On Sat, 11 Sep 2004 13:31:12 +0100, Andy Dingley
wrote:

On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 20:38:48 -0400, Tom Watson
wrote:

Strunk and White is God.

Not in England it isn't.

Yeah, youse guys is pretty much stuck with Fowler's. The closest we
have to that is the Chicago Manual of Style but it suffers from the
same disease as Fowler - a lack of wit.

I base this charge on the definition of a fairly good English stylist,
who said, "...brevity is the soul of wit..." and thus Fowle'sr (and
it's colonial cousin, The Chicago Manual) must be lacking in wit, as
they are obviously lacking in brevity.

The Elements of Style ( by messrs Strunk and White) on the other
hand, is brief to a fault and thus nearly faultless in it's wit.


(watson - who learned to love the spit infinitive by reading brother
fowler, back when it still might have mattered)




Regards,
Tom.

Thomas J.Watson - Cabinetmaker (ret.)
tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1