On Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:28:26 -0700, Mephistopheles wrote
(in article <a976f45dvr787fhs16ip9omd76p2ln0d06@4ax.com>):
> About two years back, before he foreclosed on his Grand Mission here,
> I drew y not's attention to what to me was his irritatingly persistent
> confusion over two simple words: namely, LOOSE, & LOSE.
>
> "Loose" = not firmly or tightly fixed. ( a loose screw, a loose tooth)
> "Lose" = to mislay, be deprived of ( to lose a tooth is worse than a
> loose one)
>
> A loose cannon can be annoyingly unpredictable, but to lose a cannon
> far worse, especially if it finishes up in the hands of the Taliban.
> If you were reporting back on the War situation from the Front it's
> important to get these distinctions right.
>
> He graciously thanked me for pointing it out, but sadly I never saw
> any firm purpose of amendment. He continued in the error of his ways.
> And so time passed, & the children who were children grew up & bought
> motor cars & the leaves dropped from their parent branches & the snows
> fell in their flocculent exuberance. All seemed well with the world.
> And Mephi busy as always with good deeds everywhere forgot all about
> it....till today.
>
> In the thread "Who is this man?" you wrote(my Capitals):-
>
> " to offend you and the rest of the wolfpack and
> LOOSE you as a useless friend is more like it."
>
> (from your penultimate post, 3rd interpolation)
>
> So, on a whimsy, I re-read (oh, I am a glutton for punishment) the 2nd
> post in the same thread by your closet companion, who curiously
> slipped up on that fugitive word:-
>
> "Trolls never win arguments in the Fort..... They LOOSE just in acting
> like trolls, whatever the merits of their arguments."
> (from his penultimate paragraph)
>
> Now, mutatis mutandis, & to quote Oscar Wilde, "To lose one parent may
> be regarded as a misfortune, but to lose both looks like
> carelessness".....but 3 In such close proximity, & in the same
> thread.... Am I being too subtle here?
>
> Such confusion may, of course, be a widespread & legitimate
> Americanism. Or, as the Roman Pataculus observed:- "Emulation is the
> spur of wit, & sometimes envy, sometimes admiration, quickens our
> endeavours". In other words, friends idiosyncracies brush off against
> each other.........or......Shades of Gemstone?
>
> No, Mephi, no!
>
> Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
> The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
> Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
> The frumious Bandersnatch
>
> Well, as you can see, I am sorely discombobulated by it all, & apply
> to you for help in the hope that you can bring my research to a more
> satisfying & meaningful conclusion.
>
> Mephi
>
>
There are other malaprops. They are like a signature.
That and the totally lame 'sense of humor' and the pontification and the
disdain he cannot help but show. It is an unmistakable package. He is
virtually instantly recognizable and if there is even a scintilla of doubt,
one can push him into a full display with ease. He is nothing if not
predictable.
Interestingly as I have mentioned before we see little of that package in
other (e.g. Mac) groups. Although the lame sense of humor occasionally shows
itself.
There is no doubt though. Y-Not, Grant, Awake, High, Referee, Gemstone, and
who knows how many other personages are one and the same entity.
As to Doc's post, I believe, if he gives it some thought, he'll find that it
is self-contradictory. Either those folks are different or they are the same
and if they are the same and one treats them as though they are different
that borders on a kind of delusional thinking.
In any case, even if Y-Not has this assemblage of mannequins all talking to
one another, that does not oblige anyone else to take leave of his or her
senses and treat them as anything other than one and the same person. It is
as cosmos showed us, just a closet full of different faces to put onto the
same body.
Perhaps we may find that the inestimable Y-Not in addition to the long, long,
long list of his achievements has also mastered the art of ventriloquism.
Ventriloquists are not unlike psychologists, you know.
|
|