This is the one I actually saved.
"the moral conscience at ease accomplishes nothing."
By Elizabeth Bruenig in Arlington, Tex.
Videos by Gillian Brockell
Updated Sept. 21, 2018 washington post version
"intellectual wars between creationists and scientists"
The use of the word intellectual is wrong. Creationists weren't guided by intellect. The case "Edwards v. Aguillard" showed that.
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Anything written by Dennis Overbye - the man's a genius.
Loved this. Thanks
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For Most Trenchant quote, I nominate Daniel Victor's first two lines about Knickers:
"The world’s expectations for a hero have perhaps never been lower.
"Which brings us to the steer."
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Thank you, dear Times writers, for your humor and your craft. And please, Times, bring back bylines to the website so I can look for work by these writers in the future.
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Jeff Giles's line reminds me of one of my own, from a review of a campus production in a student newspaper:
"Then the first singer began to sing, and I thought of Broadway -- during a traffic jam."
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I think Jeff Giles takes the honors here, which is great in a review. But I recall some of the other lines in news reporting where, quite frankly, they made me cringe. I really want news to be presented deeply but neutrally, not as literature.
You would perhaps be better served by reprinting quotes from the comments section. I often get my best laughs, and sometimes best insights there.
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The folks who set up the wreathes and tree on the Holland Tunnel, probably frustrated a bit by the controversy, could have responded by telling complainers to go to "L"
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If we get to vote on these, mine goes to Michael Gold's, "And there, N, lies the problem." Please, please, please, New York Times, let us vote.
To the estimable Mr. Gold I say, "You have written something I will wish I had written for the rest of my days on earth (full disclosure: I'm seventy-three and in reasonably good health. But if I had read this at age seventeen, I would feel the same way)."
I haven't laughed out loud at anything in the Times since, oh, early November of 2016. I did today. thanks and happy holidays to everyone at the Times. Now I'm going to put the Ray Charles-Betty Carter cover of "Baby, It's Cold Outside," on the stereo (loud) and read the article all over again.
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@crowdancer
please read (or reread) the article-poem:
'Baby, It’s Cold Outside' — A Trump Tune
Yet another way of looking at the song, perhaps
By Timothy Egan / Dec. 21, 2018
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I love this! All the writers deserve a round of applause, but the one I keep chuckling at — darkly — is the Mitt Romney duck thing. That’s the guy who drove to Canada with his dog in a cage on the roof of his car. And he ran for President. And people actually voted for him.
(Places hand on forehead and sighs.)
Second in the running is,“Knickers looks the way you feel when you don’t know anyone at a party.” Hinestly, that is me at just about every party. My mental caption for that photo is, “Do these spots make me look fat?”.
Cheers and a hat tip to all.
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I kind of liked "And there, N, lies the problem. As to the balance of the selected lines, they'll be quickly forgotten.
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@Jim McDonald . This would make the best headline.
Enjoyed ‘em all. In my book, “And there, N, lies the problem” can’t be beat. LOL
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A thoroughly enjoyable article. The Times clearly doesn't follow the advice of Arthur Quiller-Couch in "On the Art of Writing": "Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—wholeheartedly—and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings."
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If you didn’t read to the end of this piece, you should. I loved the Holland Tunnel line. Highly N-tertaining.
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Would it not be less self congratulatory — and more journalistic!— for the Times to pick the best quotes from the people it has covered instead of the people who work as reporters for the newspaper? This is the navel-gazing and braggadocio that gives journalists a bad name. Please be above it. You’re the messenger, not the story. Always.
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I suspect many readers enjoy these behind-the-scenes looks at how journalists think about and do their jobs.
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@Louise They should do both.
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@Louise, good grief. Give the writers a few moments in the sunshine. Be generous.
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Dumbest column of the year...
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@RS
Oh, come on. Lighten up. Its the end of a really tough year.
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My favorite comment was the person who wrote in, following Nikki Haley's resignation from being Ambassador to the United Nations, "I only need Jeff Sessions for bingo."
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There you have it, the reason I read the New York Times instead of my local fish wrap.
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The most memorable?
The end choices are linguistically bankrupted.
This was great! It actually encouraged me to read some articles I hadn't come across.
I have to disagree, though, with the line chosen for Sam Dolnick's article The Man Who Knew Too Little. As I was reading, this was the standout line for me:
Extreme as it is, it’s a path that likely holds some appeal for liberals these days — a D.I.Y. version of moving to Canada.
Perfect! And yes, it definitely holds some appeal...
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"One of the cows thinks you're cute."
Blushing, then, after a quick glance, in prescient, fatalistic resignation:
"And I guess you don't need to tell me which one?"
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lol.
The placement of the wreaths and tree could be better understood if they were at least trying to center the space between them but they didn't even do that.
Maybe they'll rename it the Hollaad Tonnel to avoid any more confusion.
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@nom de guerre, I heard a guy being interviewed about the “Tonnel” kerruffle on CBC Radio (Oh, Canada!). After getting a bit worked up about the illogical annoyance of it all, he told he the interviewer he was surprised anyone in Canadian media would be interested in the story. The interviewer, who has a very laconic voice, said, with a chuckle, “This is right up our alley, to be honest with you.” This was followed by some after-interview puns traded between anchors. And that is why I love CBC Radio. They have a sense of humor I think is too often lacking in mainstream US news coverage.
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The tree over the 'N' bothers people, but the 'O' over the 'U' doesn't? The Holland Tonnel is OK?
There was a petition for this?
The entire thing is so ugly, the fake greenery is some sort of comic relief, whatever letter it's covering.
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How very 2018 that they’re picking their own best lines.
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From the article about the Trump family fraudulent raising tenants’ rents—a lawyer encouraging them to sue:
“If I was talking to those tenants right now, I’d say: ‘Do it. Go,’” Mr. Grinthal said. “This case should be fought.”
“Do it. Go” should be printed on t-shirts supporting everyone challenging the President’s illegality.
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Michael Gold's Holland Tunnel sentence made me laugh out loud.
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One of my favorite comments comes from a frequent contributor, someone named Gemli who says of Trump, "So today his appeal to the heartland has caused panic in the brain land".
Speaking of Trump, when seeing him scowling in stony silence these days, I'm reminded of this comment from the famous British author P.G.Wodehouse, who in observing one of the members of the Drones Club, says "If he had a mind, something was on it".
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@David Forster
Many of my favorite comments come from Gemli. In this article, however, I love the one about the linguistic traffic jam.
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@David Forster
Much as I enjoy Gemli's comments, again a reminder to those who admonish all midwesterners that millions of us in the "heartland" are progressive or liberal. Just as in other states, we tend to live in urban/suburban areas, it's the rural dwellers who are solid red (as they tend to be in all states).
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"I know more about tech than anyone."
~Donald Trump
This from a man who doesn't use e-mail.
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Thank you, Matt Flegenheimer, but oh for the cluelessness of Mitt Romney. Wouldn’t that be wonderful right about now?
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@Mike Sullivan
I can't help but think he was trying to make up for the dog riding on the car roof incident. Oh look, empathy for ducks, he's evidently evolved!
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"....there are dozens of linguistic traffic jams where you can almost hear the words honking at each other to get out of the way."
My favorite sentence fragment ever.
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This is a real treat for those of us who love and need the kind of writing here N the nyt.
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"And there, N, lies the problem" wins handily!
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And these are the reasons you are called "wordsmiths". Thank you for your creativity and intelligence. Oh, and also for all of the essential "fake news"!
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"Mexico will pay for it, believe me."
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I nominate: 'and there, N, lies the problem.' Love it !!
This is rather self-congratulatory. Would the Times not do better to highlight the clever words of those who made the news rather than those who reported it?
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Several of those nominated lines just support the notion that many NYT writers take themselves far too seriously...
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"Too many notes."
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The lesson WE should take from the picture of Knickers:
None of the other cows care if Knickers is different. To them he is just another cow.
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What the Times refused to published. What we need is Trump free media.
Not that it isn't good writing, but Dan Barry's first sentence about the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School seems out of place. Perhaps dividing and expanding into a variety of categories (features, hard news, arts and entertainment, letters) might be a good idea in future.
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Does this give us license to repost our own favorite comments of 2018? If so, I nominate
"We are burning the furniture. The correct narrative for this is not `look at all this wood!'"
from my comment on ‘Yellow Vest’ Protests Shook France. Here’s the Lesson for Climate Change, 12/06/2018.
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