Harried or Employed
by Ann Bogle
Who is in charge of usage of prepositions in the "English" language—meaning the American language, development underway with its thirty words in spoken use among 600,000 to one million words dictionaried (-ied ending, adjective formed of a noun ending in y, z.B., harried OR enjoyed)—could it be Matt Bell? Do our published stories appear AT or IN or ON Internet journals? Are we using Internet journal to mean "not a website"? I distinguish print from Internet journals by listing publications as "in" and "at," respectively. Madison Smartt Bell's name was suggested in my tagging Matt, and Matt Potter's name was suggested as well. Whoah. Whoah is one of our thirty spoken words. AP Style, spell out zero to ten and numbers that begin sentences; Stephen Hastings-King, spell out numerals expressed as one word; Chicago Style, spell out numbers under 100. English was inflected with three genders until gender disappeared in a shift to pronouns. Now pronouns are disappearing. Thirty words is understatement rather than sarcasm. Dr. George Trail in his Orwellian applied rhetoric: Irony is written sarcasm. Sarcasm is spoken irony: the opposite of what is meant. Catholic irony in fiction seems deeper and more related to theme. Protestant irony starts with P as do other þing.
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Author's Note
Based on a notation I wrote at Fb around February 4, 2013.
Other stories by Ann Bogle
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"Irony is written sarcasm. Sarcasm is spoken irony, meaning: the opposite of what is meant. Catholic irony in fiction seems deeper and related more to theme. Protestant irony starts with a P as does page."
Yes, yes, yes. I like this piece, Ann. Nicely done. *
I have recently been put in charge of the English language (I have an official appointment letter signed by the President) but honestly I don't know what to do with this ... honor? burden? absurdity? Anyway, in my official capacity I declare: thiss iss gud.
RE is a story posted at, on, in the internet? I consider internet publicaitons sublimations, since they disappear without a trace as in sublimate. No messy paper to recycle or try to sell to used book stores.
Cool rumination.
Ann, you never cease to amaze me, whether an, in, or on...you are simply brilliant.
Fave.
Thank you so much, Sam, Marcus, Dan, and Robert. Experimental trying. Marcus, echt?
Wonderful questions and distinctions that left me pondering. Fave*
Oh, and good submission for Writing about Writing Group.
Thanks, Gloria.
gorgeous thoughts. Thanks for writing it down
Last word changed to þing
(rev., February 28, 2013)
Updated to include my study of gender in English and pronouns. 6/21/13