Word: pedanticism
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John Horne Burns does not waste words. In a phrase or two, he can put across far more than could paragraphs of pedantic description. Consider his characterization of Mr. Philbrick Grimes, the school busybody, who "zoomed into Princeton at seventeen," and "Kept up a figurative rubbing all the time he...
"Servile and impertinent," Lord Macaulay had called him, "shallow and pedantic, a bigot and a sot, bloated with family pride, a talebearer, an eavesdropper, a common butt in the taverns of London." That, for several generations of scholars, was the final verdict on James Boswell. The 18th Century Scotsman was...
Vogue's Book is sure to worm its way into the shelves (or secret drawers) of many a home, because it caters to the social yearnings of all classes-from the sportsman who needs to know what kind of mourning is appropriate to driven-bird shooting (a black arm...
An Unsafe Man. Husband & wife were equally well-read, equally opposed to pedantic thinking ("Anything clear and definite," said Henry, "is only another word for limited"), hard-working and unsentimental ("I know I value some qualities more than tenderheartedness," said Annette). In his office of district judge, Henry was a...
The Tagesspiegel is not Berlin's biggest daily (the Russian-licensed Tägliche Rundschau sells 800,000 copies, the British-licensed Telegraf 600,000), but it is the best-balanced. It is not pre-censored, follows no party line. Thus, it has readers in all zones. Written in...