Fencing in The New Yorker

[Peach]

On the third page of "Letter from Beijing," there is an insightful (and complimentary) passage about fencing, focusing on the women's sabre competition.

As Olympic endeavors go, fencing is kind of perfect. It has the sting of the new—the minor sport with a major place in history, a satisfyingly dense array of rules and dexterities, and yet, for all that, an aim that seems piercingly simple.

(http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2...?currentPage=3)

[2Shane]

Nice.

[fencerX]

You're just too damn nice.

You had a perfect opportunity to rile the natives and quote:

Originally Posted by New Yorker writer

The profile of U.S. fencing is hard to gauge—that night won’t have harmed it, and all three medallists were on the “Today” show the next morning—but, full face, it has got a whole lot better. The fencers now use a transparent visor where there was once a mesh mask, and their intensity is clear to see.

But you didn't.

[2Shane]

Coulda, shoulda, woulda, but didn't...

[peet]

awesome:

Originally Posted by the new yorker

Arkady Burdan, the coach of the Jacobson clan and one of five coaches of the U.S. Olympic team, is a squat, unstoppable bullet of a man, heavy-shouldered and smooth-skulled, like two Alan Arkins mashed together.

[Guymelef]

The writing is beautiful, but what impressed me is that he could go round for round drinking with the coaches. Good find, Peach.

[Mo]

Wow.

My poor kiddo.... wish I had been there for her.

The Momster

[oso97]

Wow, reading that article brought tears to my eyes again, as I relived the moments in my mind. Sada rallying against Velikaya. Becca's composure to win in the quarterfinals, lose in the semi's and somehow pull it out for the Bronze. The awesome moment of seeing the three of them on the medal stand.

And anyone who can go toe-to-toe drinking until 2am with the sabre coaches must have a liver made of iron .

[Mac A. Bee]

For Peach: Superbly written! A model for our posts. Yet: ...I dropped idly into the Fencing Hall at seven in the evening, steeped in total ignorance, to take a look. Should it not be idly dropped and drop the last comma?

[jeff]

No, the sentence is fine as it stands. The adverb frequently follows the verb "I walked slowly to the piste", and the second comma is needed to separate the clauses.

Peach, thanks for posting this - you beat me to it. Wonderful to read about fencing in an article that portrays it as the dramatic, exciting, athletic activity it is.

[Guymelef]

Originally Posted by Mac A. Bee

For Peach: Superbly written! A model for our posts. Yet: ...I dropped idly into the Fencing Hall at seven in the evening, steeped in total ignorance, to take a look. Should it not be idly dropped and drop the last comma?

Adverbs can follow the verb they modify. Saying 'go slowly' is just as correct as 'slowly go.' If you put a comma between dropped and the following phrase you are separating two dependent clauses. Yes 'into the Fencing Hall...' is wordy, but it is a prepositional phrase. The commas as used in the sentence are to offset 'steeped in total ignorance' as the author's aside. There are other ways to show an aside like parantheses and double dashes, but these can break up the flow of the sentence.

[Peach]

Everyone has already answered admirably the grammar question (Hee hee hee).

[Soberin]

I guess we should be happy for the small crumb we got from Anthony Lane, who of course is a film critic. Too bad we didn't get a real article by the likes of John McPhee or Herbert W. Wind. We'll take what we can get.

[oso97]

Originally Posted by Peach

Everyone has already answered admirably the grammar question (Hee hee hee).

*wink* shouldn't it be "admirably answered?"

[Peach]

Originally Posted by oso97

*wink* shouldn't it be "admirably answered?"

. . . which is why I that way answered it

[telkanuru]

This is a thread up with which I will not put.

[KD5MDK]

You would think an infinitive could be split an unlimited number of times, but for some reason people keep trying to restrict it to 1 or 0.

[Purple Fencer]

My fave part was Arkady....never met the man or heard him speak.....but I heard the voice fr4om EVERY Russian coach I've ever met!!

[Mo]

Originally Posted by Purple Fencer

My fave part was Arkady....never met the man or heard him speak.....but I heard the voice fr4om EVERY Russian coach I've ever met!!

Arkady is great. Once you get to know him he can be a really good friend. I am grateful I got to know him. He has an amazing personal story.
Someone should write it up.
The Momster

[Peach]

Originally Posted by KD5MDK

You would think an infinitive could be split an unlimited number of times, but for some reason people keep trying to restrict it to 1 or 0.

The "split infinitive" rule was a mistaken extrapolation from Latin by revisionist grammar cops in the 19th century. English infinitives have been split for centuries, sometimes more effectively, sometimes not, and verb phrases of every description have also always been split.

Re grammar cops: I gave a conference presentation to some English teachers, and one of them tried to tell me "like" in a prepositional phrase wasn't a preposition and that the word "like" shouldn't ever be used. When it's properly used, "like" can be a noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, particle, conjunction, hedge, interjection, or quotative. /rant