[Ads-l] Quote: They're not writers; they're typists. (Truman Capote, Sprint 1957)

[Laurence Horn]

Interesting.  In honor of another baseball season about to kick off, I note a near parallel:  the difference between pitching and "throwing", where the former implies finesse, brains, maturity, etc., and the latter brute force on the fastball to overpower hitters rather than to keep them off-balance.  So we get "He used to be a thrower, now he's a pitcher".  Not an exact parallel, but a "thrower" is definitely, in Capote's words, a non-stylist. 

LH 

> On Mar 27, 2016, at 11:07 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> That's not writing, that's typing
> 
> The expression above is often attributed to Truman Capote although the
> phrasing varies. A great new citation in 1957 was brought to my
> attention by Terry Teachout of the WSJ. Previously, the earliest
> citation (I knew about) was dated January 1959. The key phrase in 1957
> was:
> 
> . . . they're not writers; they're typists.
> 
> [ref] Spring-Summer 1957, The Paris Review, Number 16, Truman Capote,
> The Art of Fiction No. 17, Interviewed by Pati Hill, Paris Review,
> Inc., Flushing, New York. (Online archive of The Paris Review at
> theparisreview.org; accessed March 27, 2016) link [/ref]
> 
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.theparisreview.org_interviews_4867_the-2Dart-2Dof-2Dfiction-2Dno-2D17-2Dtruman-2Dcapote&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=xMoeIPlDHDhoQ1ooxKAkbkCAfJKbURZJWco5gcS6LeE&s=wrbARPYCy06vWwr1bqanrsP1WRAv6gfWMtGmUntj4k0&e= 
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> But yes, there is such an animal as a nonstylist. Only they’re not
> writers; they’re typists. Sweaty typists blacking up pounds of bond
> paper with formless, eyeless, earless messages.
> [End excerpt]
> 
> More information is available here:
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__quoteinvestigator.com_2015_09_18_typing_&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=xMoeIPlDHDhoQ1ooxKAkbkCAfJKbURZJWco5gcS6LeE&s=YZGyuyTq7-pbA294iQiVMbjkN11mu0wDHXKrqWtjivY&e= 
> 
> Garson
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=xMoeIPlDHDhoQ1ooxKAkbkCAfJKbURZJWco5gcS6LeE&s=C3ovdoeuE-My92t-1wMRa2mN5ePzvjOvHWNlTeRPOQ4&e= 

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