The Ecphorizer

Letters - Issue 30

Issue #30 (February 1984)

Dear Editor,

I was just curious if the billy-goat eating an ECPHORIZER with Andy Fish on the cover is a political statement from the new editor? I mean, we've had ol' Andy and his fishy friends around for lo! these 28 issues and then Crunch! you let Hank eat him like some poor tuna. It's like Playboy showing a beagle with the Bunny in its mouth, or (horrors!) The New Yorker's Eustace Tilley - you know, the man with the high, stiff collar and top hat - being replaced in favor of Caroline Kennedy!

Please don't sink the Fish! Or I'll forget to run the mailing labels next month!

Tod Wicks
Mailing Label printer
Palo Alto


[line width="40%"]Dear Editor,

I just received issue No. 29 and devoured it - but in a different way from Hank, the "cover goat"!

I did find a grammatical error, which brings me - as a member-in-good-standing of SOTS1 - to the point of this letter. On the inside back cover2, the note covering contributor Gareth Penn begins with a dangling modifier, the results of which are somewhat humorous.

The culprit clause modifies not George Towner but Mr. Penn in the sentence, "With the apparent aim of broadening his intellectual horizons, GARETH PENN. . . sent our ex-editor a subscription to Ducks Unlimited..."

This unintended(?) slip has not detracted from my enjoyment of your fine magazine.

Very Truly Yours,
Willard D. Ross

1.  SOTS = Save Our Tongue Society - An informal group of Mensans and others who debate and attempt to correct improper English usage.  A Google search returned a variety of hits, mainly briefly referencing the group within a Mensa context.

2.  In the original print version of The Ecphorizer, the inside back cover was where the editors listed the current issue's contributors.  With the Ecphorizer Online, these entries are placed in the "About" section of each article.  In the particular instance noted above, I also had a problem with the construction that Willard Ross points out.

-Tod
April 2007


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