Squaddie banter V

Broadening the mind is for gays.

- Henry Campbell-Ricketts, gentleman trooper

Parks vs Dyer (vs the academy)

Borderline personal (and misleading) piece on criticism and its discontents, by Tim Parks. Couple of viable comments from the voice-of-the-dog, though, of which my favourites are:

If every one in America with a Ph.D. in physics suddenly died, what would happen to physics in this country? Now consider what would happen to literature in this country if everyone with a Ph.D. in literature died?

and

Accepted into a Ph.D. program in literature many years, I decided to find a life outside the academy, thinking then, as I do now, I had no wish to write more and more about less and less for fewer and fewer.

and (brilliantly)

I was unable to comprehend at least half of the writing in the recent inaugural issue of the journal "Translation"

Squaddie banter IV

You've gotta approach these things with an err of caution.

- anon.

Ouch!

An insatiable nomad, he lives in Notting Hill like everybody else.

- Private Eye, semi-legitimately, on Bruce Chatwin

'Americanisation' [sp?]

Can there, by the very definition of the word, be an English English spelling of 'Americanisation' [e.g.]?*

On the other hand, by the word's very origin - English, presumably - should there ever be an American?

[*Blogger says no. But I ain't throwing in the towel for that!]

Republicans are smart!

'More Americans lost their jobs since the Great Depression...'

- Newt Gingrich waxes historical analysis on the economic record of Barack Obama

Fun 'new' word

Heel, n. bad guy in (silly, lycra-clad) wrestling, or, less particularly, a contemptible person.

[For which, my thanks to JR.]

Literary Banksy

I am grateful to Sri Lankan artist and photographer Mika Tennekoon for directing me towards DepressedCopywriter.com.

Never-ending fun for all the (literate) family. Go forth - and take a biro!

When, oh when

will editors (for it is surely they*) learn to resist the temptation to caption every article about Geoff Dyer with this obvious, time-battered title?

--
* This is what I'm talking about.