things magazine has a nice little post
things magazine has a nice little post on the Internet as reliquary. Reminds me of Julian Dibbell’s comparison of weblogs to wunderkammers.
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Reader comments
unclewillyOct 21, 2005 at 11:17AM
Never saw things mag before and doubt that I'll go back. Execrable, meandering writing on the reliquary
aspect of the internet. Was the aim to include as many digressive links as possible? Maybe the defects are just
in this post, I thought. Then, on the "about" page, I saw the unforgivable "comprised of." Too bad.
rgOct 21, 2005 at 11:30AM
Things-mag (both soft and hard copy) is great read, it's the next best thing to a blog by iain Sinclair, the interest ratio of its links exceeding the dairy-milk blandness and self-importance of, say, metafilter. I find the shotgun volley of links progressive not digressive. We all have differing tastes.
I think my interest in delicious is something to do with this reliquary nature of the voyeurism.
polaricecapOct 21, 2005 at 12:41PM
Gotta say that thingsmagazine.net is one of my favorite sites. It's rare that a blog rises above circular, chatty sameness to the level of thoughtfulness that thingsmagzine.net is at.
jpbOct 21, 2005 at 5:03PM
I'll give you 'meandering', and maybe even 'execrable'. But why is 'comprised of' considered unforgivable?
unclewillyOct 24, 2005 at 4:43PM
Because, in careful writing, the whole comprises the parts and the parts compose the whole. Although writers are less careful these days, it's also true that "comprise" is often wrongly selected to lend an air of erudition when "compsed of" or even a simple "includes" or "included" would be not only simpler and clearer but also correct to all ears, not just some.
jpbOct 24, 2005 at 6:46PM
Many thanks. It's been amended.
RufusOct 27, 2005 at 7:57AM
Amend it right back, but without the "of". I assume we're talking about this: http://web.archive.org/web/20040703014247/http://www.thingsmagazine.net/text/about.htm
UK English speakers have a right, and a duty to protect "haute"-english from bland American English.
"Comprising a blog..." is perfectly correct.
This thread is closed to new comments. Thanks to everyone who responded.