Word: styling
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Dates: during 1870-1879
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...similar nature, what kind of a set of examination papers would the writer in the Courant leave us to conclude are presented to candidates for admission to that beloved institution for which he is a champion? Undoubtedly the author has paid more attention to the sarcastic style in which his piece was written than to a fair and comprehensive discussion of his subject...
...claim that it is developed in any of us to the same degree it was in that representative man, for the very good reason that few of us feel desirous or able to spend the three or four millions required annually to support the spread-eagle style on such a scale before a gaping world. Do not, however, set down the trait as a characteristic of him alone, or even, as you may quite willingly do, attribute it also to A, and admit that you have observed it in B; but consider honestly your own case as well...
...since it is so difficult to be witty, are we to give up the attempt, and devote ourselves to a style of composition as devoid of humor as a statute-book? Certainly not. If we have not the wit to elicit an appreciative smile from our readers, we at least have the ability to throw into our expressions a certain degree of spiciness and originality; otherwise we had better cast our quill aside, and turn our thoughts to other pursuits...
Doubtless an experienced critic in examining our attempts at drollery would say at once that they were strained, unnatural, from the fact that clearness of style, consistency of thought, in short, all the requisites of finished work, had been sacrificed to the one idea of saying something funny...
...True, with our limited experience, and wit perhaps, we can hardly expect our efforts to bear even a favorable comparison with the elaborately finished work of a Holmes or Warner, whose humor seldom offends in essence or expression; yet if we would succeed at all in this vein, our style, like theirs, must be characterized by simplicity and elegance, our productions must possess pith and raciness...