« Head Hand Bag (Yael Mer) | Main | Coke Adds Life »
February 6, 2014
"He writes the worst English I have even encountered. "
It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it reminds me of tattered washing on the line;it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself out of the dark abysm (I was about to write abscess!) of pish, and crawls insanely up the topmost pinnacle of posh. It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash. But I grow lyrical. H. L. Mencken on Balder and Dash - Lapham’s Quarterly
Posted by gerardvanderleun at February 6, 2014 7:44 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
And all of those Americans are listening to Harding and not me!
Sucks to be a carnival barker watching the crowd head over to the other carnival barker's stand.
Metaphorically slapping people awake is one thing; metaphorically throwing acid into their faces is another thing altogether. Mencken was too bitter to be a good salesman; preening smugness is never attractive.
Posted by: Mikey NTH at February 6, 2014 7:34 PM
That piece could be about Obama.
And pretty much any other politician today, really. I suppose that was the era that it all began to go down hill.
Posted by: b moe at February 7, 2014 1:34 AM
Mikey: Mencken wouldn't be a pimple on Will Rogers' ass.
Posted by: chasmatic at February 7, 2014 6:35 AM