Food: ‘Much Stronger Than Words’

“Dear Chico,

“Our correspondence is becoming increasingly strained and I can only attribute it to the curious and mystifying ways you have of answering your mail. In the past three weeks I have written you three times. In return you have sent me a package of cheese, a small barrel of herring and a smoked tongue.

 

“These are eloquent answers much stronger than words—but you must admit they are difficult to decode unless one has spent his early years as a delicatessen apprentice. What is this unholy terror you have for the written word? Were you once scared by a vowel or a consonant?” 

 

—Groucho Marx (1890-1977), comedian & actor, in letter to his brother, 1942. See "Words, in case you don't know, are beautiful,” Letters of Note, Sept. 2, 2021.

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: Petrified by a period? Hungrified by a hyphen?

 

 

PeezPIX 

The October issue of SENIOR NEWS is out. Online here.

 

 

 

 

 

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“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

 

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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