From time to time, something reminds me of the article by E.B. White called "Irtnog". https://fearfunandfiloz.blogspot.com/2018/10/irtnog-20.html His piece tells the story of the increase in writing and the consequent trouble readers have in keeping up. The Reader's Digest came along to condense articles but other digests sprang up and soon there were too many digests to digest quickly and keep up. Then a genius condensed everything down to one single word. If you knew that word of the day, you were ok and you hadn't missed anything. The word for a recent day was "Irtnog".
Just like 1938, only much much more so, we are living in a time that is a challenge. One strategy for keeping up, other than condensing and digesting, is choice. My article is only one among many others. Sometimes, I hope to get more readers by using a dramatic title:
This is a MUST read!
Don't miss this!
Don't miss out!
Be the first in your circles to read this!
One can employ superlatives:
The best book of the day
The best book of the week
The best book in English
The best book ever, anywhere
I see this book, tv show, automobile, shirt, pants, whiskey, hamburger will "change your life." The next step is to add a long dramatic time frame: This book, movie, cheese wil "change your life FOREVER!"
My research shows that if you have read this far, you have changed your life and mine FOREVER. A short while back, I had not had you as a reader of this post. Back then, you had not read this post. But from now on, we are both living with your having read this post! Zowie! Gazoom-ist!
Ok, the truth is that every instant is fresh and new and has never happened before. The addition of each instant changes my life from before (no instance of THAT INSTANT) to after (THAT INSTANT) has happened and is part of my life. Weird thing is, while instants are changing my life forever, instants are changing yours, too!
