"Smack"

[Robert Bruce Magee]

Patrick McGrath wrote:
:
: P.S. Could we all just quit the trash talk, this is supposed to be
: polite conversation. Gimme a break, what is so bad about talkin a
: little smack? It makes you think a little harder doesn't it? If this
: is a big problem with some people maybe you shouldn't read what's posted
: and hit the teen chat with the rest of the Sally's.

Patrick, last September I felt the same way -- "What's so bad, etc."

But shortly thereafter I realized I'd been an idiot for feeling and
posting so. Mike Nolan's guidelines are right on. (Gary Fead -- I read
them, too, though not every month. Once I suggested to Mike that his
signature include a gentle reminder re: the most important of them so
we'd see those every day.)

"Talkin' smack" doesn't help me think -- not about "the issues," anyway.
I do find it a pleasure to read cogent, well-written, challenging (even
"blasphemic") arguments in posts.

I may not agree with everything they write, but I find George Will,
Roger Rosenblatt, Michael Kinsley, and others like them get me thinking.
(We've got a few "Wills" on the List -- the "Men at Work" they write
about merely pursue a different sport than baseball.)

"Smack" also adds verbiage with no depth, like "all foam, no beer."
Recently I ran across a tribute Roger Ebert had written about another
film critic, Stanley Kauffmann. He said he wonders at Kauffmann's
ability to say in one word what everyone else only tries to say in
three. I, unfortunately, tend to use eight (or more!).

No, I can't back "smack." Now, wit, that's another matter, to wit:

"Smacker" Don Rickles, hospitalized with a torn Achilles tendon,
received the following brief note:

Don Rickles,

It couldn't have happened to a nicer heel.

Johnny Unitas