Wednesday, April 30, 2014

In Today's Mailbag


A letter I didn't finish reading:
Dear Robert,

As most of you know, it was my privilege to take office as the president of Coe College last July.
Some of me knows that, maybe, but not really most of me.

Kohawks: Am I correct in thinking that the legendary Signi would have kicked his butt?

7 comments:

Virginia Ted said...

You know,Most of me had the same reaction.

Chip said...

I am unsure where his quote ends and yours begins. Did he say "Some of me knows that, maybe, but not really most of me." or is that your reaction to his statement?

Bob Miller said...

That's my reaction to it. I tried to indicate the quote by insetting it, but there's not enough words to make the inset clear. I've changed it by italicizing the quote. Thanks.

Chip said...

So.... It should be "as many of you know."? You're getting to be quite the curmudgeon, Bob. :)

Bob Miller said...

No, since the letter was addressed to me - a singular - it should have begun "as you may know". I admit I'm being a little pissy, but really, this is a supposedly a college president writing the letter. Now, if you'll look again at my last comment, you'll notice that I said "there's not enough words." Embarrassing.

Richard L. Floyd said...

Signi! You are referring, of course, to the much respected (and much feared) Coe College English professor Signi Falk. She was my advisor for my New York Term project in 1969. I consider her one of my important mentors. I imagine that when she was called a nitpicker she would have replied, “Who wants nits?”

Virginia Ted said...

Well, I got the letter and I got what you meant, Bob. I can only hope that this was a mix-up. The new president (or his aides)wrote a letter imagining it was going to be addressed "Dear Alumni." It got changed by the department that had the list of individual names. Then someone missed the grammatical marriage somehow. . . or not.