Style Weekly
Richmond's alternative for news, arts, culture and opinion
Rosie Right
Gettysburg Revisited
A friend has called Rosie's attention to a wonderful site on the Web. If you have access to the Internet take a moment to see how Abraham Lincoln's speech at Gettysburg might appear as a PowerPoint presentation. www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/making.html.
The takeoff begins:
"Good morning. Just a second while I get this connection to work. Do I press this button here? Function-F7? No, that's not right. Hmmm. Maybe I'll have to reboot. Hold on a minute. Um, my name is Abe Lincoln and I'm your president. While we're waiting, I want to thank Judge David Wills, chairman of the committee supervising the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery. It's great to be here, Dave, and you and the committee are doing a great job. Gee, sometimes this new technology does have glitches, but we couldn't live without it, could we? Oh — is it ready? OK, here we go: …"
The Web site was designed and posted by Peter Norvig who, according to his site, works for Google Inc. His farce is worth a visit if only to see the slides that Lincoln could have prepared with the advantage of our wonderful technology.
Another friend has asked Rosie to discuss the use of any more or anymore. Which should a careful writer use? This question was answered succinctly by Webster's Dictionary of English Usage. The editors tell us: "Both anymore and any more are found in current written use. Although usage prescribers disagree about which form to use … the one-word styling is the more common. Feel free to write it as two words, if you prefer.
Stylish Language: Kudos to The Virginian-Pilot's Dave Addis who seems to have invented a word to use in his column about the move to abolish the estate tax. Addis wrote:
"Curing a financial crisis by reducing your revenue is sort of like curing your credit-card debt by quitting your job. Call it Gilmoronomics if you like, with the emphasis on m-o-r-o-n.
Let Rosie hear from you by mail, Style Weekly, 1707 Summit Ave. Richmond, Va. 23230; by telephone, (804) 358-0825; or by e-mail, repps@styleweekly.com.
A friend has called Rosie's attention to a wonderful site on the Web. If you have access to the Internet take a moment to see how Abraham Lincoln's speech at Gettysburg might appear as a PowerPoint presentation. www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/making.html.
The takeoff begins:
"Good morning. Just a second while I get this connection to work. Do I press this button here? Function-F7? No, that's not right. Hmmm. Maybe I'll have to reboot. Hold on a minute. Um, my name is Abe Lincoln and I'm your president. While we're waiting, I want to thank Judge David Wills, chairman of the committee supervising the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery. It's great to be here, Dave, and you and the committee are doing a great job. Gee, sometimes this new technology does have glitches, but we couldn't live without it, could we? Oh — is it ready? OK, here we go: …"
The Web site was designed and posted by Peter Norvig who, according to his site, works for Google Inc. His farce is worth a visit if only to see the slides that Lincoln could have prepared with the advantage of our wonderful technology.
Another friend has asked Rosie to discuss the use of any more or anymore. Which should a careful writer use? This question was answered succinctly by Webster's Dictionary of English Usage. The editors tell us: "Both anymore and any more are found in current written use. Although usage prescribers disagree about which form to use … the one-word styling is the more common. Feel free to write it as two words, if you prefer.
Stylish Language: Kudos to The Virginian-Pilot's Dave Addis who seems to have invented a word to use in his column about the move to abolish the estate tax. Addis wrote:
"Curing a financial crisis by reducing your revenue is sort of like curing your credit-card debt by quitting your job. Call it Gilmoronomics if you like, with the emphasis on m-o-r-o-n.
Let Rosie hear from you by mail, Style Weekly, 1707 Summit Ave. Richmond, Va. 23230; by telephone, (804) 358-0825; or by e-mail, repps@styleweekly.com.
Other Publications
