And for more on the Strunk and White centennary, see the Archive for Prescriptivist Poppycock at http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?cat=5
Herb
Herbert F. W. Stahlke, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of English
Ball State University
Muncie, IN 47306
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From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Scott Woods [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: May 12, 2009 1:23 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Strunk and White critique
Here's an interesting comment on Strunk and White.
An Essay on Criticism II
By Alexander Pope
'Tis hard to say, which promises more Loot:
Writing, or Telling others how to do’t.
The Author of a Thriller or Romance
Envisions Strings of Noughts in his Advance,
A Shot on Oprah, front-page Times Review,
Three-movie Deal, and Pad in Malibu.
The Language Critick must console himself
With Dreams of lasting Life upon the Shelf;
For Fame, tho’ most inconstant in her Favor
To USAGE BOOKS, routinely grants a Waiver.
Few Men the slightest Memory retain
Of Edna Ferber, Thomas B. Costain,
Ernest K. Gann, or others once the Rage
With Readers in the Eisenhower Age.
Yet Fortune even now bestows her Smile
On Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style,
Still teaching to new Dogs its antique Tricks,
At Amazon.com<http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-50th-Anniversary/dp/0205632645/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241903391&sr=8-4> Rank 206.
The RULES OF OLD, by Time and Custom tried,
Are English still, but English calcified.
Their Precepts exercise a stronger Sway
The greater their Remove from things we’d say;
Like Laws that fix the Holy Sacraments,
They weigh the more the less that they make Sense.
Thus th'Elements seems ever more of use
The more its Rules seem precious and abstruse.
On hearing “aggravate” for “irk,” evince
An inward Shudder and an outward Wince,
And for vague “contact us,” essay to write,
“Please email, phone, fax, tweet, or ping our Site.”
Eschew “the fact that” and its prolix Kith,
Until your ev'ry Sentence brims with Pith;
And amongst Cognoscenti, share a Wink,
When someone volunteers to "fix" the Sink
(The Meaning “to make firm” is still prefer'd
By us who know the Radix of the Word).
Of passive Sentences, bereft of Fizz,
Expurge your Prose (tho' few<http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1264> know<http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1242> what<http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=816> one<http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=574> is);
Say “They flog Books,” not “Books are flog'd by them”;
The first is butch, the second feebly femme.
The rest of Syntax needs but one Decree:
Put ev'ry Word where it is meant to be.
Such is the slim collection of Commands
We ardently press into Pupils' Hands,
Acclaimed and (inattentively) rever'd
As Meat on which all Writers should be rear'd.
Till now, to celebrate its Jubilee,
Its Publisher, with solemn Piety
Reissues it, liturgically drest,
Its Cover black, its Name in Gold imprest;
An Opuscule of obvious Allure,
But one th'apprentice Writer must abjure,
For even casebound and bedeckt with Bling,
A little GRAMMAR is a dang'rous thing.
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1421#more-1421
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