Word count: 215 words
Reading time: Less than 1 minute
A great way to improve your writing is to emulate the work of others. That’s why, every week, I present a sentence that I’d happily imitate. I write today about one produced by Hendrik Hertzberg, in the New Yorker.
Why is it so much fun to mock former U.S. representative and current New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner? Is it the relatively paltry nature of his sexting scandals? His pathetic denials followed by his even more pathetic admissions? The nasal sound of his voice? His very name?
The August 5/13 edition of the New Yorker had one of the funniest cartoons on its cover that I’ve ever seen, showing Weiner perched atop a gigantic, uh, erection. But the Aug 12 & 19/13 issue had an almost-as-amusing article, titled “Too Much Infotech,” by Hedrik Hertzberg.
Read the whole piece, which also eviscerates Eliot Spitzer — that get-tough-on-crminals guy who was undone by prostitutes.
But if you want to read just one great sentence, here is my favourite:
The great Weiner roast, washed down with a Spitzer spritzer, is a reminder that, while sex scandals are often entertaining, they are seldom educational.
I like the pun on Weiner’s name, the alliteration AND rhyme on Spitzer’s and the idea behind the piece — that sex scandals teach us absolutely nothing. So sad. So true.
