In a message dated 2/5/01 8:03:16 PM Central Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< My understanding is that sailors' use of "colorful" language is as precise
and
 ordered as any other profession's. >>

I agree. Last night in my reading Ayn Rand on the Art of Fiction she stated,
in what is a transcribed rendition of talks about herself that she gave to
writers in the late 50's at her NY apartment, that she is the most precise
word-selecting writer of her time. Huh huh huh! (A not very precise rendition
of a sarcastic belly laugh.) Sailors and people of physical trades, I think,
tend to use their words much more precisely than intellectuals for the sake
of frugality in saving physical energy. If you are shoveling coal you have to
regulate your breath, and it takes additional breath to speak. If you are
going to say anything you make it to the point. If you are wandering around
your apartment on a caffeine high with plenty of air and an audience of
idiots (is that a precise word?) then you can afford to use too many
imprecise words.

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