Last Friday I sent an email: In the freezer we have a loin of pork on the bone, if you want to come to lunch on Sunday. Afterwards I realised that this was a slovenly way of writing, because our possession of a loin of pork, whether on the bone in the freezer or not, was in no way contingent upon whether anyone wanted to come to lunch on Sunday. The erudite recipient of the invitation described the sentence as a non sequitur, and for all I know he was right. Anyway, he signified acceptance of my gracious invitation by replying in a gratuitously brusque manner: Defrost your loin.
Actually the proposal was rendered nugatory because he and his wife decided to come on Saturday instead, so they didn’t get any pork; we ate it ourselves the next day.
But, I hear you cry, what bearing does this pointless anecdote have on the cryptic title above? It is true that there is a close link, but now that I have started to write this piece it occurs to me that the relationship is a complex one, and that explaining it will be a difficult and lengthy procedure. It's been a long day and I don’t think I'm up to it: ye must thole yer ain ignorance, as Burns might well have said in such a circumstance.
But here's a nice picture of the loin in question.
[* Never heard of Fitzrovia?]
9 comments:
Oh come a'loin' Tony, please explain it....
Or am I all a'loin' here?
Well, as it's you, I will, but not here: it's too complicated and will call for copies of emails etc. So bear with me and I will make you privy to the explanation, privily.
As a denizen of Fitzrovia, could I recommend that you link to the Wikipedia's entry on same rather than the one chosen? The current link ascribes the area to part of Camden, in which only a very small portion of it lies, the vast majority being in the City of Westminster. Wiki also enlightens us on on fellow Fitzrovians such as Prince Monolulu, which I always thought was a silly name for a pub but now I know better.
Yes, Anonymous, thank you. Of course you are right and I have done as you suggest.
May I know your name?
Yup. Sacha.
Sorry. It was quicker than looking up my login. I know I know I keep promising to do so.
My goodness but that pork looks like it was good. Not that Sockeye can't also be nice.
S X
Yes, I thought so.
You don't have to bother with log-ins, silly person. Just comment as Anon but sign your name at the end. Do try to keep up.
And another thing: don't put line spaces between paragraphs in comments; it's not necessary with such short lines and wastes space.
I'm sorry, but that 'loin' looks like a diseased liver.
Another non sequitur, yes?
No, I think not, because there is no suggestion that one of the two statements is contingent upon the other: they are related in the sense that you are sorry [that honesty obliges you to tell me that in your opinion] the loin..., and linking the clauses with "but" is perfectly reasonable.
So there's nothing wrong with your syntax, it's just that your observation is faulty; you can't have seen many diseased livers if you really think they look like that.
Post a Comment