La femme McArdle can't spell in French either. (Not that some of the other ninnies who post here are perfect, only I! In two languages!!)
Cri de cour [sic]Not to mention the utter pretentiousness of "velocipede" & "spectre."
As I contemplate the purchase of another velocipede, this spectre haunts me
UPDATE: Earlier in the day, as she blockquoted MoDo, the very same phrase is used, yet spelled correctly. Say what you will about MoDo (or the NYT at least having editors so their columnists don't look goofy) she's a better typist/speller than MMcM. I do agree w/ her take on MoDo, taken it from this guy "Matt" she's always talking about & linking to. (Is he her boyfriend or something& we're just supposed to know who he is? I don't get it, but she may be writing for a group of obsessives who know everything & every one in her little world. You do all know who MoDo is, don't you?) Here's an idea: Moratorium on food & eating & vega-vegetarianism &...
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She means Matt Yglesias, her co-blogger / fellow waste of space at the Atlantic.
And yes, you're just supposed to *know.*
This is where I always make fun of McArdle's thesaurus abuse. She's defended it a couple of times, once insulting someone for calling her on it for not being smart enough to understand her "big wurds." Uh-huh. It's not that I don't know what the words mean, Megan. It's just that outside of a thesaurus and an SAT test, nobody fucking uses them. When's the last time you heard someone call a bike a "velocipede"? That's just idiotic.
Then she defended it by arguing that a good journalist always uses varying words for the same thing. It goes to show how little she knows about her own damn supposed profession. I worked on my school newspapers through all of high school and college and have spent summers and a year at j-school. A "good" journalist is always concise. They don't use archaic or obscure language. Perhaps most importantly, they manage to write about their subjects without figuring that it's all about them and their personal worldly experiences. It's not that they're being anti-intellectual or assuming their readers won't understand anything harder, but there is a way to be prosaic without being entirely dull. That's what a good journalist does.
When's the last time you heard someone call a bike a "velocipede"?
The one and only time I've ever heard it used was in an episode of The Simpsons, and it was used - unsurprisingly - by Monty Burns.
Thanks Spencer, I really did know, just being sarcastic. Have to remember the sarcasm tags.
"Unsurprisingly?" I would've thought Grandpa, & I seldom watch the Simpsons. Though Monty may be older than Grampa S.
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