How to improve writing (no. 119)

From an article in The Washington Post this morning:

Former president Donald Trump mocked President Biden’s stutter at a campaign rally in Rome, Ga., on Saturday, the latest in a series of insults he has hurled at his rival but one that disability advocates regard as a demeaning form of bullying.

Only disability advocates see it that way? Better:

Former president Donald Trump mocked President Biden’s stutter at a campaign rally in Rome, Ga., on Saturday, the latest in a series of insults that decent human beings regard as bullying.

The oddest thing about the original sentence’s effort to be “objective” is that only one of the many people quoted in the article is known as an advocate for people with disabilities.

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March 12: Simpler:

Former president Donald Trump mocked President Biden’s stutter at a campaign rally in Rome, Ga., on Saturday, in yet another effort to demean his rival.

Related reading
All OCA How to improve writing posts (Pinboard)

[This post is no. 119 in a series dedicated to improving stray bits of public prose.]

Mystery actor

[Click for a much larger view.]

I didn’t know he was in the movie, but I recognized him, even with all the makeup, which makes me think that someone else will recognize him too. Leave your guess(es) in the comments. I’ll drop a hint if one’s needed.

*

A hint: He was successful in business, in both a big city and a small town.

*

Oh well. The answer is now in the comments.

More mystery actors (Collect them all)
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Domestic comedy

[Passing by storefronts.]

“Think of all the money we’ve saved on dry cleaning.”

Related reading
All OCA domestic comedy posts (Pinboard)

[That is, we’ve almost never needed it.]

Katie Britt is a dirty no-good rotten liar

Pass it on. Pass it on (Washington Post gift link).

A golden pig

[231 4th Avenue, Gowanus, Brooklyn, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a much larger view.]

I enjoyed an outstanding porketta sandwich last week, and it brought to mind somthing I hit upon a few months ago, a tax photograph of a Brooklyn pork store, Suino d’Oro. A little history:

In 1905, an “Italian provision store” that occupied this property had its stores of ham, cheese, and macaroni plundered by burglars. The culprits were later found fighting in a gutter over what had become of their loot: “What did y’ do with that cheese? Where’s all that ham that was left?”

In 1959, a newspaper advertisement has three Suino d’Oro addresses, none of them this one.

As late as 1980, a pork store with this name was sponsoring a local baseball team. There could be a connection. But some quick searching suggests that suino d’oro is common parlance in the world of pork.

Back to that sandwich: why porketta? Wkipedia explains:

In the Upper Midwest porchetta, more often spelled “porketta,” was also introduced by Italian immigrants to the iron ranges of Minnesota and Michigan. Porketta remains a popular local dish in towns such as Hibbing, Minnesota, with distributors such as Fraboni Sausage.

And whaddaya know? Fraboni’s, a third-generation Italian grocery and deli in Madison, Wisconsin, plays a part in the story of our restaurateurs.

Now about that sandwich: it’s Italian pork roast, salsa verde, provolone, spinach, and banana peppers on focaccia.

[Click for a larger view.]

Today, no. 231 is an apartment building encased in scaffolding. Brooklyn Newsstand helped me add some yesterday to this post.

Related reading
More photographs from the NYC Municipal Archives (Pinboard)

Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper, by Matthew Sewell, is one angry puzzle: 4-D, seven letters, “More than sore”; 10-A, three letters, “Expression of hate”; 40-D, seven letters, “More-than-sore manifestation.” Yow. But I didn’t mind. I thought this Sewell puzzle was swell. I did so well. The clue that got things going for me: 6-D, eight letters, “When Troy was founded.”

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

4-D, four letters, “Group advocating for ministries.” Didn’t fool me.

5-D, six letters, “Bluetooth or flash drive.” I had no idea that Bluetooth may be had in this form.

9-D, eight letters, “Fall event promoting mustache-growing.” I had to dig for this one. I’m long done with the growing season.

13-A, five letters, “3-D, e.g.” Delightfully Stumper-y.

16-A, fifteen letters, “Stand in time.” I started thinking about Proust. Not appropriate here. Time is on the move.

17-D, four letters, “WITCH PARKING ONLY, ALL OTHERS WILL BE ______.” A little levity.

20-A, six letters, “Spade accessory.” Didn’t fool me.

23-A, four letters, “‘I love you.’” A bit hilarious.

27-A, six letters, “Timbuktu’s country’s capital.” It pays to listen to a lot of music.

43-A, eight letters, “Bag handler.” Nice defamiliarization.

45-D, six letters, “Ring of Pluto.” This answer made me happy.

54-A, letters, “‘Trust me for now.’” Movie-esque.

My favorite in this puzzle: 35-A, seven letters, “Extra ambition.”

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

PBS priorities, good grief

When the PBS NewsHour panel began its analysis of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address last night, the first question Geoff Bennett put to Lisa Desjardins, reporting from the House chamber was not about what the president said. It was about the interruptions:

“Lisa, from your perch there, give us a sense of what you saw, especially some of the outbursts we heard throughout the evening.”

Yes, the outbursts, the interruptions, from Marge Greene, an unidentified member of Congress, and an audience member.

And speaking of interruptions, the PBS discussion that followed the Republican response was cut short at 9:59 Central with a promo for yet another pledge-drive spectacular, American Pop Flashback! Great Hits of the ’60s & ’70s, followed by an hour-long show about aging backwards. Priorities, good grief.

Keyword: all

I liked these sentences from the end of the State of the Union address best: “Above all, I see a future for all Americans. I see a country for all Americans. And I will always be president for all Americans, because I believe in America.”

[My transcription.]

Recently updated

Word of the day: lukewarm Now with its own faucet.

John McWhorter on prepositions

John McWhorter in The New York Times, stating what ought to be obvious: “The ‘Rule’ Against Ending Sentences With Prepositions Has Always Been Silly.” From Garner’s Modern English Usage :

The spurious rule about not ending sentences with prepositions is a remnant of Latin grammar, in which a preposition was the one word that a writer could not end a sentence with. But Latin grammar should never straitjacket English grammar. If the superstition is a “rule” at all, it is a rule of rhetoric and not of grammar, the idea being to end sentences with strong words that drive a point home.... That principle is sound, of course, but not to the extent of meriting lockstep adherence or flouting established idiom.

And:

Good writers don’t hesitate to end their sentences with prepositions if doing so results in phrasing that seems natural.

Bryan Garner cites a dozen writers on language, from 1936 to 2003, all of whom approve of ending a sentence with a preposition. And he adds nine examples from writers who so ended sentences. Notice too the first sentence in the passage I’ve quoted.

Even stranger is a bogus rule, which Garner doesn’t mention, against ending a sentence with the word it. A student once asked me about that one, which I’d never heard of. I tracked down its origin: Ending a sentence with it.

[That post gets visits daily.]