[Ads-l] Department of Understatement?

[Joel S. Berson]

"[Visitors to the Pittsfield, Mass. museum can see] life as the 
Shakers experienced it, in structured and disciplined communities 
that embraced a practice of celibacy that ultimately hindered their growth."

Duh!

The text continues "From a peak of approximately 5,000 in the 
mid-19th century, practicing Shakers now number just three at the 
last active settlement, in New Gloucester, Me.  [So visitors can't 
actually see Shaker "life" at Pittsfield any more.]

Motto:  Embrace each other, not the practice of celibacy!

NYTimes, Dec. 31, 2014, page C1.

Joel

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org