This from this weeks Reader (from Stop Smiling Magazine). It is an extract from an interview with Christopher Hitchens (of Vanity Fair fame), and made me chuckle.
"I used the word “Promethean” and they[magazine editors] said, “Take that out because people won't know what Promethean means.” I said, “Maybe they won't. I'll cut it out if you give me another synonym for it. You give the words that would stand in for it and I'll change it.” “There doesn't seem to be one,” they said. “No, there isn't, is there?” You either know what “Promethean” means or you don't. If you do, it saves you about 50 words. And if you don't, then you can look it up! So I said, “No. I'm going to keep it, because it's an important word and it's actually not condescending to Americans in the least. You have to condescend far more by finding the 50-word substitute. No, I won't change it. Fuck you. And I don't mean to publish in your magazine, either, for that matter.”
So what does Promethean mean? I didn't know either.
Hitchens should go and buy himself a copy of The Little Red Writing Book.
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