Brookmyre pro, Brookmyre con
Pro:
I want to shake Christopher Brookmyre's hand for this, from A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away:
Brookmyre, the book's copy editor or both should have consulted a dictionary before letting the following go to press:
© Peter Rozovsky 2009
I want to shake Christopher Brookmyre's hand for this, from A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away:
"`They're already in briefings down there. Look, you've done a hell of a job. Lexington asked me to ...'Con:
"Angelique stopped listening when he slipped into autopatronise ..."
Brookmyre, the book's copy editor or both should have consulted a dictionary before letting the following go to press:
"Mitigating against that was the fact that they had comped him three grammes of uncut smack ... "The correct word is militating.
© Peter Rozovsky 2009
Labels: Christopher Brookmyre, comic crime fiction, miscellaneous, Scotland
posted by Peter Rozovsky at 4:49 PM
19 Comments:
You know, this is one of those words that still sounds right, even after you've learned it's wrong.
Oh--I forgot to say that I love 'autopatronize'.
It does, and mitigate for militate is a common mistake. I hope no one has the unmitigated gall to argue otherwise.
I once heard a professor at the University of Pennsylvania make this error. She may have had tenure, which meant it would have been difficult to fire her for this.
Yes, that word does a nice job of capturing the vacuous insincerity of inept managers. (Competent managers, of course, do a better job of faking it.)
Oops!
Have a wonderful holiday, Peter! :))
Many thanks,and no oops necessary.
Er, and happy Easter or spring solstice to you, and sorry for being late on the latter.
Here's a hint - the matza is in the bookcase. I'm not going to say where but its in a mystery novel (just to narrow it down).
Its all over for us of course. Next year in Jerusalem, maybe, although I doubt that.
I want to form a band called the Four Questions. Or maybe I'll form a solo act called the Son Who Hath Not the Capacity to Ask.
I don't know how much of a clue "hidden in a mystery novel" is. That's like Declan Burke looking for the afikoman in a Raymond Chandler novel.
True story: We have a reporter at my newspaper named Michael Matza. One night I had a question for him on one of his stories, but he was away from his desk. When he returned, I called him Afikoman -- because I had been unable to find him. He said he had never been called that before.
Peter
Afikoman nice! Five bucks each was the going rate last night BTW, which I think was pretty fair.
I want to know why there's not a pub on the upper west side called Bar Mitzvah.
And why not an establishment selling batting-cage time calling itself Bat Mitzvah?
That might draw in lots of girls' softball teams for off-season practice.
And Adrian, was that five Australian dollars? If so, I'd say you got a good deal.
five oz dollars yes. they dont know how to haggle. yet.
My nephews screwed up and told me where they hid the matzah. But they'll get their money anyway.
those crazy fools, you should have punished them by giving them nothing. its the only way they'll learn.
BTW I'm pretty relaxed about word misusage on the whole, but one that drives me insane is disintereted - being disinterested is a good thing I keep telling people to no avail.
Yeah, if I were negotiating to have a kidnap victim released, I'd want those guys across the table from me.
Are publishers and readers uninterested in misused word?
There was never any money involved in our matzah/afikomen related transactions when I was growing up. Not even in Australian dollars. I feel ripped off!
This year, alas, I'm mostly on my own, and it's rather hard to hide the stuff from myself.
I also like your nickname for your co-worker. I'm reminded of one of my father's worst puns from a while ago, relating to a Miss Marple tale - The Matzah Crack'd from Side to Side.
Ah, if I'd known, I'd have invited you to Canada for our seder -- a mitzvah, after all.
And I've heard worse puns than that, I'm sure.
Post a Comment
<< Home