“When the Populist congressman "Sockless" Simpson of Medicine Lodge, Kansas, misspelled his hometown while running for office, he said, "I wouldn't give a tinker's durn for a man who can't spell a word more than one way.”
― William Least Heat-Moon, PrairyErth.
― William Least Heat-Moon, PrairyErth.
This got a chuckle out of me this morning...the twists we can put on anything, eh? I have great respect for spelling and grammar (I am the sort to twinge inwardly every time I hear a grammatical error...thank you, Mom!). Yet, as a teacher of memoir writing, I tell my students to forget all about those things, even to ignore the lines on the page, and let the thoughts flow. There is a time to go back and edit. As I grow older, I've come to accept the balance of life and letting go of some of my rigid thoughts. But....I'm still not sure the misspelling of one's hometown falls under this flexibility - Buckhannon (WV) poses a challenge to many a youngster and the pride of spelling it correctly is right up there with s-u-c-c-e-s-s! - Beth Almond Ford
No comments:
Post a Comment