It was Sherlock Holmes in “His Last Bow” who said that, and I’m paraphrasing here, that two years undercover as the American Pinkterton detective Altamont had left his font of English permanently defiled.
I’ve watched too much British television. My own font of English has been permantently defiled.
I typed out a sentence, and wrote out “armed with torches.” I knew what I meant, but someone else reading that might think I meant the characters were carrying wooden clubs alight with flame, when what I meant was a torch, a mechanical, electrical light-thingee.
Oh, flashlight. That must be the word I want. 😉
Except that I really like “torch” in this particular context. But it has to go.
Published by Allyn
A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over ten years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.
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