Comments on: I Get (More) Email

By: random_guy

random_guy — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 03:51:24 +0000

On the subject of language Stephen Fry expounds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7E-aoXLZGY&list=FL9jpoTtJc2YQ&index=4

By: JS

JS — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 14:20:30 +0000

I’m thinking of a new word for that kind of critic-how about assholistically?

By: Mannie

Mannie — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 14:11:53 +0000

There’s an old saw about arguing with editorialists:

Never get into a letter writing contest with someone who buys ink (or in this case, pixels) by the barrel.

In the case of Fantastical editorialists, even more so. :-)

By: homeboy

homeboy — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 05:25:47 +0000

@ #44, Big A

“I bet Radley would love to get whore-related hate mail.”

I know I would; I am tired of my incessant whoring going completely unnoticed.

By: Armed and Snarky

Armed and Snarky — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 05:10:00 +0000

Took like 1 second to Bing it. 8)

fan·tas·tic also fan·tas·ti·cal

adj.
1. Quaint or strange in form, conception, or appearance.
2.
a. Unrestrainedly fanciful; extravagant: fantastic hopes.
b. Bizarre, as in form or appearance; strange: fantastic attire; fantastic behavior.
c. Based on or existing only in fantasy; unreal: fantastic ideas about her own superiority.
3. Wonderful or superb; remarkable: a fantastic trip to Europe.
n.
An eccentric person.

By: JS

JS — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 02:13:25 +0000

Helmut “After a second look, I determined that the e-mailer was just a pretentious d-bag who hasn’t adjusted well to life off campus.”

That’s usually my excuse too.

By: Jim Wetzel

Jim Wetzel — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 01:32:33 +0000

Dear Mr. Balko,

Be advised that, by taking public note of the more foolish and/or abusive emails that you get, you’re placing temptation in my path. The temptation is to send you ever more over-the-top emails of attack or complaint, simply to see them reproduced in this-here corner of the internet. If you receive something lurid from “Ben Dover,” well … I’m not saying it’s me … and I’m not saying it’s not. “I’m just sayin’,” as the young folks like to say these days.

By: H. Rearden

H. Rearden — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 23:58:42 +0000

@23 -

Cyto I agree.
A fine example of prose.
Surely Bill approves.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 23:49:08 +0000

@ #6 Tolly
I love the idea that spambots are sending Radley insulting emails. It does beg the question “which side of the aisle to the spambots vote on?”.

By: Justthisguy

Justthisguy — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 23:41:32 +0000

Oh, these lines from a Michael Z. Williamson novel seem appropriate:

“Behind him, White screamed curses and emptied her weapon…. “I want all of you skinny little cocksucking illiterati to DIE!” she shrieked, punctuated by bursts that sounded very controlled.”"

By: Justthisguy

Justthisguy — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:56:07 +0000

I coined a word, once. It’s “genucrescent”, from the Latin for “knee” and “grow”.

E.g. : “Let’s get out of here! It’s entirely too genucrescent in this part of town!”

Oh, and no picking on the Aspies! Some of us are armed.

By: Shane

Shane — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 21:48:01 +0000

Can I tell him he is an idiot instead?

By: Fill

Fill — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 21:36:54 +0000

How do people manage to figure out email, but not google?

http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Radley

By: Medicine Man

Medicine Man — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 21:30:13 +0000

I’m not clear what has this guy steamed at you.

And “team red shirt” — I take it this guy has never watched Star Trek then.

By: marta

marta — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 20:54:40 +0000

#46 dorothy parker said, famously, writing well is the best revenge. also, it’s probably easier to resist the impulse to respond to idiocy when you can instead just publish it on your blog to a wide and adoring audience who will respond for you!

By: C. S. P. Schofield

C. S. P. Schofield — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 20:48:59 +0000

Unlike French, which actually has a panel of cultural elitist twits looking out for it, English pretty much operates on the “If enough people use it, it’s a word” protocol. Therefore I suggest that this twerp be encouraged to move to Paris, where he will become completely irrelevant (as opposed to now, when he is only largely irrelevant). As matters stand it is just remotely possible that somebody will take him seriously. In Paris, everybody from anywhere else in the World will ignore him because he is a Parisian, while the Parisians will ignore him because they only pay attention to themselves anyway.

By: Boyd Durkin

Boyd Durkin — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 20:31:30 +0000

Radley gets all the cool hate mail; most of mine falls into three categories:

1) Variations on “You’re a whore!”

I get the same and I don’t even have a job.

By: Helmut O' Hooligan

Helmut O' Hooligan — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 20:26:41 +0000

#51 Aresen: “You mean, after completing his PhD in Sociology, he’s now flipping burgers at Mickey Dee’s?”

Precisely. I once looked at moving to a well known college town and I heard that there were more than a few PhD’s driving cabs around there. It must be hard to spend eight years in a library or glued to your lap top and realize that, outside of academia, your career options are pretty much the same as when you started college.

By: Big A

Big A — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 19:32:28 +0000

In related news, I’ve been reading about a cognitive bias in which incompetent people truly do not understand how dumb they are and cannot be trained.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

By: George E

George E — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 19:30:06 +0000

The guy complains about Radley dropping a B from the front of his name, but he himself apparently dropped the e trailing the first word in grad school.