Chicagoist: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Agri-Hogs

Hank Higgins

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 14:35:05 -0600

You might want to check the dictionary definition of "obstinate." [firmly or stubbornly adhering to one's purpose, opinion, etc.; not yielding to argument, persuasion, or entreaty] I don't think one can be "obstinate to" something. One can be obstinate "about" or "regarding" an issue, but not "to." However, it even doesn't seem like that's what you were trying to say in the first place. Perhaps "indifferent to" or "hostile to" (or a fancy synonym) is closer to what you meant. /END/lexigeekery

vise77

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 14:21:05 -0600

Seems like this post contains an interesting idea worth talking about, yet I couldn't get past this passage: " ... Emily Nunn comes across instead as obstinate to and proudly ignorant of what we would know about where our food comes from if we only PAID ATTENTION TO THE WORLD AROUND US!!!" Did you actually write that, or was it a riff off Nunn's article? If you did write it, do you get paid by the preposition? I mean, after trying to read that sentence, I am reminded of how my head hurt after smoking all that ditch weed in high school. That's not even saying anything about the CAPS AND MULTIPLE EXCLAMATION POINTS, which should be used only by eight-grade girls on the verge of a heartbreak, or cranky right wingers pissed off at Gore and his satanic gang of followers. Now, if this passage was meant as a parody--perhaps you are making a comment about writers who try to write smarter than they actually are by using big words when small ones would make the point more efficiently, one or more ill-serving adjectives, and the annoying stop-start rhythm created by the prepositions --it was brilliant, really, and I bow to your experiments with language. By the way, when did Chicagoist become a "he"? Does Chicagoist change gender from time to time like those mythical creatures of yore? That would actually be rather interesting. Seriously, if this was your own writing and not some satirical statement, I'd be glad to send Chicagoist--he, she, it, us or we, whatever the case may be--a copy of Strunk & White. I suspect the financial and ego rewards of writing for this site are tiny, but you are all proud writers, correct?

geekgrrl

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 14:02:58 -0600

it's amazing to me that an article that rife with ignorance and self-impendence even got printed. what was her point exactly? she reminds me of my mother, who regularly predicted a fascist food war resulting in people having to hoard potatoes and steaks hidden deep in secluded forests. ...that is, until she developed adult-onset diabetes. i wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happens to ms. nunn, and will she ever be howling then.