| Title: | The Joy of Lex |
| Notice: | A Notes File even your grammar could love |
| Moderator: | THEBAY::SYSTEM |
| Created: | Fri Feb 28 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Mon Jun 02 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1192 |
| Total number of notes: | 42769 |
Awhile back, I heard of a cute tradition in paper journalism called the
"Occult Hand Society." As I recall, it's of the "put one over on the
editor" sort. The object of the game is to write copy that includes
the phrase "it was as if an occult hand" in the story. Writers are
inducted into the Society IFF the editor fails to detect and strike
this phrase and it actually appears in print.
Apparently at the time this tradition sprang up, this phrase was
incredibly hackneyed, and -- (this part is surmise) perhaps it got that
way because it enables writers who don't know the whole story to
describe events without having to fully explain them...?
At any rate, I thought I'd throw this topic out for general discussion.
Has any other JOYOFLEXer heard of this? Are there compendia of
successfuly published entries in this genre (along the lines of Scott
Davis' delightful books documenting the Bulwer-Lytton Society)? Are
there equivalent Societies of this sort, using other phrases or
suchlike, in hi-tech documentation?
In assured anticipation of such, I invite you, Gentle Reader, simply to
press the ENTER key, and it will be as if an occult hand shall have
revealed the following Wonders to your welcoming sensoria... :-) Dan
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1004.1 | COOKIE::EGGERS | Anybody can fly with an engine. | Tue Sep 22 1992 13:36 | 2 | |
It appears as if an occult hand posted .-1. I'm sure Mr. Kalikow would
not be so shallow as to enter .-1 merely to get that phrase posted.
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| 1004.2 | RDVAX::KALIKOW | TFSO GHWB | Tue Sep 22 1992 13:54 | 16 | |
That don't count!! :-)
We don't have Editors in VAXnotes, past whom one has to sneak things in
order to "make one's bones" and enter the Society. Yep we do have
editors (note lower case) like TPU and EDT but they are brainless so
THEY don't count either.
Now if the _Moderators_ were, in their wisdom, to consent to vet all
candidate postings and were mine (yes, I confess it, it was me) to have
passed their muster, now THEN I could qualify... :-)
And anyway, .1 is too recursive for me. I am tempted to suggest that
perhaps you too, Tom, are attempting to qualify in a backhanded sort of
way for the OHS. But no, we are both above this sort of folderol,
aren't we... ?
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| 1004.3 | COOKIE::EGGERS | Anybody can fly with an engine. | Tue Sep 22 1992 14:18 | 2 | |
Hmmm. The retort that I was doing the same thing came faster than I
expected. :-)
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| 1004.4 | O.H. sighted in major newspaper | TLE::JBISHOP | Tue Sep 22 1992 14:52 | 4 | |
A couple of years ago there was a news story about a new kind
of skywriting which used the O.H. phrase in the Boston Globe.
-John Bishop
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| 1004.5 | COOKIE::EGGERS | Anybody can fly with an engine. | Tue Sep 22 1992 14:57 | 1 | |
Skywriting in the Boston Globe? That sounds pretty normal to me. | |||||
| 1004.6 | PASTIS::MONAHAN | humanity is a trojan horse | Wed Sep 23 1992 01:01 | 3 | |
The moderators (I think I'm still one) consent to delete notes that
are against corporate policy or the spirit of the notes file. The
question is whether the spirit of the notes file has an occult hand?
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| 1004.7 | Invisible? | LINGO::KNOWLES | Spelling chequers are knot the hole answer | Wed Sep 23 1992 06:58 | 5 |
I suppose Adam Smith's `invisible hand' doesn't qualify, although _that_ might account for the extraordinary behaviour of several Chacellors of the Exchequer. b | |||||