“The genre of the sentence”

Verlyn Klinkenborg:

I’m interested in the genre of the sentence,
The genre that’s always overlooked.

Several Short Sentences About Writing (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012)

That’s more and more my interest in reading and writing. Artful sentences, please. Keep them coming.

Last week I was happy to see Several Short Sentences About Writing prominent in bookstores in Boston and New York. I suspect that the book is becoming a DIY manual for those who would write well. But does it get much classroom use? The book still does not appear in the listings of The Open Syllabus Project.

Related reading
All OCA Verlyn Klinkenborg posts (Pinboard)

[“Artful sentences”: from Virginia Tufte’s Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style (Graphics Press, 2006).]

“Penciled rain”

Maeve Brennan, “The Shadow of Kindness,” in The Springs of Affection: Stories of Dublin (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997).

Related reading
All OCA Maeve Brennan posts (Pinboard)

New directions in spelling, okay?

“Achomlishments.” “Intentially.”

A related post
Donald Trump’s spelling

[“Okay”: As in “I’m an extremely stable genius, okay?”]

Hatters

Sunny and 80°, so I put on a stingy-brim straw to go do some errands. As I enter one store, I notice a man wearing a straw fedora. As I enter a second store, I notice a man wearing a felt fedora. Hatters gonna hat.

“Like writing in the sky”

Maeve Brennan, “The Carpet with the Big Pink Roses on It,” in The Springs of Affection: Stories of Dublin (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997).

Related reading
All OCA Maeve Brennan posts (Pinboard)

“London particular”

In the opening minutes of The Divorce of Lady X (dir. Tim Whelan, 1938), two bobbies talk about the fog: “It’s pea soup, I’m afraid. The old London particular.” Wait a minute, wait a minute, thought I, I know that expression. It’s in Charles Dickens’s Bleak House (1853), courtesy of William Guppy, speaking to Esther Summerson:

He was very obliging, and as he handed me into a fly after superintending the removal of my boxes, I asked him whether there was a great fire anywhere? For the streets were so full of dense brown smoke that scarcely anything was to be seen.

“Oh, dear no, miss,” he said. “This is a London particular.”

I had never heard of such a thing.

“A fog, miss,” said the young gentleman.

“Oh, indeed!” said I.

The Oxford English Dictionary cites this passage as the first instance of London particular meaning “a dense fog affecting London.” What’s surprising to me is that London particular had an earlier, now obsolete, meaning: “a kind of Madeira imported through London.” As in “I uncorked a bottle of London particular” (1807). Dickens traded one particular for another, turning wine into fog.

Translation

Nancy Pelosi, earlier today: "I pray for the president of the United States."

Translation: “He's off his rocker.”

*

May 23: Kelly O’Donnell: “Are you concerned about the president’s well-being?” Nancy Pelosi: “I am.”

Q & non-A

CLIP: Complete exchange between Rep. Pressley and Secretary Carson.@SecretaryCarson: "Reclaiming my time."@RepPressley: "You don't get to do that."

Carson: "Oh."@RepMaxineWaters: "The time belongs to the gentle lady." pic.twitter.com/HFlS749tji

— CSPAN (@cspan) May 21, 2019

If I were still living in Brighton, Ayanna Pressley (D, Massachusetts-7) would be my representative.

Melitta Bentz

Our household has used Melitta coffee filters for years, but I never knew how they got their name. I think the story of Melitta Bentz (1873–1950) is a recent addition to the back of the box:

It was 1908 when a German housewife, Melitta Bentz, made coffee history. Tired of the bitterness and troublesome grounds in her daily brew, Melitta poked holes in the bottom of a brass cup and lined it with a sheet of her son’s blotting paper. She then filled the cup with ground coffee and poured in hot water, thereby creating the pour-over filtration system. The result . . . rich flavorful coffee without bitterness or mess. This innovation changed the way people worldwide make their coffee, becoming the precursor to modern day drip coffee brewing. Over 100 years later, Melitta remains dedicated to the pursuit of the perfect cup of coffee.

The company website has an illustrated history of its products. A Wikipedia article about Melitta Bentz notes that her grandchildren control the Melitta Group KG.

Related reading
All OCA coffee posts (Pinboard)

Willie Perdomo on writing letters

“Letters are where we argue, say goodbye, dream, fail, forgive, and tell our secrets, and send regrets. We can't filter our lives or curate our feeds in letters. Letters are where we attempt to tell the truth and wait”: the poet Willie Perdomo talks about the value of writing letters (PBS NewsHour).