Russian racehorses, Cooter Brown, fast foxes, theft

[Arnold Zwicky]

dInIs: Damn Arnold stole it from me.  I call them "real people"
(even in print),

dInis, you idiot, we're talking about "ordinary people", not "real
people".  if you want "real people", you've got it.

but i don't think i can claim "ordinary people".  novelist judith
guest, screenwriter alvin sargent, and director robert redford have
a prior claim, and two of *them* won academy awards under that
title.

oh, dInIs, did you intend a comma after "Damn"?  i'd still resent the
imputation of theft, but i'd have held back some on the name-calling.
(would you have found "you ignorant slut" more decorative than "you
idiot", or more insulting, or merely more ridiculous?  i considered
them both.  it's so hard, getting the hang of this style thing.)

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)