Fwd: canard

Arnold M. Zwicky zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU
Fri Jul 4 16:40:37 UTC 2008


Begin forwarded message:

> From: Victor Steinbok
> Date: July 4, 2008 8:02:15 AM PDT
> To: Arnold M. Zwicky
> Subject: canard
>
> First comment on the post:
>
> http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=07&year=2008&base_name=parody_or_actual_book_title
> Wow. How Can I Throw Every Conservative Canary Into My Book Title
>

the book title -- from
  http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Fleeced/Dick-Morris/e/9781400107292/
is:
   Fleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats,
Liberals Who Want To Kill Talk Radio, The Do-Nothing Congress,
Companies That Help Iran, And Washington Lobbyists For Foreign
Governments Are Scamming Us...And What To Do About It [by Dick Morris
and Eileen McGann]

another commenter noted that last year Morris and McGann published:
   Outrage: How Illegal Immigration, the United Nations, Congressional
Ripoffs, Student Loan Overcharges, Tobacco Companies, Trade
Protection, and Drug Companies Are Ripping Us Off . . . And What to Do
About It

other commenters suggested that the "Fleeced" title was a parody or
hoax, but it's there on B&N, Amazon, Powell's, and Bookfinder, so i
think it's genuine.

Steinbok is suggesting that "canary" is a mistake (of some kind or
another) for "canard". seems reasonable to me; other relevant hits for
"conservative canary" are references to conservative figures who are
likened to canaries in a coal mine (serving as warnings to others or
harbingers of the future).

arnold

... and then there's Geoff Nunberg's 2006 takeoff on such titles:
   Talking Right: How Conservatives Turned Liberalism Into a Tax-
Raising, Latte-Drinking, Sushi-Eating, New York Times-Reading, Body-
Piercing, Hollywood-Loving, Left-Wing Freak Show

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