Letter to the Editor

Today’s WORD on Journalism

Year 26 — Afflicting the comfortable since 1995

Tuesday, May 11, 2021 • See TedsWORD online.

“Would you convey my compliments to the purist who reads your proofs and tell him or her that I write in a sort of broken-down patois which is something like the way a Swiss waiter talks, and that when I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will stay split, and when I interrupt the velvety smoothness of my more or less literate syntax with a few sudden words of barroom vernacular, this is done with the eyes wide open and the mind relaxed but attentive. The method may not be perfect, but it is all I have. I think your proofreader is kindly attempting to steady me on my feet, but much as I appreciate the solicitude, I am really able to steer a fairly clear course, provided I get both sidewalks and the street between.”

—Raymond Chandler (1888-1959), Letter to the editor of The Atlantic Monthly, Jan. 18, 1947. | Letters of Note (Vol. 1)

 

 

• Editorial Comment: The editor is appropriately chastened. 

 

 

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Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism