In a post recently, someone said they wanted to get in "the last word" as the thread became knotted with rejoinders. We all know people (contrary to popular belief, not only men) who absolutely MUST have "the last word" on every subject. It's a compulsion. There must be a word to describe these people. Does anyone know what it is? We are indebted to them here on AWADtalk because they are the life support system for many otherwise terminal threads. In the event that no-one can find a word which describes a person having a compulsive need to register "the last word" on every subject, I am proposing the word "Omegatist".
...otherwise terminal threads. How about "dead horse beater".
I actually® have a better one, but not for all the *virgin ears around here...
OK, I'll save the word *coinage for someone else, but I'd be happy to "set" it to music for us.
Dear Plutarch: Indeed there is a need for the word. We all have met more than one guy to whom it would apply, the kind of guy who would die of frustration on a visit to Echo Canyon. Your " omegatist" has "egotist" in it, which I like. The only problem is that the targets don't know "omega" is last letter in Greek alphabet. Just to show I tried, I thought of "ultimatist" but isn't as good as yours.
While looking in Internet for ideas, I ran across this put-down:
http://www.abc.net.au/classic/breakfast/months/CFM_bfast_June2001.htmSconser
A person who looks around
when talking to you, to see if
there's anyone more interesting
about.
Sconser
A person who looks around
when talking to you, to see if
there's anyone more interesting
about.
Yes, wwh. I have been "sconsed" a few times myself ... usually when I am doing my own "sconsing". Would you call this a "double sconse"? Have you noticed that "sconsors" are usually too busy "sconsing" to know that they are being being "sconsed"? BTW if a "target" doesn't know he's been targeted, at least initially, that's not such a bad thing. The best terms of derision are like those "bunker busters" they are using in Afghanistan. They squirrel their way in before they explode.
Speaking of solecisms, what do you call the practice of picking imaginary lint off the shoulder of a vicitim's suit in feigned concern for his appearance?
Dear Wordminstrel: I had a teacher who used to pick lint off us boys. So I took a spool of thread, passed end through eye of needle, passed needle through inside of breast pocket up to shoulder of my coat with the spool in breast pocket. Just as I knew she would, she picked up thread and pulled out a yard of thread. She nearly fainted, expecting to see my suit coal fall apart.
I had a teacher who used to pick lint off us boys. So I took a spool of thread ..... Just as I knew she would, she picked up thread and pulled out a yard of thread. She nearly fainted, expecting to see my suit coal fall apart.Get outta here! You did that! Genius. Pure Genius, wwh. Who can top this school boy prank? Anyone want to try? BTW,
you've been known to needle some of those same threads here in AWADtalk .
From a circa-1970's issue of Reader's Digest, Quotable Quotes (I remember this because my mom had it taped to the inside of the pantry door for a decade or two):
If you really want the last word in an argument, try saying "I guess you're right"
and guess what... it works! =)
and in reckless deviation from the subject at hand, i might as well share the quote which she had taped below that one, only because i think it's so wise (and could potentionally be put to use here in AWADtalk, in these volatile times):
"Never answer an angry word with an angry word... It's the second one that makes the quarrel"
Dear Plutarch: in the annals of AWADtalk, I have been patsy more often than perpetrator.
In the eighth grade, I had an English teacher(she was also my Home Ec teacher) who was so old and burnt out and boring, I would conceal a book in my lap and read for the full hour. One day, thinking to expose me for reading in class, she asked the question first and then called on me by name. Well, something intuitively alerted me and I was listening with 1 1/2 ears when she asked the question. I merely looked up from my book, answered the question correctly, and resumed reading. She never tried a stunt like that again and I was allowed to read at will. I also aced the class.
Lucky you! i tried the same in geometry.. i got called on to provide the area of a regular polygon.. and i looked up from i remember this well, i had just gotten permission that very day to read it, and was hell bent on reading non-stopValley of the Dolls, and had the answer in seconds.
the teacher was red faced with anger. he thought he was going to catch me out.. I ended up with a 90 on the regents (hot shot NY State-wide test) but he gave me a 75 as final grade.
in the annals of AWADtalk, I have been patsy more often than perpetrator.
I find that hard to believe, wwh. P.S. What do we call these lint pickers anyway? Some, like your teacher, collect lint balls, I suspect. But most pick away at imaginary lint in some sort of grooming ritual calculated to make the groomee more submissive.
Dear gymkhana: And I would rather lose an argument than lose a friend or make an enemy.
Dear moss: That teacher who picked lint always made it clear that it was a bit of affection, that she liked us, and I am now ashamed of having played the joke on her. I bitterly regret that I never found the occasion, nor made the necessary effort to thank the many teachers to whom I owed so much.
I bitterly regret that I never found the occasion, nor made the necessary effort to thank the many teachers to whom I owed so much.You're making up for it, wwm. You are an example for others to follow. Myself included.
I have been "sconsed" a few times myself ... usually when I am doing my own "sconsing". Would you call this a "double sconse"?
Order me a double scotch.
Hi, gk: Back in the days when I was a 'trainer', there was a concept used in Conflict Management courses called 'holding the snowball'.
Woah! Bad, naughty Guy Noble, lighting our sconser-shaped beacon but not telling the audience where it comes from.
'Sconser' is this sense was created by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd for their fount of new words, The Meaning of Liff. Before that it had been wasting its time being a British place-name.
The website quoting it is of ABC-FM (or ABC Classic FM as they now call it), Australia's equivalent of BBC Radio 3. The morning announcer, Guy Noble, is a pleasant and humorous chap (not unlike Humphrey Carpenter in a way, if you know him), who each morning reads out a peculiar word sent in by listeners. On Friday he combines them in a sentence.
How did I get the idea that a sconce was a drinking vessel of some kind used for toasts?
Bingley
ooh, I had not realised that sconce with a c comes in two flavo(u)rs, that make them incognate - tsuwm Has A Word For That
The only problem is that the targets don't know "omega" is last letter in Greek alphabet. I consulted a dictionary for all the meanings of "Omega", wwh. The primary meaning is the one you have indicated. But another meaning is: "the last of a series, the end". (Ref. Random House Webster's Unabridged, 2001). The last post on a thread is certainly "the last of a series", wwh. If MY post becomes the LAST post on this subject ("Omegatist"), will I then become the author of my own rebuke? A fitting end, perhaps.
Oh no, you don't, Plutarch! I'm a bigger omegatist than u are!!!!
I am too!!!!
Look, Wordminstrel. Why don't you go away and start your own thread. No-one's reading this thread anyway.
and the fourth commentator is the delteolgist?
I'm reading this thread. I am also known as "Consuelo, the giant thread killer" Seven with one post! So, watch it youse guys.
Now see what you've done, Wordminstrel! No-one was interested in having "the last word" until you showed up and now everyone's trying to get in on the act. Are you happy now?
Are you happy now?
Are you happy, Plutarch?
Are you happy, Plutarch?No!
No! Then I'm happy!
Dub-dub: alpha, beta, gamma, delta, ...
plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose ...
There, I knew it! You're not a genuine omegatist, Wordminstrel. You're more interested in depriving me of the last word than having the last word for yourself. This is just a control issue for you, Wordminstrel. That makes you an omegatrix, or maybe an omegarchist, but you are certainly NOT an omegatrist.
Apologies, WW. I misspelled what should have been "delt
iologist", which matches rather nicely with your "philatelist".
http://www.islandnet.com/~egbird/dict/d.htm
Having a great time. Wish you were here.
xoxox
-joe bfstplk
omega - 2. transf. a. The last of a series; the last word; the end or final development.
{color added}
In reply to:
And, come to think of it, why are deltas called deltas in the first place? The mud seems to slide out on three, not four sides. Why aren't they called "gammas"?
The original river delta was the Nile delta, which, especially if viewed from Max's orientation, looks like the Greek letter.
Bingley
You're more interested in depriving me of the last word than having the last word for yourself.
Hmmmm. I can see there is more to this compulsion than meets the eye.
I'll tell you what, Wordminstrel. If I can come up with a grander title for your affliction, will you leave me alone? You can become an Alphatar and blaze a new trail on your own thread.
Alphatar [thinking about it]. So what's my new diagnosis, Plutarch?
You are suffering from omegamania, Wordminstrel. That makes you an omegamaniac. You are a giant amongst omega pygmies.
omegamaniac!
Does that mean you will go away and leave "the last word" to me?
Does that mean you will go away and leave "the last word" to me?
What do you think.
Hey, you two! Get a room!
I wish I could find the quote where Emily says...
by Emily you mean Emily Dickenson? or my daughter.. (she has a tee shirt that labels her "Queen of the F***ing Universe..and who knows she might be right..) or some other emily?
Bingley wonders How he got the idea that a sconce was a drinking vessel of some kind used for toasts?
Beats me. I allus thought it was a wall mounted candle holder.
How did I get the idea that a sconce was a drinking vessel of some kind used for toasts?
Because ...
from a website with information on Oxford University:
During the meal, a student may be 'sconced' by another student over some point of honour. The challenged must stand on the bench and drink a yard of ale in one go. Having succeeded, he may immediately return the 'sconce' if he wishes. These days, rugby and rowing dinners are more often the excuse for multiple sconcing!
This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes, again...
-Jim Morrison (The Doors)
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes, again...
I feel like I'm being omegulated!
I feel like I'm being omegulated! You're just getting what you deserve, Wordminstrel.
To reiterate and expand on Keiva's suggestion:
Get a chat room.
This is a bulletin board.
The venomous ASp bites again.
the Doors would have been a good end Agreed.This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes, again...
-Jim Morrison (The Doors)
This sure as hell was a waste of time
Dear AnaStrophic. I agree with you. I have been doing my best to discourage these people. But they won't go away. Sometimes it is easier to start something than to stop it. Why don't we just ignore them? If no-one comes back, no-one will know if anyone had "the last word".
Dear plutarch: I enjoy your type of discouragement. Please amplify.
tsuwm quoted the final song of the Door's first album. Equally applicable is the equivalent in their second:
The music's over.
Turn out the lights.
The song is over, but the malady lingers on.
I enjoy your type of discouragement. Please amplify.
Its very difficult to discourage an omegatist, wwh. I'm not saying its impossible. Its just very difficult.
The song is over, but the malady lingers on.Dear wwh: I can't amplify on that definition. Perhaps we are not so "indebted" to these omegatists after all.
In reply to:
ooh, I had not realised that sconce with a c comes in two flavo(u)rs, that make them incognate - tsuwm Has A Word For That
sorry, mav. I seem to have *overlooked this one. cleave/cleave and sconce/sconce are pairs of homonyms (and homophones).
74 prior posts in this thread
30 by wordminstrel and plutarch (15 each)
i.e., 40% of the posts.
Take a hint, folks. Take any of several hints. You're evenly balanced; knock it off. You're spamming us.
(Post-edit: embarassing mis-statement of names corrected; thanks, dr. bill!)
"30 by wordsmith and plutarch (15 each)"
Dear Keiva: When WORDSMITH comes down from Olympus to post
that will be cause for celebration, not caustic comment.
The Greeks had a word for it:Clotho, Lachesis & Atropos, the Fates.. Clotho is a spinner, Lacheis a weaver, and Atropos the one who cuts the cloth.
Call for Atropos to cut the thread.
Fates, in Greek mythology, the three goddesses who determined human life and destiny. Known as Moirai in Greek and Parcae in Latin, the Fates apportioned to each person at birth a share of good and evil, although one might increase the evil by one's own folly. Portrayed in art and poetry as stern old women or as somber maidens, the goddesses were often thought of as weavers. Clotho, the Spinner, spun the thread of life; Lachesis, the Dispenser of Lots, decided its span and assigned a destiny to each person; and Atropos, the Inexorable, carried the dread shears that cut the thread of life at the appointed time. The decisions of the Fates could not be altered, even by the gods.
"Fates," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Dear Plutarch, You and me are clever people and clever people sometimes find associations where none exist...(mmm, what did I just say?)...anyway,yes,I am referring to your previous posts concerning "blovian" matters but those are not the case in this point, instead I ask...
(a) Don't you think there are already too many hurtfull words in our world without creating new ones?
(b) Just because you posed the opening question of this discussion you don't want to be called a "queryist" do you?
(c) Think about it, you don't want the sparse threads of this fine board to dangle endlessly without denoucement, do you?
(d) Can't we all just get along?
The answers to the questions above are yes,no,no,yes.
Ah Plutarch, I like to think that these wordthreads should be constructed as a programatic symphony by Richard Strauss- The Queryer introduces the theme by asking eternal questions of times and men. Then the Middling Folk bicker and snipe away at the hero and generally vary the theme without regard to propriety. Then comes the Closer, the Death Angel, the omegatist, who intergrates all themes into a wonderful soul-cleansing conclusion.
Yes Plutarch, we owe so much to these brilliant, hard-working, long-suffering fellow human beings who provide the "Last Word" to us slackers.
And now, since everything has been said that could be said, I would like to say Thank You from the bottom of my heart for you wonderful people for giving me, Milum, the last word.
[Warning] The curse of Calais will befall the writer of any post that appears benieght this post.XXX
even under the durance of the "curse of Calais" (what the feck is that??), I cannot let these dangling threads and golden needles stand.
You and me are clever people
not as clever as us might wish.
(b) Just because you posed the opening question of this discussion you don't want to be called a "queryist" do you?
(c) Think about it, you don't want the sparse threads of this fine board to dangle endlessly without denoucement, do you?
your answers to these [no,no] could be perceived as presumptuous, but this is probably mitigated by inclusion of the nonce-word "denoucement".
everything has been said that could be said
this, really, begs the question.
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! Let the curse of Calais fall where it may!
In reply to:
I followed you well till you hit begs the question....
Begs the question? Or: Raises the question.
this has been much discussed here in the past (ycliu);
suffice it to say: to beg the question = to take for
granted the matter in dispute, to assume without proof
If you really want the last word in an argument, try saying "I guess you're right"
and guess what... it works! =)
Not always. I know plenty of people who won't take "yes" for an answer...
Yes?
We have a surplus of omegatists, and a regrettable dearth of alphatists, who start posts the rest of us can reply to.
I'm a geek...
Elvis has left the building. Thank you and good night!
Elvis the Pelvis is gyrating somewhere to the screams of grisly groupies.
Nonsense. He's alive and well and living in obscurity in Juliet, GA. I've seen him! Or at least, a picture of him ...
Now wait one minute. Elvis lives in Kalamazoo. I know. Every day he comes in the downtown Walgreens and buys 4 Little Debbie Honey buns and a quart of OJ because "You gotta eat healthy, man."
We have a surplus of omegatists, and a regrettable dearth of alphatists, who start posts the rest of us can reply to.
Perhaps this is because the last wack at a driven nail is less risky than the first one, wwh. One wack too many only dents the board, unfortunate for the board and those who may appreciate the beauty of its grain, but a matter of no consequence to the heavy-handed pounder. On the other hand, the first wack at a nail calls for skill and some daring. If the hit is misguided, it is one's own thumb which suffers, not the board. Omegatists ruin a lot of good boards, wwh.
Old threads don't die, they just fade away.
The Last Word
Matthew Arnold
Creep into thy narrow bed,
Creep, and let no more be said!
Vain thy onset! all stands fast.
Thou thyself must break at last.
Let the long contention cease!
Geese are swans, and swans are geese.
Let them have it how they will!
Thou art tired: best be still.
They out-talked thee, hissed thee, tore thee?
Better men fared thus before thee;
Fired their ringing shot and passed,
Hotly charged - and sank at last.
Charge once more, then, and be dumb!
Let the victors, when they come,
When the forts of folly fall,
Find thy body by the wall!
Old threads don't die, they just fade away.
Old threads don't die, wwh, they become thread bare. Sometimes, they get old before their time, in which case they are thread barren.
The Last Word
Matthew Arnold
Creep into thy narrow bed,
Creep, and let no more be said!
Vain thy onset! all stands fast.
Thou thyself must break at last.
Let the long contention cease!
Geese are swans, and swans are geese.
Let them have it how they will!
Thou art tired: best be still.
They out-talked thee, hissed thee, tore thee?
Better men fared thus before thee;
Fired their ringing shot and passed,
Hotly charged - and sank at last.
Charge once more, then, and be dumb!
Let the victors, when they come,
When the forts of folly fall,
Find thy body by the wall!
Alas! Poor Plutarch!
they get old before their time
Case in point.
And what used to be darned, is now damned.
okay, that's it! this has gone to a second (2nd) page, and I, for one, am not going to open it any more.
what used to be darned, is now damned
Aut pax aut bellum aut macula damnata
But, tsuwm, if you go away, we'll have one less wise one to needle us!!!
WW (warp and woof)
okay, that's it! this has gone to a second (2nd) page, and I, for one, am not going to open it any more.morituri te salutamus I for one will miss u if you go, tsuwm. Your poetry selections are absolutely inspired.
I for one will miss u if you go, tsuwm.
Shame on you, Plutarch. You're just flattering tsuwm because he won't be around to read it.
You're just flattering tsuwm because he won't be around to read it.
One should never speak ill of the departed.
And what used to be darned, is now damned.
Darn the torpedoes. That was a depth charge, wwh. It took a while to sink in. You are a master of rhetorical ordinance. How many "wise men" can dance on the head of a needle, anyway?
How many "wise men" can dance on the head of a needle, anyway?
One fewer now that tsuwm is gone.
One fewer now that tsuwm is gone.
Do you suppose he will peek?
Do you suppose he will peek?
We are waiting with baited breath.
Gone, but not forgotten. Wanna bet he lurks?
we'll have one less wise one
That's OK, Dub Dub'. You'll still have a Fool.
And might I say it's nice to have Dr. Jeckyll and Igor back from his all too short hiatus.
we'll have one less wise one
We have many less wise ones.
In Tsuwmiam [I hope he would approve]
Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
[Fade to black]
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Dear plutarch: I am close to the adventure you mention, which will assuage, not provoke rage.
Okay, back when this thread as at 50, and people were fighting of who would be last, i encourged us to go on... after all, we were only half way to 100 (and since i have my preference set to 99-- it has just now gone to page 2-- but now that it has, i am with tsuwm. I might not get the last word in this post.. (alas i have else where!) but this will be my last word here!
have fun you guys!
Just to tease:
Cross-patch,
Draw the latch.
Sit by the fire and spin.
Take a cup, and drink it up
Then call the neighbors in.
never speak ill of the departed
And when they come back?
Which one's the ventriloquist and which one's the dummy?
Nihil nisi bonum.....Where in hell have you been?
Do you suppose he will peek?
We are waiting with baited breath.
Dear Wordminstrel: Forgive me for just noticing that you are back again, an occasion for rejoicing.
Forgive me also for teasing you, by asking with what you bait your breath? Besides an alluring smile?
never speak ill of the departed And when they come back?
Never speak ill at all, Faldage. We're just here for the fun of it. One tries to defend oneself when one is pilloried in a public posting, that is to be expected surely. There are gentler ways to dissuade than to disparage, don't you think? In any case, I miss tsuwm's poetic interventions. Tsuwm, Tsuwm, forgive poor Plutarch. Poor, imperfect Plutarch. Pluperfect Plutarch.
Forgive me also for teasing you, by asking with what you bait your breath? Colgate with bromide.
Dear Wordminstrel: On a Colgate University site, I found this: Seaweeds use vanadium bromoperoxidase, in the oxidation of bromide, as a defense mechanism against predators.
How much seaweed do you have to eat?
I went back and was not able to find out what value bromide would have associated with a toothpaste.
I found a site about aphthrous stomatitis, but the author was a real kook. I was involved in early dental fluoride programs fifty years ago. Sadly the same crowd of nuts that were against it then have been reincarnated and still using the same stupid sick arguments Let's not have a thread about that!.
I, like Tsuwm, choose to announce my intent to never post on this thread again. Furthermore I would like to urge all other members of good breeding to do the same. Let us each post on this thread our pledge never to post on this thread ever again. Unless, of course, someone posts something really stupid or some smart ass posts something just to have the last word.
Milum.
A link, a link, I do like a link!You hum it I'll play it http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/belvedere/226/carnival.htmI've just noticed this thread, so I decided to post to say that I will not post here. You are quite right, it is too long, far too long , far too ..., far ...
Furthermore I would like to urge all other members of good breeding to do the same. ...
Milum...
And what about members of poor breeding?
Seaweeds use vanadium bromoperoxidase, in the oxidation of bromide, as a defense mechanism against predators.
Your pith is only surpassed by your substance, wwh. Actually, I was thinking of methyl bromide.
To wit (from Google):
Methyl Bromide Challenge
There is no known single alternative fumigant, chemical, or other technology that can readily substitute for methyl bromide in efficacy, low cost, ease of use, wide availability, worker safety, and environmental safety below the ozone layer. Research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) indicates that multiple alternative control measures will be required to replace the many essential uses of methyl bromide.
"What, never? No, never. What, Never? Well, hardly ever."
Dear Wordminstrel: Baiting your breath with methyl chloride could swiftly abate your breathing.
I, like Tsuwm, choose to announce my intent to never post on this thread again. Furthermore I would like to urge all other members of good breeding to do the same.
You should have turned the other cheek, Plutarch.
Does anyone remember the name for the rhetorical device for saying what you are not going to say?
Does anyone remember the name for the rhetorical device for saying what you are not going to say?
Yes.
You should have turned the other cheek, Plutarch.
I guess I'm hanging by a thread here, Wordminstrel. But I am chastened by all this censure. I solemnly declare that I will never again [in this thread] return an insult with heart-felt praise. (I have a weakness for "The Doors" and sometimes it gets the better of me.)
Does anyone remember the name for the rhetorical device for saying what you are not going to say?
I don't know, wwh. But Shakespeare's Marc Anthony said it best: "We came to bury Caesar not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones. So let it be with Caesar."
"We came to bury Caesar not to praise him.
Nemo dat quod non habet. You can't paper over your ill-breeding by quoting Shakespeare, Plutarch. The devil can quote scripture, doncha know.
The devil can quote scripture
True. He can also quote "The Doors". Oops. I didn't mean to say that. Is that a cataphasis?
Dear Wordminstrel: Baiting your breath with methyl chloride could swiftly abate your breathing.It is not my breath I wish to abate, wwh. In any case, it seems to have worked.
Be not the first by whom the new is tried, not yet the last to lay the old aside.
I hear this is the place talibanned by people of "good breeding".
I can't wait to tell all my friends about it.
this is the song that never ends,
it just goes on and on, my friends.
some people started singing it
not knowing what it was
and they’ll continue singing it forever just because,
this is the song that never ends....
<repeat... and repeat... and...>
with thanks to tsuwm
He must've written this poem with this thread in mind!
THE SCREEN WITH THE FACE WITH THE VOICEby Ogden Nash
How long
Is a song?
O Lord,
How long?
A second?
A minute?
An hour?
A day?
A decade?
A cycle of Cathay?
Press the ears
With occlusive fingers;
The whining melody
Lingers, lingers;
The mouthing face
Will not be hid,
But leers at the eye
From the inner lid.
With the sure advance of ultimate doom
The moaning adenoids larger loom;
The seven-foot eyebrows fall and rise
In roguish rapture or sad surprise;
Eyeballs roll with fine emotion,
Like buoys rocked by a treacle ocean;
Tugged like the bell above the chapel,
Tosses the giant Adam's apple;
Oozes the voice from the magic screen,
A slow Niagra of Grenadine;
A frenzy of ripe orgiastic pain,
Niagra gurgling down the drain.
How long
Is a song?
O Lord,
How long?
As long as Loew,
And Keith,
And Albee;
It Was,
And Is,
And Always Shall Be.
This is the string Time may not sever,
This is the music that lasts forever,
This is the Womb,
This is the Tomb,
This is Alpha, Omega, and Oom!The eyes, the eyes shall follow you!
The throat, the throat shall swallow you!
Hygienic teeth shall wolf you!
And viscous voice engulf you!
The lolloping tongue itself answer your question!
The Adam's Apple dance at your ingestion!
And you shall never die, but live to nourish the bowels
Of deathless celluloid vowels.
© 1947 by Ogden Nash
(note: the italics are mine)
Does anyone remember the name for the rhetorical device for saying what you are not
going to say?
Faldage reply: Yes
Dear Faldage: Another example of the rhetorical device:
" I will not say you are lying, but I am unable to think of a more probable reason for not giving its name."
imagine how pleased I was to get the chance to post this somewhere
No-one ever accused me of having "good breeding", or "good manners" for that matter, but I know when I have met my match. tsuwm deserves to have "the last word".
I know when I have met my match
He does have the superior claim, wordminstrel. Qui melius probat, melius habet. It is gracious of you to concede defeat. I know how much it meant to you.