History of The Prose Competition

This brings back some serious feels and great reading. Lots of laughs.

[Thread 39466]

Originally posted by Merlion
[Thread 39466]

An RHP Heirloom Recovery circa March 2008, courtesy of hopscotch. Thanks, Merlion.

"It's the birthday of lexicographer Henry Watson Fowler (books by this author), born in Tonbridge, Kent, England (1858). He studied at Oxford and taught Latin, Greek, and English at a boys' school in northwest England for 17 years, then resigned and moved to the island of Guernsey in the English Channel, built himself a one-room cottage, and began living like a hermit. Though he spent all his time writing essays and produced enough to fill two book-length manuscripts, he could not succeed in getting them published. He then came up with the idea to write "a sort of English composition manual, from the negative point of view, for journalists & amateur writers." Collaborating with his brother on the work for Oxford University Press, he wrote The King's English (1906), which begins:

"Anyone who wishes to become a good writer should endeavour, before he allows himself to be tempted by the more showy qualities, to be direct, simple, brief, vigorous, and lucid."

The first chapter, titled "Vocabulary," lays out the following principles:

"Prefer the familiar word to the far-fetched. Prefer the concrete word to the abstract. Prefer the single word to the circumlocution. Prefer the short word to the long. Prefer the Saxon word to the Romance."

The book was a success and he was commissioned to produce The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, which appeared in 1911. His biggest success, however, was A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926), a collection of common mistakes in English that Fowler organized into categories, such as "Battered Ornaments," "Love of the Long Word," "Sturdy Indefensibles," "Swapping Horses," and "Unequal Yokefellows."

T.S. Eliot said, "Every person who wishes to write ought to read A Dictionary of Modern English Usage ... for a quarter of an hour every night before going to bed." (Calendar Writer's Almanac/March 10, 2014)

Originally posted by hopscotch
Unfortunately, or should I say, TRAGICALLY, round 9 and 10 were erased when all of catfoodtim's public forum posts were erased, so those entries are gone forever because, unfortunately, he hosted those rounds. I say it is tragic because, if I remember correctly, round 10 had some of the best entries of the entire series.

(reminder: Round12 - Thread 156409)

Say what?

Originally posted by Ponderable
yes it is, and may be we should try to float this thread?

So when do we expect the next competition?

Originally posted by Ponderable
So when do we expect the next competition?

Isn't this an annual thing?

It hasn't even been six months, has it?

Originally posted by Suzianne
Isn't this an annual thing?

It hasn't even been six months, has it?

I wouldn't mind hosting one in the interim, if there's interest.

Originally posted by SwissGambit
I wouldn't mind hosting one in the interim, if there's interest.

There is. I would be open to participate.

Originally posted by Ponderable
There is. I would be open to participate.

Wow! One interested party after 42 days. Let's do this thing!!

Two.

Originally posted by Sahuaro
Two.

Thanks

Since SwissGambit could not be arsed to renew his star, I'll run one on his behalf, IF we get one more interested party.

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
Since SwissGambit could not be arsed to renew his star, I'll run one on his behalf, IF we get one more interested party.

during two of the previous contests i wore out an apple keyboard writing and editing my lil novella...
it's still on the drawing board, nonfinished and discomplete...

and who keeps putting these dang squiggly red lines under my lovely words???

what shall we talk about???

Originally posted by rookie54
during two of the previous contests i wore out an apple keyboard writing and editing my lil novella...
it's still on the drawing board, nonfinished and discomplete...

and who keeps putting these dang squiggly red lines under my lovely words???

what shall we talk about???

"[Spelling and grammar] are of no importance, as long as one's meaning is clear." -Orwell

OK, that's a 3rd interested party. I'll formulate an announcement. Stay tuned for a new thread.