-Caveat Lector-
In a message dated Mon, 29 Mar 1999 16:45:32 -0800,
Divinewill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Though this is quite cute , I do believe the original quote was " a million monkeys
>at a >million
>keyboards for a million years could produce the Complete Works of Shakespeare " ,
>>none the less I
>guess it's a mute point since Shakespeare has already been produced .......... and
>is >on the web
>.
>
>Divine~
Hello? Hello? Is there any intelligent life out there?
My original message consisted of the following quote:
"We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could
produce the Complete Works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the
Internet, we know this is not true."
--Robert Wilensky
First of all, the quote begins "We've heard that..." Then it continues by
giving the entire original quote (which you repeat in your reply). Why
do you have to point out the original quote to us again as if I somehow
made a mistake and quoted it wrong? Hello? Hello? It was an
obvious, humorous play on the old, familiar, original quote.
This is the first example which proves my point. Monkeys (or the
majority of the frantic masses on A.O.L., if you prefer the simpler,
literal translation) don't write Shakespeare (a figurative reference to all
great literature and art of the past, present, and future; this doesn't just
refer to Shakespeare's plays, which may or may not be on the internet;
Hello?). Here's the proof of my point just in case you couldn't glean it
from what I've written so far: If someone cannot understand such a
simple literary convention as parody without trying to impose a very
mundane, banal, overly-simplistic interpretation upon it, how can they
write anything akin to the true artistry, quality, and true-to-life spirit of
the classics? In other, more figurative, words, monkeys don't write
Shakespeare. Hello?
The second example proving my point is contained in a line of your
reply:
>guess it's a mute point since Shakespeare has already been produced...
Shakespeare may have already been produced, but if you want to
produce anything comparable, it seems you may need a good
proof-reader. I can excuse incorrect spellings; after all, we all make careless
mistakes. However, one should not try to use words with which they are
unfamiliar. Anyone out there remember Norm Crosby? The word MUTE is
most often defined as: the inability or lack of desire to speak. The word I
think you meant to use was MOOT, most often defined as: open for discussion
or debate, as in a moot point. The old spell checker wouldn't catch that one.
It required the gray matter grammatic/syntactic checker. An acute awareness
of word use, conventions, multiple meanings both literal and figurative, and
placement within the context of a sentence and/or paragraph in order to
construct the desired meaning plays a significant role in the production of great
literature. Alternate meanings, puns, allusions, etc. all add depth to writing,
allowing a reader to skim as shallowly or plunge as deeply as they may desire.
Once again, we see the point of Mr. Wilensky's quote proven: if you try to dive in
to a lot of what you read on the internet, you're bound to hit your head on a rocky,
shallow bottom sooner or later (this, however, is not typical of most of the fine
writings found at CTRL).
And now, I will be MUTE on the suject.
The No Longer Kind, Gentle
HOFFA
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