Saturday 1 November 2008

selecta

Pics are too hard, but here are 6 non-random things ("facts") about me.

1. I spent several years in Chicago. Its beauty is astonishing; visit if you do not know this. But not in winter, which is indescribable by ordinary standards.

2. The one woman who broke my heart was an accountant.

3. Good writing demands the extermination of adverbs.

4. Yeats is a dreadful poet. This has nothing to do with his adverbs.

5. English boarding school food is horrible. Unfortunately there are worse cuisines.

6. This blog is an outlet for sarcasm and inconsistency.

11 comments:

Ms Scarlet said...

Pics are easy! But facts are good too.
Sx

P.S Good job that this blog is about inconsistancy....that means off-topic comments as well doesn't it?

Anonymous said...

I might have to disagree with you on the adverb thing. Not because it's not true, I - mostly agree there - but because the sheer variety of excellent writing around suggests that good writing is often done in the absence of maxims.

Oooh! shimmee is my word verification! I need no further prompting.

Gorilla Bananas said...

You "mostly agree" that adverbs should be exterminated, Sam? PG Wodehouse used tons of them for humorous effect. I suppose they don't come over too well if you're trying to scare your readers like Stephen King.

xerxes said...

Scarly-warly-woo, my darling, my jo: yes, but remember the sarcasm requirement.

Sam: _excellent_ point about maxims. Touche.

Go B: you are as acute as ever. If I could be certain of being as good as Wodehouse, then I might (just _might_) essay an adverb.

I might add: adjectives are questionable too. But it hard to avoid them always.

Ms Scarlet said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ms Scarlet said...

Yes, I love you too, with all my heart.
Sx

BEAST said...

The Beast is very very cross about adverbs but could be easily persuaded otherwise :-)

Ms Scarlet said...

We didn't do grammar at my school....seriously...
Sx

xerxes said...

"V v cross about adverbs": but I don't see many adverbs at Beastbite. Are you a closet antiadverbalist, Beastie?

Scarlet, funnily enough, English grammar never appeared at my school either. French, Latin and Greek grammar were drilled into us, but it was left to us to deduce that there must be some in English too.

Mrs Pouncer said...

Bewunderungswurdig, wie Ihnen das so glatt von der Zunge geht, Inky! Love, Clarissa Pouncer xx

xerxes said...

Thank you, Mrs P, but I still get cramp. Eventually.