Slog: News & Arts

RSS icon Comments on Nightstand, 2002-2007

1

No doubt he is a better book critic than someone -- a newspaper editor, no less! -- who writes the grammatically incorrect, "long since proven himself a better book critic than me."

Ugh.

Posted by Tony | November 21, 2007 5:06 PM
2

Yes, Tony, thank you. My comment exactly. "better...than me" -- fingernails on the blackboard. I guess one of the perils of such blogs, even at a regular print publication, is No Editors, no grown-ups

Posted by Perfect Voter | November 21, 2007 5:15 PM
3

Guys, guys—this is just a blog. At 5:18 the night before Thanksgiving. Relax.

Posted by Papillon | November 21, 2007 5:19 PM
4

NOOOOOO!!!!

Oh, wait, I never read it.

never mind.

Posted by Will in Seattle | November 21, 2007 5:46 PM
5

papillon: yeah, youre right. i heard that the night before thanksgiving causes people to use crap grammar. something in the air.

Posted by conor | November 21, 2007 6:02 PM
6

30% of all books are sold in airport bookstores? For real? I'm truly surprised.

I've been an avid reader all my life. I'm in my mid-40s, and I read dozens of books every year. I'm an occasional traveler; usually at least one round trip flight a year, sometimes more. I always read on planes and sitting around in airports, because what else is there to do.

I have never in my life bought a book at an airport bookstore. Ever. Not once.

I routinely carry 3 books with me when travelling. Whatever I'm reading at the time, and 2 more to carry me through the trip. I can't imagine being so unprepared as to arrive at an airport with nothing to read, and being stuck with the meager selection of top sellers pushed at airport bookstores.

One of my favorite places in the whole wide world is Powells Books in Portland, where I will be making a pilgrimage this weekend. For those of you who've never been, it covers an entire city block, and is 4 or 5 stories high. They claim to stock 1,000,000 books. After that, I can't imagine the pain of an airport bookstore.

Posted by SDA in SEA | November 21, 2007 6:16 PM
7

Hm, was this "decided not to write a goodbye column" column, equivalent to, say, "a non-denial denial"? Or maybe a Dan Savage commentary entitled "Offered Without Comment"?

Just checking.

Posted by COMTE | November 21, 2007 6:34 PM
8

Well, Christopher, it is not like you ever write anyway. And since you do not read much.....what are you doing at the Stranger anyway???

Posted by Hmmmm | November 21, 2007 6:53 PM
9

I read it, I'll miss it, thanks for writing it.

Posted by MLeaver | November 21, 2007 6:54 PM
10

The real tragedy is the demise of A. Birch Steen's column.

Posted by Trevor | November 21, 2007 6:54 PM
11

About the grammar issue: I'm stupid enough about the English language that I didn't even get what the issue was till I thought about it for a minute. However, I believe that to most nature English speakers "than me" sounds more natural than "than I." To me, "than I" sounds stuffy. Does that make "than me" proper English? Maybe not, but all languages are in a constant state of change. Ever hear of Old English? I seem to remember reading in a grammar guide that it is now acceptable to use "their" as a gender neutral singular pronoun. Why the hell not?

Posted by Peter | November 21, 2007 7:07 PM
12

You guys, I'm usually a bigger grammar nazi than our copy editors, but is this perhaps an exception to the rule?

The reason "than me" is usually wrong is because you're usually contrasting subjects (e.g., "He is taller than I [am]"). But in this case, Paul has proven himself a better writer than [I've proven] myself [to be]. If anything, it seems like Christopher should have used "myself," not "I." But "me" at least has the virtue of being the corresponding part of speech.

In any case, this is a blog, and colloquial idoms may be more appropriate than grammatically correct constructions. So lay off, alright?

Just kidding. I would never let anyone use "alright."

Posted by annie | November 21, 2007 7:45 PM
13

idoms?

Et tu, Annie?

Posted by oye como va | November 21, 2007 8:38 PM
14

You know, he is a better writer than me. Me is an object, I is a subject. The subject of the sentence is "he," right?

People think I is correct in such situations only because they remember being corrected when they say "Me and Johnny want to go to the store."

My favorite version of this was when Sean Nelson, junior Weekly staffer, witnessed David Brewster looking at photographs to run with a story on the Mariners. Shown the one depicting Edgar Martinez, Brewster agrammatically said, "Oh, is that he?" I wish Sean had had the presence of mind to say, "No, that's him."

Posted by Eric F | November 21, 2007 10:00 PM
15

@12 and 14. "Myself" is a reflexive and is not used unless preceded in the sentence by "I" or the equivalent. And no, hypothesizing an "I've proven" in brackets doesn't count. As 12 notes, the missing word at the end of the sentence in the Slog post is "am" -- "...better than I [am]."

And Eric F! Geez. Grammar 101 please: The object of the To Be verb is always the nominative case. Is that he? It is I. When somebody calls me on the phone and asks for Fred, I say "I am he."

I hear that our high schools and even some colleges are turning out graduates ignorant in our national language. Just more confirmations here tonight, sigh.

Posted by Perfect Voter | November 21, 2007 10:20 PM
16

Gosh, Perfect Voter, I think you're probably right. I just summoned that great Shakespeare, "Faith, her privates we."

Until you get to "our national language." What school taught you that bunkum? The US has no national language.

Posted by Eric F | November 21, 2007 10:26 PM
17

Thanks for the heads-up, Eric. I was using the term national language somewhat loosely. "Our common language" better conveys my point anyway.

Posted by Perfect Voter | November 21, 2007 10:49 PM
18

forget the grammar wars... i'm more interested in that statistic of 30% of all books being bought in airports. You do know what they sell in airports... and a lot of folks buy that shit, but in airports? They buy them at Costco, Target, etc.

Posted by M | November 21, 2007 11:10 PM
19

I don't know how to read.

Posted by Cale | November 21, 2007 11:34 PM
20

Checking out airport bookstores is a great way to get a quick read on local culture. Not surprisingly, book selections at most US airports sucks beyond belief (does Hudson's run almost all US airport book concessions?).

But, the Melbourne (AUS) airport bookstore is quite good. And Schiphol has an incredibly eclectic selection of books.

Key difference seems to be that at US airports you will only find English language and lowest common denominator, while at many foreign airports you'll find a variety of languages and out of the mainstream literature.

Posted by gnossos | November 22, 2007 12:03 AM
21

#20... why is this not surprising? Look at the NYT bestseller list... but we're supposed to be glad people are reading anything at all these days, I'm told.

Posted by M | November 22, 2007 12:39 AM
22

Paint yo' fuckin' wagon red, bitches! It's Thaaaanksgiving!!

Posted by Mr. Poe | November 22, 2007 6:34 AM
23


At Milwaukee's Billy Mitchell Field, there is a branch of Renaissance books- a used bookstore. Whenever I fly to MIlwaukee to buy suits at Johnny Walker's Mens Shop, I always browse and buy books there.

Posted by Ries Niemi | November 22, 2007 7:41 AM
24

Enough of the prescriptivist crap already. Stunk and White are dead, you know. Dead. Dead. Dead.

Eat shoots, and leave.

Posted by QuimbyMcF | November 22, 2007 8:37 AM
25

Uh, @24, that should have been "Strunk." You should be ashamed. Although, stunk is what he did.

Posted by QuimbyMcF | November 22, 2007 8:40 AM
26

Dear Eric F: Since you LOVE to correct my spelling, let me correct you for once. You're wrong. Straight up, 100 percent in error. Small error and not one I care about, but if you're going to go on and on about it, think it through.

"X is a better writer than me." Follow that sentence to its conclusion. "X is a better writer than me am." Obviously not but ok now due to the volume of usage.

Christopher. I love your writing, your originality and your choices. Most of them. Always read you. Always. Hope you keep writing now that you're a key part of running the joint. Dan certainly did. Regina

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27

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28

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