Thanks to all. I can only apologize that the chickens are not more contrary in
their views. Maybe my brief break from them will have some effect?
David Ritchie,
London.
Sent from my iPad
On Dec 1, 2015, at 2:28 PM, John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
David,
I, too, enjoy your chickens. My problem is that I rarely feel moved to
respond beyond the level of "Another great piece!" Why? I suspect that these
pieces rarely, if ever, offer anything to disagree with.
John
Sent from my iPad
On Dec 1, 2015, at 2:06 PM, Lawrence Helm <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
David,
I read a review, probably in the NYROB about the Inklings and at one time C.
S. Lewis wrote some reviews of JRR Tolkein's writings, or maybe just the
Hobbit that attempted to define or explain Tolkein's work. He seemed to be
thinking that Tolkein needed to be explained. Of course now most of us
would rate or value Tolkein higher than Lewis. Tolkein, I read elsewhere
seemed to immerse himself so much in "Middle Earth" that one might think he
preferred to live there. That always struck me as a valuable thing for a
writer to be able to do.
In case of the society of your chickens I suppose we would think of
Chaucer's Nun Priest's Tale and "Chanticleer." And there have been many
fables -- I'm sure Esperanza could think of more than I could, and
Borges wrote that when his father explained how the tortoise could defeat
the hare it was extremely memorable. Orwell's Animal Farm also comes to
mind.
For me, coming sad and drear from one of my poems it is difficult to shift
to your clever and witty fables, but I was never ever annoyed. I promise.
Lawrence, who lives with Ben and Duffy both of whom are smarter than one
might think
On 11/30/2015 8:24 PM, david ritchie wrote:
People are quiet when I post my contributions. These do appear often, the
contribs. Not the responses. I do hope I have not become annoying. As one
ages—let the record show that I have not become really serious about that
particular project yet— such issues become harder to assess. Of course
the list is largely composed of old fogies, so why worry?
To business. I have recently wondered whether a history of the word
“savvy” would be a good subject to investigate. It seems to me the epitome
of an Englishman lost in foreign parts and assuming that if the French are
foreign, all else must be similarly foreign. How often have we seen in
imperial movies the young soldier asking, “Savvy?” From savoir. And then
comes the twist. The exclamation of a lost soul, “savvy,” becomes, “he or
she understands and is fluent in what I regard to be foreign.”
That person is “savvy” in computers.
Surely this is a topic for those who are savvy in phil and lit?
David Ritchie,
who finally defeated “auto-correct” in
Portland,
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