Problems or inconsistencies with English: “But Shakespeare is not assumed to have been in his cups when he wrote in The Comedy of Errors, ‘There’s not a man I meet but doth salute me / As I were their well-acquainted friend’ (Act IV, Scene 111). Later, Thackeray in Vanity Fair tosses off ‘A person can’t help their birth.’ …”

Because the rest of us think it’s proper English to say, “One should take his opinion outside,” one and his being singular. In the above examples, Shakespeare says, “a man I meet . . . as I were their friend.”

I’m right to complain, aren’t I?

This is from a published work. “Her pensive frown drew me like a smell from childhood.”

You know, I’m pretty familiar with childhood smells. I can smell one now, as a matter of fact, a powerful, pervading smell from a cute, little child. But this simile doesn’t work for other reasons. Let’s talk about it.

My first thought is the writer has mixed two senses. Her face or her thoughtful, moody appearance appeals to him. He sees her and remembers … an odor?

What if he saw she was deep in thought, and frowning in an adorable way? Perhaps she frowned over her hands at the floor. I walked up to her and said, “You remind me of a cookie.” Anyway, my good wife, who is not frowning now, said this sentence and the paragraph with it would be improved by focusing on the girl, not the narrator’s emotional reaction to her.

The sentence reminds me of these: “Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.”

“She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.”

That’s good writing.

Our friend Loren Eaton meditates on the question of whether writers are happy or unhappy people (and if unhappy, whether that’s a necessary condition). And he links to a good article by Nathan Bransford, literary agent, on how to be happy though creative.

Happy or sad? Happy or sad?



I’m thinking. I’m thinking.

Roy Jacobsen, of Writing Clear and Simple, alerts us that tomorrow is National Grammar Day.

Update: On closer examination, I note that National Grammar Day is actually today.

Unless you’re reading this tomorrow, of course, in which case it’s yesterday.

Thomas Sowell has a good article on word usage. He writes, “The expression, ‘It goes without saying. . .’ is a fatal trap. Few things go without saying. Some of the most valuable things in life may go away without saying– whether loved ones in one’s personal life or the freedom or survival of a nation.”

The time is overdue for saying things.

In a hole in the ground there lived an artist.