Geraldine:
>Paterson does by the way quote some lines from 'our friend' as he calls him
Michael Donaghy - I'm not sure who the 'our' is in this - surely not 'us'
awful amateurs, populists and post-modern impostors.<
I've only just got round to looking up the Guardian version. One thing, bearing in mind it is an abridgement, possibly the 'our
friend' usage echoes an earlier and missing part of text, I don't know the exact date of Patterson's lecture, but if it post-dates
Donaghy's recent and early death, and I guess it does, then possibly this relates to the usage. As for the abridged lecture itself,
I'd be kind of inclined towards John Hall's responses, certainly the Guardian's sub-editors are responsible for the really
teeth-gritting remarks. The daft ones are more Patterson's doing - only plumbers can plumb, roofers roof etc
Best
Dave
David Bircumshaw
Spectare's Web, A Chide's Alphabet
& Painting Without Numbers
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/
----- Original Message -----
From: "Geraldine Monk" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2004 12:58 AM
Subject: Re: 'On Lionel Kearns' and 'What About Poetry'
> I mean this question seriously. Why are 'we' - I have caught this word
from
> Mr Paterson - needing to talk so much about this article when they are so
> many others to discuss?
John, Mi Dear,
Seriously, to be challenged or, in this case, rubbished by someone can help
you reaffirm or re-evaluate your own position and ideas about how and why
'we' do things. It's also a natural reaction to defend yourself if you
feel you are being attacked but how many of us are going to get 'Yours
disgusted, Tunbridge Wells' letters into next weeks Guardian or anywhere
else? But we can pool reactions here on this list. If not I would have to
read that article and then start mouthing off to all my bric-a-brac that
has eyes. (Alan can't be arsed to read it!). And it doesn't annihilate
other discussions.
Paterson does by the way quote some lines from 'our friend' as he calls him
Michael Donaghy - I'm not sure who the 'our' is in this - surely not 'us'
awful amateurs, populists and post-modern impostors. He obviously means
'my'. So we all await the day he announces to the world 'We are a grandad'
or he could go head to head with Tony Blair in a few decades time and say
'We woz wrong'. I'm taking no bets who'll say it first.
Feathery thoughts,
G.
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