THE ROBERT W. WHITAKER ARCHIVE

A BUCKLEY BIRTHDAY | 2006-07-17

It is not an accident that the founder of the respectable conservatism industry is known for finding and using words no one hears of otherwise. William Buckley is the king of obscure words. He was the last in the foxhole of using untranslated French.

Since they have everything they are supposed to have materially, the Buckley have a special birthday present for each other. Instead of giving each other a gift, they give each other a word. The dig around and find some obscure but, according to the dictionary, vaild word, and spring it on each other for thier birthdays. You will never find a Buckley pounding away at the simple fact that what their opponent is sayingis just what he said forty years ago and it was a disaster then and it is a disaster now.

No, sir! They will trade obscure words with pretentious morons so that by now you simply can't tell the difference between them and any OTHER pretentious moron. Oddly enough, they are just the people our media have made the Official Other Side. I have the dubious honor of having made THREE Buckley brothers wince at the very mention of my name.

As Joe says, I am merely a repetitious redneck. I find what pases for public discussion to be mind-numbing as well as destructive. All three Buckleys would rush to agree with Joe.

I do not think this is the sort of approval Joe relishes.

Therre are many things I would LIKE to discuss which is not in the daily ken of hte average Southern redneck or shanty Irishman. But I find the Rebel and the Mick a distinct relief from the bablle of what Joe considers my intellectual betters. What micks and rednecks say VARIES. What paid commenters say NEVER varies.

I don't LIKE this.

As I said, in the midst of an epidemic of pneumonia Joe might get upset about those doctors saying "pneumonia, pneumonia, pneumonia, pneumonia" over and over and over again. Joe might say it shows they know don't know about anything but pneumonia. What happened to the old-fashioned doctors who talked about flue or little-known viruses? All they talk about is the one disease that happens to be a pandemic right now. They're a bunch of ignorant hicks.

Sorry, Joe, but a good doctor is not going to be swayed in the least by your outrage. If it's psnumonia again, he will keep calling it pneumonia, pneumonia, pneumonia until the whips it. That doctor would infinitely rather be discussing rare viruses. But not until he stops the pandemic.

I would infintely rather that this pandemic end. I would infitely rather be discussing something besides silly ass says horrible sillyass things that are obviously a social disease and covers it with a veneer of sophisitication. Until this fifty year pandemic ends, I will not call it anything but what it is.

The Buckleys with their dictionaries are an integral part of this pandemic. As long as the pandemic is the same disease, I will not help them try to pretend it is something else.

I am very happy for you and the Buckley to see me as a redneck. It means I am not one of them. It means that, as long as there are people are like me, there is hope.

COMMENTS (5)

#1 mderpelding | 2006-07-17 19:51

Does this mean I can't use the word "hubris" in a sentence?

How about schadenfreude ?

I think I got that last word wrong.

Sort of a verbal "shock and awe" thing.

If I can use big words, my ideas must be better.

I have the same problem, a love for my own vocabulary.

If I can't put my ideas clearly, how can I expect anybody to consider those ideas?

If I don't allways say the same thought,

how can my audience accept the courage of my convictions?

Thanks for the lesson.

#2 joe rorke | 2006-07-18 16:28

Not Spam. OK. You win. I'll come out of my corner.

You're not being fair to the people on this blog. You don't treat them with proper respect. You tell the people on this blog what Joe thinks. You categorize Joe for the people on this blog. You are telling them (like Rush Limbaugh) that they don't have enough intelligence to make their own judgments. That is treating them as if they are children, Professor. Many times you have told the people here what Joe thinks. You are telling them that they can't read for themselves, interpret for themselves, think for themselves, etc. That's a contemptuous attitude toward your audience. If we were in the same room together I would say the same thing to you in a more extensive conversation or I would say it to you privately. You, being the egotist that you are, would become angry over my observation. I understand that. But I don't tell people on this blog what you think or what somebody else on this blog thinks. I read what they have to say. They can tell me what they think. You've got some pretty sharp cookies in this room. I'm going to treat them with respect. Why don't you do the same thing and don't tell them what other people said. Let them make that discovery themselves.

I never said you were a repetitious redneck. Perfect example. When you do tell people what I said you tell them something completely different from what I said. So Ole Burn The Books Bob is back. Yes. Don't read anything. Don't have a dictionary in the house. Burn the Books. What nonsense. Hidebound. Now there's a fine Irish word. Look it up everybody.

#3 Shari | 2006-07-18 18:54

NOT SPAM

I'm sorry for responding to something out of context, not carefully read. Proverbs 27: 17 says "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." KJV I hope that Bob and Joe are friends and can sharpen each other.

#4 Pain | 2006-07-18 21:25

NOT SPICED HAM

"He was the last in the foxhole of using untranslated French."

Eh bien, voil la raison que je ne pouvais jamais lui comprendre.

#5 Bob | 2006-07-21 17:35

Ah, Peter Pain! I must quote Mark Twain here:

"What freeborn American would want to be mistaken for a miserable hermaphrodite Frenchman!"