Thursday 20 September 2007

Inspiration and punctuation

We all have our influences. Some of us wear them on our sleeves. Others in our hats. A few crazies try to use them as shoes - pffff! What a mad bunch people are, eh?

One step further. I sound like some self-improvement guru. How can I put that better? Dissimulation. I want to avoid it.

(I've just spent several valuable minutes of my life fiddling with the punctuation in the preceding paragraph. Was it worth it? You'll be able to voice your opinion in my next quiz.)

One step beyond. I did have a point when I started this. Making loads of crap jokes? No, that wasn't it. . . . . . I remember. Telling you who I copy . . . . . whom I copy.

(Punctuation is much neglected. Mine may be eccentric, but it serves its purpose: to refelect the finer emotional nuances that, in the spoken language, would be conveyed by inflection of the voice.)

Two authors are to blame for how I write. Here's a clue to the names of my "inspirations": both are in the format name-initial-name.

I'm not a patch on either. But I try.

If anyone can guess both names, I may award a prize. Or maybe not. It depends on my mood. What about "S:t Eriks bryggeri på Åsögatan" by Samuel E. Bring as a prize? I have two copies because a Swedish bookshop mistakenly sent me it rather than the "S:t Eriks bryggeri på Kungsholmen" by Samuel E. Bring that I had ordered. How could they confuse the two?

3 comments:

The Beer Nut said...

I know one of them, definitely. The other will bug me now.

Oh well. Sleep is over-rated anyway...

The Beer Nut said...

Bullet-biting time.

The obvious one is Jerome K. Jerome, and I think you do a very good impression of his style.

My other guess is someone whose books I've never read, but a cursory glance shows a similar fondness for short sharp sentences. So I'm going for William S. Burroughs.

Am I close? Do I get another go?

Ron Pattinson said...

Well you got one right. I'm a big fan of Jerome K. Jerome. I actually thought he was the less obvious one. "Three Men on the Bummel" is a wonderful book.

You can have another go for the second one.