A column in The Washington Post says, “Stop calling it ‘meddling.’” I’m there. Or was there and am there. Here’s a post from February 2018: Needed: a word other than meddle.
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Michael Leddy“Orange Crate Art” is a song by Van Dyke Parks and the title of a 1995 album by Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson. “Orange Crate Art” is for me one of the great American songs: “Orange crate art was a place to start.”
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Nancy, October 19, 1950.
“Who are we as a country?”
Michael Leddy
Don’t look for premiums or
coupons, as the cost of
the thoughts blended in
ORANGE CRATE ART pro-
hibits the use of them.
Comments are welcome, appended to posts or by e-mail. I moderate comments to keep out spam, so please be patient.
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Nos plus grandes craintes, comme nos plus grandes espérances, ne sont pas au-dessus de nos forces, et nous pouvons finir par dominer les unes et réaliser les autres. [Our worst fears, like our greatest hopes, are not outside our powers, and we can come in the end to triumph over the former and to achieve the latter.]
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Surely, in the light of history, it is more intelligent to hope rather than to fear, to try rather than not to try.
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Nancy, October 19, 1950.
comments: 4
Well, the Post piece is all well and good, but we already have a perfectly serviceable term with an ancient and hoary provenance. Submitted for your approval:
Ratfucking.
I realize the Gray Lady is no fan of the barnyard epithet, and the Post, while somewhat less demure, is disinclined to shock its readers as well; but I think we're beyond clutching our pearls over such things at this point.
Use it in a sentence? Okay:
"The Russians ratfucked our electoral process, whether with or without overt collusion from the Trump campaign."
“Russian ratfucking” has a nice alliterative ring.
No offense to individual Russians or rats.
Meddling is what the nosy but harmless neighbor (think Gladys Kravitz) does. “Corrupting” seems much more appropriate here.
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