The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.
Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.
Knowing how things work is the basis for appreciation, and is thus a source of civilized delight.
When articulation is impossible, gesticulation comes to the rescue.
Never assume the obvious is true.
Stop worrying about the 'dumbing down' of our language by bloggers, tweeters, cableheads and MSM thumbsuckers engaged in a 'race to the bottom' of the page by little minds confined to little words.
Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care.
A book should have an intellectual shape and a heft that comes with dealing with a primary subject.
To be accused of 'channeling' is to be dismissed as a ventriloquist's live dummy, derogated at not having a mind of one's own.
I welcome new words, or old words used in new ways, provided the result is more precision, added color or greater expressiveness.
Do not be taken in by 'insiderisms.' Fledgling columnists, eager to impress readers with their grasp of journalistic jargon, are drawn to such arcane spellings as 'lede.' Where they lede, do not follow.
When I need to know the meaning of a word, I look it up in a dictionary.
The noun phrase straw man, now used as a compound adjective as in 'straw-man device, technique or issue,' was popularized in American culture by 'The Wizard of Oz.'
Cast aside any column about two subjects. It means the pundit chickened out on the hard decision about what to write about that day.
At a certain point, what people mean when they use a word becomes its meaning.
What do you call a co-worker these days? Neither teammate nor confederate will do, and partner is too legalistic. The answer brought from academia to the political world by Henry Kissinger and now bandied in the boardroom is colleague. It has a nice upper-egalitarian feel, related to the good fellowship of collegial.
Writers who used to show off their erudition no longer sing in the bare ruined choir of the media.
I think we all have a need to know what we do not need to know.
Today, war of necessity is used by critics of military action to describe unavoidable response to an attack like that on Pearl Harbor that led to our prompt, official declaration of war, while they characterize as unwise wars of choice the wars in Korea, Vietnam and the current war in Iraq.
I'm a right-wing pundit and have been for many years.
