Monday, August 16, 2010

Let's go to the videotape on that!

Today's quiz: How did you read "Major ____ de Coverly" when Catch-22 first swam into your ken?

Being, oh, 14 or 15 at the time, I saw and (mentally) heard "Major F*cking de Coverly." I have no idea if that's what the author intended, but that seemed (and still seems) to reflect basic common sense about Those Naughty Words: They go where the f*cking blank space is, not somewhere else.

Thus one can only hope that the tender eyes of the children and horses were averted when Coach Ryan took to the practice field for the events that produced this column.


The online hed makes perfect sense:

Rex Ryan is the bleeping King of the NFL

... given that that seems to be how the guy talks:

"It's about leading the league in [bleeping] wins. If we play our best, we will beat every [bleeping] team in this league playing at their best."

"Calls it the way he (bleeping) sees it" would work too. (Don't tell me it won't fit; whatever random set of crayons you're using for the flag, you can fit another line in this one.) But no amount of good intentions can make the 1A reefer say anything other than what it says. So here again is a favorite refrain for hed writers: I can't sit at the kitchen table and tell what you meant, but I've got a really, really good idea of what you said.

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2 Comments:

Blogger John Cowan said...

I read it Roger, of course.

10:48 AM, August 16, 2010  
Blogger Jan said...

Roger that -- but so many years later, I can't swear to whether I made the acquaintance of Sir Roger (or the dance) before or after I read "Catch-22."

10:00 PM, August 16, 2010  

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