Actually, since I'm writing this blog myself, I fully intend to be its hero. Call it my prerogative.
Before I get into the matter of these pages, let me share two quandaries I've found myself confronting: the name for the blog, which had to be solved before getting this far, and--in a more arcane vein--whether to use the apostrophe with that word: "blog" is a shortened form of weblog, and as with "violincello," deserves an apostrophe to indicate the loss of meaningful parts of the word. Try it with me:
blog / 'blog
cello / 'cello.
cello / 'cello.
As a reformed copy editor who doesn't look forward to typing an apostrophe each time he uses the word, I will now make another vital decision: I will apostrophize the apostrophe . . . leave out the indicator that something has been left out. Now, some of you are thinking, "doesn't apostrophize have the meaning of speaking to an absent person, or an object incapable of sentience, and therefore response to the communication?" Well, yes, so for you few in the audience, here is a true apostrophe to satisfy your radicalism:
"Oh, apostrophe! Thou floating comma
of the typographer's fonts!
I will remove thee from the 'blog,
but not entirely from the blog . . .
you'll be welcome as my contractions come
(and help me birth this tract),
and with each possessive's selfish control,
you'll be right there as theirs
(but sadly, not so much they're)."
of the typographer's fonts!
I will remove thee from the 'blog,
but not entirely from the blog . . .
you'll be welcome as my contractions come
(and help me birth this tract),
and with each possessive's selfish control,
you'll be right there as theirs
(but sadly, not so much they're)."
