To M. Bouffant's string of classic McArdlisms - "I'm generally kind of...," "My general feeling...," "It seems to me..." - we can now add this stunner:
It strikes to me that this vice is on the rise right now for several reasons:
Forensic writing analysis suggests that McArdle thought "It strikes me," began writing and then experienced a minor brain event two words in. Perhaps the word "strikes" disturbed her, what with its connotation of organized labor unions (eek) mobilizing to conduct work stoppages (gah), and in that moment of visceral horror McArdle lost the plot. So urgent was her repressive response that she believed that she had, in fact, written "occurs" instead of "strikes," and soldiered on appropriately.
Perhaps the distraction was more earthy. From her subsequent post, on the occasion of the New York Times' dismantling of its failed TimesSelect model:
I expect that the pay barriers at the Wall Street Journal will therefore remain erect for quite some time.
If your barriers remain erect for more than four hours, call a doctor.
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3 comments:
A common enough problem when one changes a word or phrase. But then Ms. McA., out of sloth, laziness or fear of re-reading her own typing, doesn't change the rest of the sentence to reflect the change she just made.
...and she does have a cold. And was tired from quoting a massive block of another writer's text.
Blockquotin' is hard work.
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