February 20, 2008
A Sentence Out of Context
I read this sentence last night and thought it worth sharing. If I am reading carefully, I try to be alert for well-tuned sentences, which are fun to collect even though more cumbersome than words.
I have a passion for writing on clean single-lined foolscap; a smear, a tea-mark on a page makes it unusable, and a fantastic notion took me that I must keep my paper locked up in case of an unsavory visitor.
Graham Greene, The End of the Affair. I suspect a few others out there might be reading this one too these days . . . . Foolscap, by the way, refers to paper that is 8 1/2 by 13 1/2 inches. More information on it can be found here.
February 12, 2008
Why Every Business Needs Employees With A Decent Liberal Arts Education
To avoid problems like this. A store unwittingly marketed a child’s bed under the name “Lolita,” title of the infamous 1955 novel by Vladimir Nobokov. Once notified, the naive store employees turned to, of all sources, Wikipedia, to verify the problem. *Sigh*
Kudos to any commenter for proposing other potential marketing snafus. Linens by Iago? Fur coats by Aslan?
The Write Bailiwick 