[NEohioPAL]Tony Brown

Mon Apr 16 12:00:04 PDT 2007

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Hey Tony,

  I always heard OK was from President Martin Van Buren who was from Kinnehook, NY and called Old Kinnehook who used to sign OK on his papers signalling he read them.

  Language can be so fun, which is why I love to read HL Mencken.

TONY BROWN <TBROWN at plaind.com> wrote:
  boy-howdy! did that column spark debate. good. that's my job.

anyway, two last (and i mean last, on my part) comments:

1. i don't doubt the health effects of smoking; i smoke on and off (mostly on the last couple of years), and i feel the effects when i do. i voted for the smoking ban, and the places i frequent that enforce it are more pleasant for it. but my point is: the issues raised in this debate are best left to playwrights, directors, designers, special effects people, and actors to decide, not lawyers and legislators and judges and (god forbid) our supremely informed voters. taking that artistic decision away from stage artists constitutes censorship, just as with nudity and obscenity. we cannot allow that to happen. if stage artists determine that the best way to portray a playwright's character is for the actor to smoke real cigarettes, then they should be free to do so, with perhaps some audience warnings if the space is such that the audience is going to breathe the smoke.

2. i mastered the art and science of the shift key a few years back. it's a long tradition in newspapers to write in all lowercase when what is being written is not intended to show up in the newspaper. we also misspell deliberately for the same reason. if you want to know the origin of "ok," it was born of newspaper-ese. some editor or other used to mark copy that was ready for the typesetters "oll korrect" -- the misspelling signaling to the typesetters that it ("oll korrect") was not to be set in type as part of the copy. it was eventually shortened to "ok."

anyway. thanks for the debate. it's extremely gratifying.

tony

>>> "D. Budin" 
4/16/2007 1:28 AM >>>
Actually, I don't have a strong opinion on the smoking-on-stage issue, but just a question for Tony Brown: So, do your editors at the PD put in all your upper case letters for you? (Or are you actually a cockroach, like Don Marquis's Archy, jumping from key to key and unable to hold down the shift key?)

David Budin

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<div>Hey Tony,</div>  <div> </div>  <div>I always heard OK was from President Martin Van Buren who was from Kinnehook, NY and called Old Kinnehook who used to sign OK on his papers signalling he read them.</div>  <div> </div>  <div>Language can be so fun, which is why I love to read HL Mencken.<BR><BR><B><I>TONY BROWN <TBROWN at plaind.com></I></B> wrote:</div>  <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">boy-howdy! did that column spark debate. good. that's my job.<BR><BR>anyway, two last (and i mean last, on my part) comments:<BR><BR>1. i don't doubt the health effects of smoking; i smoke on and off (mostly on the last couple of years), and i feel the effects when i do. i voted for the smoking ban, and the places i frequent that enforce it are more pleasant for it. but my point is: the issues raised in this debate are best left to playwrights, directors, designers, special effects people, and actors to
 decide, not lawyers and legislators and judges and (god forbid) our supremely informed voters. taking that artistic decision away from stage artists constitutes censorship, just as with nudity and obscenity. we cannot allow that to happen. if stage artists determine that the best way to portray a playwright's character is for the actor to smoke real cigarettes, then they should be free to do so, with perhaps some audience warnings if the space is such that the audience is going to breathe the smoke.<BR><BR>2. i mastered the art and science of the shift key a few years back. it's a long tradition in newspapers to write in all lowercase when what is being written is not intended to show up in the newspaper. we also misspell deliberately for the same reason. if you want to know the origin of "ok," it was born of newspaper-ese. some editor or other used to mark copy that was ready for the typesetters "oll korrect" -- the misspelling signaling to the typesetters that it ("oll
 korrect") was not to be set in type as part of the copy. it was eventually shortened to "ok."<BR><BR>anyway. thanks for the debate. it's extremely gratifying.<BR><BR>tony<BR><BR><BR><BR>>>> "D. Budin" <POPCYCLES at SBCGLOBAL.NET>4/16/2007 1:28 AM >>><BR>Actually, I don't have a strong opinion on the smoking-on-stage issue, but just a question for Tony Brown: So, do your editors at the PD put in all your upper case letters for you? (Or are you actually a cockroach, like Don Marquis's Archy, jumping from key to key and unable to hold down the shift key?)<BR><BR>David Budin<BR><BR>Sign up for FREE breaking news updates at cleveland.com/updates<BR>_____________________________________<BR>Support Neohiopal - learn how here: http://www.fredsternfeld.com/neohiopal.htm#support<BR>______________________________________<BR>Neohiopal is SELF-SERVE. If you need to unsubscribe, change from digest to one-at-a-time delivery or vice-versa, go on hiatus while out of town,
 switch from mime to plain text or vice-versa, etc. check out the FAQS at http://www.fredsternfeld.com.<BR>_______________________________________<BR>Disclaimer: The facts and/or opinions expressed in this message are solely those of the person in the "from" or "reply-to" header. The fact that this message is posted should in no way be taken as an endorsement by the administrator of this list. Subscribers should perform due diligence for all goods, services and activities promoted on NEohioPAL.<BR><BR>NEohioPAL mailing list<BR>NEohioPAL at lists.fredsternfeld.com<BR>http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><p> 

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