On Tue, 11 Feb 2003 10:16:02 -0600, Joshua Kronengold <mneme at io.com> wrote: > Gomi no Sensei writes: >> On Mon, 10 Feb 2003, Joshua Kronengold wrote: >>> This seems to indicate that whatever Morrolan thinks about how Vlad >>> did that...he's wrong. Now...Morrolan -knows-Vlad is awfully good >>> at sneaking. So that can't be it. >> I don't think it's anything other than 'Vlad is good at sneaking'. >> Morrolan >> doesn't know much about how to be sneaky, as it's not really in his >> nature. So it'd be expected that he wouldn't know exactly how Vlad >> managed >> it. > > Then it wouln't be worth remarking. > > Really, you people (some of you, anywys) must think Brust is a far > worse writer than he is, to just throw these words away. Even for a good writer, it is not necessary or even desirable to have every last comma and conjuction be Fraught with Seekrit Meaning -- indeed, attempts at such fraughtness are often the hallmark of the neophyte or the egotist (anyone who's been to a college-level writer's workshop has run into this). Sometimes connective tissue is just connective tissue, and, in the absence of textual evidence more convincing than what's been presented so far, this is not more than what it appears to be, I think. pe