"a linguist like William Safire"

[Laurence Horn]

Ron Darling, former Yalie and Mets pitcher and now commentator on
Mets' post-game show, parsing manager Jerry Manuel's careful but
unmistakeable vote of no-confidence in reliever J. J. Putz (yes,
that's his real name) after Putz blew another game for the Mets:

"You don't have to be a linguist like William Safire to follow [what
Manuel was conveying]"

Sigh.

If only Darling had spent one more year at Yale instead of leaving
after his junior year in '81 to agree to a baseball contract, I'm
sure he'd know what a linguist is.  Or at least isn't.

LH

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