AYENBITE OF INWIT

An essay on intellectual timidity in our culture, and specifically in our schools, by J. Mitchell Morse, a lover of language. From the December 1977 issue of The Underground Grammarian:

The Sin of Clumsiness

Here is an excerpt from the beginning of one of Morse's books, Prejudice and Literature (1979):

"In my first year of teaching English my freshmen wrote one of their themes in response to a story entitled “The Petrified Giant,” which had to do with a large rock formation so named and its psychological effects on the people who lived near it. One girl wrote, “This story doesn’t make sense because a giant is bigger and stronger than anybody so why would he be petrified.” When we went over her paper in my office I asked her, “What does ‘petrified’ mean?” “‘Scared,’ “ she said. “You know—petrified. Like when you’re petrified.” That was my first experience of a person who knew the metaphorical meaning of a word but not the literal meaning."

Also excellent is the fourth essay in that issue of the Daily Grammarian, which ridicules someone, penned by Dr. Richard Mitchell, the publisher of the newsletter. An excerpt:

"You may remember Yeldell, the first writer to be quoted and discussed in this journal. Not having heard from him in about a year, we did have some misgivings, but here he is again, obviously undamaged, offering an Intersession course which he describes thus:

'The course will examine the major symptoms that influence the presence of organized crime and the role of the legal system in organized crime control. Moreover, said course will identify the political, sociological, and economical characteristics that have an impact emphasize such vice crimes of an organized nature; Gambling, Prostitution, Drug Traffic, Pornography, etc.'

We were baffled at first by "major symptoms that influence the presence," but a few minutes with a dictionary suggested:

. . . the more important of various signs or tokens tending to modify or determine the nature of the discernible existence in a certain location or set of circumstances . . ."