Dear C&B2:
"Cylinder" is not a verb.
Yours,
Magpie
The news that William Safire has died leaves me a bit wistful. On the one hand, his politics were execrable. On the other, his explorations of language both written and oral were erudite and entertaining, not to mention a reason to open the New York Times magazine every Sunday. And, though it was words for Spiro Agnew, you have to respect one who can pen such an ace archetype of alliteration as "nattering nabobs of negativism".
I do believe that he would have agreed that "cylinder" is not a verb.
28 September 2009
On Language
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9 comments:
Definitely not. But if enough people use it like one it will become recognized as one.
I'm guilty of constantly twisting language up for fun.
I think i'll uncylinder a bottle of wine in his honor tonight.
Right there with you on Safire. Excellent suggestion by meno.
Saffire, We'll miss your old school, dignified ways. You were a man who could disagree without getting nasty about it. And Maureen Dowd sought your advice. You can't be all bad.
I'll never look at the Sunday magazine the same way again. But then again that's what I thought after Eugene Maleska died.
I'm right there with meno too.
one of my favorite headlines from The Onion: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/31525
cylinderize? maybe?
I feel exactly the same. On both issues.
I believe the word they were looking for was "store." Wouldn't it be something if they hired someone who knows how to write when they need writing done?
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