(Note to literalists: the Watched column presently contains only a smattering of 'warblogs' because the facilitator of the template-change--Dr. Menlo--is not very familiar with them, and will be adding more as they are sent to him. Also, this blog may contain areas of allusion, satire, subtext, context and possibly even a dash of the surreal: wannabe lit-crits beware.)
Control
[Watch this space for: Pentagon and Petroleum, The Media is only as Liberal as the Corporations Who Own Them, Wash Down With, and Recalcify]
WARBLOGGER WATCH
Sunday, July 14, 2002
The Pedant Punished
Dr Weevil decided to brush off his Mr Chips mortar board and give Brendan O'Neill a good thrashing over his faulty use of English. As Dr Weevil himself says:"If you're going to criticize bloggers for bad writing and bad spelling, you should first make sure that your own prose is beyond reproach."
The pedantmeister then proceeds to castigate O'Neill, a Britisher, for using the expression "arse-hole" instead of "ass-hole," even though, in England where O'Neill writes, the former is correct and the latter is considered vulgar and "American."
Weevil then turns his attention to the following O'Neill sentence:
"Research, argument and hard graft, however, can sometimes turn petty opinion into considered judgement - but research, argument and hard graft are notable by their absence in the Blogosphere."
Weevil claims that this sentence "doesn't make much sense." Why? Because Dr. Weevil has a very narrow and parochial view of language, and doesn't know that hard "graft" in English (real English, not the limited American-English subset) means simply "hard work." Knowing this, what doesn't make sense in O'Neill's sentence? Nothing, of course. The fault is entirely with Weevil's lack of linguistic knowledge.
To quote once again, the inelegant Dr. "If you're going to criticize bloggers for bad writing and bad spelling, you should first make sure that your own prose is beyond reproach." posted by total2:21 PM
The Watchers
WBW: Keeping track of the war exhortations of the warbloggers.