Are you in the mood for a London journal? I was, and wrote one here. Let’s have a speck of mail.
In a post yesterday, I wrote of newspapers — physical newspapers, the kind you hold in your hands. It has been many years since I held newspapers. But “I believe I’ll return to it one day,” I said. I then wondered whether it would feel like returning to vinyl. (That, I can’t imagine doing.)
A reader writes,
Jay,
Greetings from the California desert. . . .
Your comment on vinyl got me thinking. Several friends have returned to buying vinyl records, especially friends in the U.K. I then found this article: “The triumph of vinyl: Vintage is back as LP sales continue to skyrocket.”
I’m too addicted to listening to music on my iPhone to return to a turntable, but long live vinyl! I hope that Big Brother keeps away from banning vinyl and gas stoves.
Just thinking of plunking that needle down, my hand shakes a little.
Shall we pause for a little language? Up there, I have a dangling modifier. (My hand is not thinking of plunking the needle down — you see?) But it is also natural English, and I think justifiable.
Moving on . . .
In my column yesterday, I quoted a famous line from Chariots of Fire: “When I run, I feel God’s pleasure.” “When I run,” I remarked, “I feel His wrath.” A reader says that his motto comes from Proverbs 28:1: “The wicked flee though no one pursues.”
Hilarious.
Finally, city names — I mentioned yesterday that the original name of Detroit is “Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit.” A reader brings up the original name of Santa Fe: “Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asis.” My gosh, what a beautiful string of words.
¡Viva el español!