What Would Happen if Lit-Ideas Were Given Over to Compulsive Hack Editors Like Me? >Today's pieces sound like Tennesee haiku, if there is something like that. Well, If there's no such thing as that nothing could sound like it so it would have been better to have made sure before trying this simile. The thought appears circular in any case. >If I had my druthers... The use of such expressions in order to appear to be just plain folks is, I grant, widespread, but does this one really add anything to the simple declaration 'I'd like to see...'? (You don't need your druthers in order to _want_ to see someone do something.) Your readers here are not plain folks but distinguished intellectuals from all over the world: there is no need to feign modesty. >...but it was too small an hors d'oeuvre to satisfy my appetite. Hors d'oeuvres tend to be small, although I suppose that one could stuff oneself with them. They are meant to stimulate the appetite, not to satisfy it. >(I can't enjoy a tiny sip. I need to drink the whole bottle. I could easily be an alcoholic. You're not helping me get drunk.) 'Tiny sip' is redundant. Your drinking problems are of concern to your biographer, not the critic. -------------------------------------- Just kidding, Stan. It's Sunday. Robert Paul The Reed Institute ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html