John McIntyre, whom James Wolcott called "the Dave Brubeck of the art and craft of copy editing," writes on language, editing, journalism, and random topics. Identifying his errors relieves him of the burden of omniscience. Write to jemcintyre@gmail.com, befriend at Facebook, or follow at Twitter: @johnemcintyre. His original "You Don't Say" blog at The Baltimore Sun ran from 2005 to 2021, and posts on it can sometimes be found at baltimoresun.com through Google searches.
Friday, December 4, 2009
You can't jolly humorless
I have a guest post today, “The with-it need the without-it,” at Dining@Large, responding to a series of exchanges over a one-line joke about the prevalence of hipsters at a couple of Baltimore restaurants. The subject may be trivial, but I think you will recognize the personalities illuminated by it.
One prominent member of the Hipster Anti-Defamation League has been complaining on her own blog of having been ill-used. But these responses have cropped up on Facebook:
ReplyDeleteLissa Potter: They just aren't getting it. I sincerely hope no one ever hands any of them some Jonathan Swift.
Kevin Leonard: I suspect that the intended personalities will neither recognize themselves in, nor be illuminated by, the guest post.
Joyce Weinstock: the guest post was awesome, JM. You totally hit the mark. I enjoyed it very much.
Yum Porchetta: Beautifully and perfectly done, JM. It will sail right over their heads.
Holly Kerfoot: Great column, John. And I'm going to try the recipe. Would you like a copy of my Gran's Dunkin' Cookies recipe in exchange?
Trish Miller: Excellent Mr McIntyre! And I agree with Yum. The intended target just won't get it.
Pedantically I point out that the sense of with in with it is not 'possessing' but 'accompanying', and so the hed should be "The with-it need the out-of-it".
ReplyDeleteits really very nice posting thanks for sharing this with us.
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