In an essay on King Lear, the philosopher Stanley Cavell describes Lear’s daughter Regan, who orders the eyes of her father’s loyal friend Gloucester gouged out, thusly: “She has no ideas of her own; her special vileness is always to increase the measure of pain others are prepared to inflict; her mind is itself a lynch mob.” A year and a half into Trump’s incitement of a campaign, this seems the most concise formulation of his character: He has no ideas of his own; his special vileness is always to increase the measure of rhetorical violence others are prepared to inflict; his mind is itself a political mob.
October 4th, 2016 at 8:20PM
Sorry. Not to be pedantic, but is “thusly” an English word? I thought that itself “thus” is an atypical adverb.
October 4th, 2016 at 8:22PM
Oops should read “thus itself.
October 5th, 2016 at 4:38AM
Greg: Thusly, thus: IMHO, they’re both awkward, ugly words. They belong at the end of a scientific paper: Thus, the control group with advanced diabetes…
October 5th, 2016 at 9:37AM
Here is how I have remembered to use “thus” over the years:
Refutation of Bishop Berkeley
The Samuel Johnson Sound Bite Page
57. Refutation of Bishop Berkeley
After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley’s ingenious sophistry to prove the nonexistence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it — “I refute it thus.”
Boswell: Life
But, after I posted, I realized that this is a word which is so strange to most ears that using the original form is probably distracting to most who are looking for the usual suffix . Thus thusly may be a better choice.
Truly did not mean to be pedantic. I enjoy your blog greatly in general but probably most for the literary material and the commentary on the English language. Just wondered what you opinion would be after reconsideration.
By the way, under the category “languages march on” have you read the well done and provocative:
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English
by John McWhorter?
To me, McWhorter, a Columbia University linguistics professor, makes a convincing case that the Celtic influence has been greatly neglected among the influences on English language development– of course proto-German is still the primary one. “I’m going to make some dinner.” Originally meant just that — a trip somewhere, however brief, as instrumental to the project. Then the “going to” form became largely token of future action. A stationary man says “I am going to close my eyes now.” WcWhorter offers many other fairly convincing views about influences on the development of English.