Mo.) just to align yourself personally with the boss? Give yourself 4 points per instance in the past year.
Now add them up and see what kind of yes-man you really are.
60+ points You are the ultimate suck-up. Here's the problem: Everyone knows it, including your boss. As your Nana used to say "Too much sugar spoils the cannoli." Try to tone it down so that you don't become a doormat for your boss and hated, or worse, mocked by your co-workers.
30-60 points You're a likeable sycophant, but perhaps still a little over the top. A few less compliments and a little more self-reliance would do your career good.
15-30 points You are the strategic schmoozer with the wisdom to know that, like anchovies on anything, a little goes a long way. You make the boss feel good about himself while assuring that you get the credit you deserve.
Less than 15 points You need start sweet-talking your superiors. You're the poor sod who's getting lapped by all those toadies out there. So hop to it -- practice your best sweet talk, learn the boss' hot buttons and limber up that neck so you can nod and flatter your way to the top.
p.p.p.s.
I recently watched Sin City. I liked it as much as everyone else. It really is as good as they say!!! I had to hide my eyes behind my fingers for about one-third (maybe more?!??) of the movie though. It is especially gruesome. If you have heart arrhythmia or any other heart-related disfunction, I suggest you stay at home and watch Seinfeld reruns instead. Miho is my Hero.
I read "The Human Stain" (actually the first Roth book I read). I found it more accessible than "American Pastoral", perhaps because it is more based in events and less in introspection on the part of the protagonist. But they're both good. Haven't read the others yet.
I'll take a look for "Glory". I read "Lolita" years ago, but haven't read anything else by Nabokov. Like you say, authors must hate that. I guess it happens in any field, though... one of the profs in our department is most famous for a paper which he considered a trivial side issue, almost unrelated to his *interesting* work. But it turned out to be useful, so everybody reads that one and nobody reads his other stuff (which he considers better and more interesting). Same in music, etc... On the plus side, it gives you an opportunity to discover a whole side of somebody that most people don't know exists, which can be fun.
The Big D is coming along, but slowly. I need to narrow my focus until I can't think about anything else, but I'm not having much luck. Know any magic tricks for increasing one's powers of concentration?
I liked Pirsig's take on prescriptive rhetoric... that it's all about trying to communicate clearly and convincingly, and with "kwality" (whatever that might be). As you say, if nobody followed grammar rules, anybody would nobody sentences else's understand.