Meanwhile, back at the ranch
There’s a lot of catching up to do in the realm of blogging on language and journalism.
David Sullivan, my eminent colleague at The Philadelphia Inquirer, continues his fascinating exploration of the connections between urban newspapers and urban department stores, in their prosperity and their decline. He’s sharp, he’s thoughtful, and he’s not in it for mere nostalgia.
I think that if he could work in the decline of the mainline churches (that being another of my allegiances to faltering institutions), he would have a comprehensive sociological analysis.
Craig Lancaster, another valued colleague from the American Copy Editors Society, has begun a blog, Watch Yer Language, much of it devoted to fine points of editing. For a sample, look at his sensible post on why none can be used in either singular or plural senses.
In the 300-plus posts on this blog, I’ve somehow omitted Patricia O’Connor’s excellent Grammarphobia Blog, which answers readers’ questions about language and usage with solid research and sound advice.
Stepping aside from linguistic subjects for a moment: I always find Jay Hancock’s comments on business refreshing. He writes with clarity and penetration, and with a mind remarkably clear of cant. This week his column explored an interesting proposition, that tolerant and diverse societies tend to be more prosperous than intolerant and narrowly homogeneous ones, and that therefore approval of gay marriage would have advantages for the state.
Now there’s a subject that would be interesting to explore and test.
Instead, we see the comments from readers that he has subsequently posted on his blog (here and here). Some of them are merely abusive in a tiresomely ad hominem manner, and others merely parrot the slogans and cliches that substitute for public discourse. (Those fall-of-the-Roman-Empire people might take a moment to consider how Rome fatally attempted to extend its military power beyond its capacity, not that I suggest drawing any contemporary parallels.) The opposing comments appended to the column itself are of similar flavor.
