Readalong

[DbS] TPG cover-ch2

Richard Suitor rsuitor at cjwrfs.net
Mon Jun 24 18:47:03 PDT 2002

On 24 Jun 2002 18:40:35 -0500, David Dyer-Bennet <dd-b at dd-b.net>
wrote:

>Gaertk at aol.com writes:
>
>> > pxiv: "for far away" {typo: "far far away"?} 
>> 
>> I think that's not a typo.  I can't find the right words to
>> explain.
>
>And I can't quite find the words to argue the other way.

How to explain thee? Let me find the words . . .

Pro typo:
If the extract is a sentence (and there is a period), the extract
makes a complete, grammatically expressed thought assuming a typo.
Without the typo, it is not coherent.

Anti typo:
This is a poem.  There has to be a period at the end of the
extract - it is the end of the sentence.  If you assume the typo,
the extract seems a self contradiction, because the addressee is
out walking where someone is waiting for gya.  Perhaps not -
presumably the walker eventually arrives - but it seems awkward.

Whereas if one does not assume either a typo or that the extract
is a complete sentence, we get the impression that the addressee,
perhaps the city, survives only in the hearts of such as the three
mentioned, and that the sentence extracted continues.

Barring further evidence, I'll choose the anti-typo, personal
preference of style.  I can't say the evidence is overwhelming.

Richard