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SMART TALKSMART TALK SMART TALK
By Dr. Parley Speake

GO JUMP IN THE LAKE: Please don’t take this personally. The staff of William Safire Hall, the general care facility the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired, would just like you to have the extra satisfaction of insulting people properly.

One point of the last Samuel Bacon Lecture was that to jump in a lake, you must first wade into it. Therefore, you must say, “Go jump into the lake.” Otherwise, you invite a debate on syntax, if the insultee is as smart as thee.

Similarly, you don’t get on the plane. Who would want to? Please get into the plane.

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