Saturday, December 5, 2015

Really Quickies: I Must Be More Careful About Unintentional Juxtapositions

     First, thanks to all who’ve written and linked about yesterday’s tirade. It was a most satisfying piece to write, a cleansing of the mind and spirit uncannily like a really good...uh, never mind. However, I’ve been put on notice that it wasn’t...quite...perfect:

     Have Neomasculinists Rejected Manly Virtues?
     Needless to say, you’ll find no neomasculinists on the political Left. Among other things, they abhor confrontation for any reason. They have rejected the manly virtues...

     Yes, I meant that The Left abhors confrontation and has rejected the manly virtues, though it's possible to read that pair of sentences in exactly the opposite way. I've edited it, David. And thank you for the laugh at my own expense.

     (Sigh. At one time I thought clarity was one of my strengths.)

1 comment:

Weetabix said...

One could claim that the antecedent of your pronouns was the previous noun. Context, I think, made it clear.