Letter to the Editor
Jackyboy
Alec "Skitt" P.
"Jackyboy" <ft...@bigpond.net.au> wrote in message
news:dJ3f6.4070$l01....@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> How the hell do you write a 800word letter to the editor?
Why would you want to?
--
Skitt (in SF Bay Area) http://i.am/skitt/
I speak English well -- I learn it from a book!
-- Manuel of "Fawlty Towers" (he's from Barcelona).
Jackyboy
jack
Alec "Skitt" P. <sk...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:95igus$h0ntv$1...@ID-61580.news.dfncis.de...
piddy
wrote:
>How the hell do you write a 800word letter to the editor?
If you're old enough to drink do. The letter will sort
of take care of itself after that.
piddy -- writing is 10% inspiration and 90% intoxication
Robert Lieblich
Jackyboy wrote:
> Alec "Skitt" P. wrote:
> >
> > "Jackyboy" wrote:
> > > How the hell do you write a 800word letter to the editor?
> > Why would you want to?
> homework
One word at a time.
Well, okay, since you seem so desperate[1]: First, find a topic
that you really care about. If you can't think of one, read the
paper until you find an article about something you really care
about. Next, write down, quickly and succinctly, just about
everything you think you want to say about the topic. Put each new
idea on a new line. Then go through what you just wrote down and
allow it to provoke some more ideas. Then try to arrange the ideas
in a logical sequence. Then try to write one paragraph about each
of the ideas.
No guarantees, but it might get you started.
[1] I mean, you did ask a newsgroup for help with your homework.
Jackyboy
Jack
Robert Lieblich <lieb...@erols.com> wrote in message
news:3A7CECD5...@erols.com...
Rich Lafferty
Can't help you there, I'm afraid, but the 324th word is "orangutan".
(Might as well make it a challenge.)
-Rich
--
Rich Lafferty ----------------------------------------
Nocturnal Aviation Division, IITS Computing Services
Concordia University, Montreal, QC
ri...@bofh.concordia.ca -------------------------------
Alex Chernavsky
> Thanks, I'm stuck on the 308th word
Reminds me of one of Hofstadter's self-referential sentences:
"This sentence contains cabbage six words."
--
Alex Chernavsky
al...@astrocyte-design.com
Gene Wirchenko
>How the hell do you write a 800word letter to the editor?
I wouldn't. Unless you're specifically asked to write one that
long, you're better off with something shorter (assuming you'd like to
see it published).
My standard is 300 words. That seems to be what editors will
accept. If you don't need that many to express yourself, good and go
shorter. If you need more, quit needing more and go shorter.
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
Computerese Irregular Verb Conjugation:
I have preferences.
You have biases.
He/She has prejudices.
Simon R. Hughes
> How the hell do you write a 800word letter to the editor?
[crossthread alert: this is a seriously empathetic answer]
http://members.tripod.com/~lklivingston/essay/
--
Simon R. Hughes -- http://www.geocities.com/a57998/subconscious/
Quoting Usenet postings in follow-ups --
http://www.geocities.com/a57998/quote.html
Donna Richoux
> Thanks, I'm stuck on the 308th word
You could pick two more topics and write two more 300-word letters. What
teacher is going to complain about getting three 300 word letters
instead of one 800 word letter?
I agree that 800 words is too long for such a letter. If the teacher
gives you any guff, bring in some typical "Letters to the Editor"
columns from the newspaper and show him or her what the word counts are.
Any letter 800 words long is bound to be totally dull. (Probably someone
defending themselves -- themself? -- against multiple accusations.)
Good luck. Let us know how you do.
--
Best --- Donna Richoux
Rowan Dingle
>Thanks, I'm stuck on the 308th word
Finish it off with random gibberish. My hunch is that the teacher is
going to take all your letters, drop them straight in the bin and say:
'You've learnt something useful today. Never write 800-word letters to
newspapers. They always go straight in the bin.'
If you want to let the teacher know that you saw this coming, write ten
80-word letters (a sensible length) but write them in green or red biro
with a lot of RANDOM upper-case words. Scribbled corrections, heavy
underlining and multiple exclamation marks would also help to get your
point across. Your assignment will be marked 'Outstanding'.
--
Rowan Dingle
Garry J. Vass
news:dJ3f6.4070$l01....@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>
>
The answer, Jackyboy, is *verbiage*. Need some verbiage? Here ya go! Just
cut and paste...
In the works of Joyce, a predominant concept is the concept of precultural
narrativity. In Dubliners, Joyce analyses Derridaist reading; in Ulysses he
deconstructs structural theory. But many discourses concerning not theory,
as semiotic narrative suggests, but neotheory may be found.
"Society is part of the genre of culture," says Lyotard. Derrida's essay on
structural theory implies that sexual identity has significance. However, a
number of narratives concerning the textual paradigm of context exist.
The main theme of the works of Joyce is a self-supporting whole. The
rubicon, and some would say the stasis, of structural theory intrinsic to
Joyce's Finnegan's Wake is also evident in A Portrait of the Artist As a
Young Man, although in a more mythopoetical sense. It could be said that the
primary theme of Buxton's[4] model of social realism is the defining
characteristic, and subsequent meaninglessness, of postcultural class.
If one examines semiotic narrative, one is faced with a choice: either
accept social realism or conclude that the purpose of the artist is social
comment. Debord suggests the use of semiotic narrative to analyse and modify
truth. In a sense, Hanfkopf[5] states that the works of Fellini are
modernistic.
Derrida promotes the use of structural theory to deconstruct elitist
perceptions of sexual identity. But if semiotic narrative holds, we have to
choose between structural theory and predialectic Marxism.
The subject is contextualised into a social realism that includes culture as
a totality. Therefore, in La Dolce Vita, Fellini affirms structural theory;
in 8 1/2, although, he deconstructs Foucaultist power relations.
Any number of narratives concerning not, in fact, deappropriation, but
neodeappropriation may be revealed. It could be said that the characteristic
theme of the works of Fellini is the bridge between language and sexual
identity.
Semiotic narrative suggests that context must come from communication.
Therefore, Sontag uses the term 'structural theory' to denote not discourse
as such, but postdiscourse.
Debord's critique of social realism holds that the goal of the reader is
significant form, given that semiotic narrative is invalid. It could be said
that the subject is interpolated into a structural theory that includes
culture as a whole.
Hope that helps!
GJV
Rowan Dingle
[...]
>I'm a sprinter in the LTTE game. If I can't say it in 100 words, I'll
>never make my point...
The incomparable Henry Root captured the essence of the art with a
letter to London's 'Evening Standard'. It appeared as the epigraph to
one of his collections (so I'm not sure if the ES actually printed it,
but it should have done):
Sir,
I wish to complain in the strongest possible terms about
absolutely everything.
Yours faithfully,
Henry Root
--
Rowan Dingle
Mike Barnes
That's easy enough. Just repeat the 307 words you've already got, but in
the reverse order. I know you'll still be 186 words short, but with work
of this quality, I don't think anyone will be counting.
--
Mike Barnes
Peter Moylan
>How the hell do you write a 800word letter to the editor?
I feel your pain. I just looked this up in our local paper.
"Letters should be fewer than 200 words."
How can a letter be fewer than something? The previous editor
would, I believe, have said "200 words long", and might well
have revised the preceding words as well. Perhaps it's a
campaign to save ink.
--
Peter Moylan pe...@ee.newcastle.edu.au
http://eepjm.newcastle.edu.au
Jackyboy
Jack
Donna Richoux <tr...@euronet.nl> wrote in message
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Jackyboy
Jack
Simon R. Hughes <shu...@tromso.online.no> wrote in message
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Jackyboy
Jack
Garry J. Vass <ga...@totally-official.com> wrote in message
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Rich Lafferty
Peter Moylan <pe...@PJM2.newcastle.edu.au> wrote:
> Jackyboy wrote:
> >How the hell do you write a 800word letter to the editor?
>
> I feel your pain. I just looked this up in our local paper.
>
> "Letters should be fewer than 200 words."
>
> How can a letter be fewer than something?
Rules must be fewer than eight words.
Mark Barratt
"Garry J. Vass" <ga...@totally-official.com> wrote in message
news:95juk7$oee$1...@newsg1.svr.pol.co.uk...
> news:dJ3f6.4070$l01....@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> > How the hell do you write a 800word letter to the editor?
> >
> >
>
> The answer, Jackyboy, is *verbiage*. Need some verbiage? Here
ya go! Just
> cut and paste...
>
semiotic narrative [...] structural theory [...] Finnegan's Wake
[...] postcultural class [...] deconstruct elitist perceptions of
sexual identity [...] deconstructs Foucaultist power relations
[...] It could be said that the subject is interpolated into a
structural theory that includes culture as a whole.
[Applause] I didn't know there was a Garrybot!
Mark Barratt
Peter Moylan
>I have to do it on petrol prices... or something related to petrol.
So? Develop a deconstructionist approach to petrol pricing, or
concentrate on the sociological aspects of the GST component
of the price. Consider the effect of rising prices on the status
of women. Debate the fundamental conflict between the
capitalist system and traditional aboriginal values.
If you do this right, you never even have to mention petrol.
Alternatively, you could of course adopt the attitudes of a
typical letter-to-the-editor writer. Explain how the current
trends in petrol pricing will lead to a Vietnamese family moving
in next door to you, which will wreck property values because
of the drug trade and prostitution, not to mention the smell
of the cooking. Explain how immigration is going to wreck the
country, the country your grandfather fought for and died
before he even had a chance to have children. Expose the
vast left-wing conspiracy by the black Jewish Arabs who are
controlling the petrol prices, not to mention the used syringes
in the vacant lot down the road.
If all else fails, stare at your writing paper until drops of blood
form on your forehead. But don't quote me on that, because
I've forgotten who I stole it from.
--
Peter Moylan pe...@ee.newcastle.edu.au
See http://eepjm.newcastle.edu.au for OS/2 information and software
Robert Lieblich
Probably Red Smith (allowing for paraphrase): "There's nothing to
writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein."
Garry J. Vass
> I have to do it on petrol prices... or something related to petrol.
>
No probs. Just work that in to the last paragraph as your rationale for
higher/lower petrol prices and your all set. Might even be Pulitzer
material.
Jackyboy
Cheers
Jack
Robert Lieblich <lieb...@erols.com> wrote in message
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