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- Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
- Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!umn.edu!lynx!unmvax!ctm
- From: ctm@ardi.com (Clifford T. Matthews)
- Subject: humorous juxtaposition (was Re: Raising Funds ...)
- Message-ID: <1993Jan4.025624.7173@unmvax.cs.unm.edu>
- Followup-To: /dev/null
- Sender: ctm@unmvax.cs.unm.edu (Clifford T. Matthews)
- Organization: ARDI
- Date: Mon, 4 Jan 93 02:56:24 GMT
- Lines: 20
-
- "...
-
- I don't require jack shit, my excitable boy, with the sole
- exception that men live up to their billing.
-
- ...
-
- cordially,
-
- ..."
-
- The irony is subtle once you realize that there is more than one meaning of
- "cordially." When used at the closing of a letter, it usually means
- "warmly and genially affable." However, "cordially" also encompasses
- "sincerely or deeply felt". It appears that we have a word, "cordially,"
- used as a billing--describing the contents of the letter containing it--in a
- manner that clashes with the images that the word typically conjures.
-
- --Cliff[ord T. Matthews]
- ctm@ardi.com
-