Revisiting… “One’s life summed up between two little dots with hanging tails,” someone wise recently wrote. Or five little dots if you were the Pope:
“Pope Francis, who rose from modest means in Argentina to become the first Jesuit and Latin American pontiff, who clashed bitterly with traditionalists in his push for a more inclusive Roman Catholic Church, and who spoke out tirelessly for migrants, the marginalized and the health of the planet, died on Monday at the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta. He was 88.”
Sadly no mention of his crucial role in inventing fantasy College of Cardinals.
Sad news: (from the Times) "Wink Martindale, a radio personality who became a television star as a dapper and affable host of game shows like “Gambit” and “Tic-Tac-Dough” in the 1970s and ’80s and “Debt” in the ’90s, died on Tuesday in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was 91."
Ursula Kane-Cafferty is fast friends with my Auntie Aoife, so I reached out to see if Ursula knew she had been mentioned in Meandering Tour. Her answer: "Sure, and wasn't The Brother over to Roscommon and didn't he bring back word that Himself had cast an eye this way on this poor old chunk of coal and me without even a decent bonnet for Palm Sunday! For they do be very fashionable up there in the Meandering Tour Tower sipping their whiskeys and gazing out upon Upper Montclair, New Jersey and the surrounding glens and bogs and blowholes, begob. Mr. Sherman should be after marrying that Miss Pepperpots to make an honest woman out of her before he crashes in his flying suit." I think she may have you somewhat conflated with Tony Stark. Relatedly, Motte and Baliey were an Irish comedy team in the 1950s. MOTTE: So Bailey was driving around Tullamore in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place. BAILEY: Looking up to heaven, I said, "Lord take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of me life and give up me Irish Whiskey." MOTTE: Miraculously, a parking place appeared. Bailey looked up again and said, "Never mind, I found one."
As far as Gilbert Sandler takedowns go, you are in excellent company. He never missed an opportunity to deride Arnold, our perfect, brilliant, purebred, adorable, hilarious toy poodle, descended from champions, (there's a comma for you - or appositive, if you prefer) as a scroungy mutt whose only accomplishments were defecation and urination, not always in the appropriate place (there was a kernel of truth in that last assertion). You should feel appropriately honored!
I've never heard of the term "the comma," but I recognize what you're describing as an "appositive"--i.e., a phrase describing a noun. That's the term used in a method of writing instruction I'm familiar with, but I decided to go online to find a definition, just to be on the safe side.
The definition I found at merriamwebster.com wasn't too illuminating, but it did include this great example of a comma, or an appositive, or whatever you want to call it:
To succeed in the genre, a writer has got to accentuate the appositive, that key phrase between the first two commas telling you just who the corpse was and what he did. [Robert McGill] Thomas [Jr.] can hold this syntactical note longer than Placido Domingo: "Benjamin Eisenstadt, the innovative Brooklyn businessman who set Americans to shaking their sugar before sweetening their coffee and then shook up the entire sweetener industry as the developer of Sweet'n Low, died at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center."— Thomas Mallon
Thanks for reading so closely and responding so thoughtfully. "Accentuate the appositive!" Excellent!
You are correct; the phrase is an appositive. But in footnote 1 (pasted below)l, I was pointing to Marilyn Johnson's effort to identify the specific name for an appositive used in an obituary.
__________________
Footnote 1:
In The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries, author Marilyn Johnson attributes “the comma” to the political consultant James Carville, but she acknowledges there is no general agreement on what to call “that phrase.” Others include “the who clause,” “the descriptive,” and “the tombstone.”
__________________
Johnson devotes a few amusing pages to the question.
Thanks again for your encouragement and the referrals.
Thank you for reading so carefully, and for your thoughtful comment. Most style guides still call for the plural, but some are giving way to either form -- sometimes indicating that the plural is more common in print, the singular in speaking. Coincidentally, Allan H of New Haven wrote yesterday, applauding my use of the plural. In any event, your comments are so astute that I'm going to send you some college advice wallet cards.
"Scott Sherman, collector of ancient diner receipts, is dead at XX."
Motte & Bailey: "I will impose 100% tariffs on every nation in this world and all others.... Ok, I will only impose 10% tariffs on everyone (including those nasty penguins, so nasty) - but *JIE-na* still gets 124% !!?!"
Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!? I never win anything. I need to thank so many people, starting of course with the Lord almighty, and then my family … I am third, y’know………
Revisiting… “One’s life summed up between two little dots with hanging tails,” someone wise recently wrote. Or five little dots if you were the Pope:
“Pope Francis, who rose from modest means in Argentina to become the first Jesuit and Latin American pontiff, who clashed bitterly with traditionalists in his push for a more inclusive Roman Catholic Church, and who spoke out tirelessly for migrants, the marginalized and the health of the planet, died on Monday at the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta. He was 88.”
Sadly no mention of his crucial role in inventing fantasy College of Cardinals.
Love the etymological note on "meander".
Sad news: (from the Times) "Wink Martindale, a radio personality who became a television star as a dapper and affable host of game shows like “Gambit” and “Tic-Tac-Dough” in the 1970s and ’80s and “Debt” in the ’90s, died on Tuesday in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was 91."
Ursula Kane-Cafferty is fast friends with my Auntie Aoife, so I reached out to see if Ursula knew she had been mentioned in Meandering Tour. Her answer: "Sure, and wasn't The Brother over to Roscommon and didn't he bring back word that Himself had cast an eye this way on this poor old chunk of coal and me without even a decent bonnet for Palm Sunday! For they do be very fashionable up there in the Meandering Tour Tower sipping their whiskeys and gazing out upon Upper Montclair, New Jersey and the surrounding glens and bogs and blowholes, begob. Mr. Sherman should be after marrying that Miss Pepperpots to make an honest woman out of her before he crashes in his flying suit." I think she may have you somewhat conflated with Tony Stark. Relatedly, Motte and Baliey were an Irish comedy team in the 1950s. MOTTE: So Bailey was driving around Tullamore in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place. BAILEY: Looking up to heaven, I said, "Lord take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of me life and give up me Irish Whiskey." MOTTE: Miraculously, a parking place appeared. Bailey looked up again and said, "Never mind, I found one."
Glad to see the cape activity study getting a second life here
The Interbang....
This historic tidbit will be of little interest to most.
In 1992, the Grammarian Society of Manning held Jeopardy like contests at the end of their meetings.
Obvious and controversial issues dominated these lively contests.
One answer was "WTF ?!?"
Correct question: What is the shortest commonly used Interebang.
As far as Gilbert Sandler takedowns go, you are in excellent company. He never missed an opportunity to deride Arnold, our perfect, brilliant, purebred, adorable, hilarious toy poodle, descended from champions, (there's a comma for you - or appositive, if you prefer) as a scroungy mutt whose only accomplishments were defecation and urination, not always in the appropriate place (there was a kernel of truth in that last assertion). You should feel appropriately honored!
I've never heard of the term "the comma," but I recognize what you're describing as an "appositive"--i.e., a phrase describing a noun. That's the term used in a method of writing instruction I'm familiar with, but I decided to go online to find a definition, just to be on the safe side.
The definition I found at merriamwebster.com wasn't too illuminating, but it did include this great example of a comma, or an appositive, or whatever you want to call it:
To succeed in the genre, a writer has got to accentuate the appositive, that key phrase between the first two commas telling you just who the corpse was and what he did. [Robert McGill] Thomas [Jr.] can hold this syntactical note longer than Placido Domingo: "Benjamin Eisenstadt, the innovative Brooklyn businessman who set Americans to shaking their sugar before sweetening their coffee and then shook up the entire sweetener industry as the developer of Sweet'n Low, died at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center."— Thomas Mallon
Natalie,
Thanks for reading so closely and responding so thoughtfully. "Accentuate the appositive!" Excellent!
You are correct; the phrase is an appositive. But in footnote 1 (pasted below)l, I was pointing to Marilyn Johnson's effort to identify the specific name for an appositive used in an obituary.
__________________
Footnote 1:
In The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries, author Marilyn Johnson attributes “the comma” to the political consultant James Carville, but she acknowledges there is no general agreement on what to call “that phrase.” Others include “the who clause,” “the descriptive,” and “the tombstone.”
__________________
Johnson devotes a few amusing pages to the question.
Thanks again for your encouragement and the referrals.
Scott
Not to be too picky but I need to question your use of "Data are" vs "Data is".
Collective nouns is a controversy regularly discussed in all Grammartarian circles.
The subject "Data" is a collective noun, just like staff, jury, team or family.
Even though these words represent a group, they arte usually regarded as a single entity. Therefore they generally use the singular noun for.
In your vacation activities data segment, I think you should have used Data is", in my humble opinion.
Thank you for reading so carefully, and for your thoughtful comment. Most style guides still call for the plural, but some are giving way to either form -- sometimes indicating that the plural is more common in print, the singular in speaking. Coincidentally, Allan H of New Haven wrote yesterday, applauding my use of the plural. In any event, your comments are so astute that I'm going to send you some college advice wallet cards.
"Scott Sherman, collector of ancient diner receipts, is dead at XX."
Motte & Bailey: "I will impose 100% tariffs on every nation in this world and all others.... Ok, I will only impose 10% tariffs on everyone (including those nasty penguins, so nasty) - but *JIE-na* still gets 124% !!?!"
Brilliant!!
You're a winner. Tell me offline where to send your wallet cards, if you want them.
Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!? I never win anything. I need to thank so many people, starting of course with the Lord almighty, and then my family … I am third, y’know………
Thanks, Scott. I love the pictures and the memories of Gilbert. You really made me laugh, as did he on many occasions. Sounds just like him.
Gilbert was the best. I miss him. Thanks for reading.
Scott you clearly don't have enough to do. But I do compliment you on the overuse of (parentheses), G S
Thanks for reading. I'll try to switch to EM DASHES every now and then.
Name dropper
Although my brother did go to college with the cousin of the kid who played “Whitey” on Leave It to Beaver, so two can play at that game