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  • The Elegant Variation is "Fowler’s (1926, 1965) term for the inept writer’s overstrained efforts at freshness or vividness of expression. Prose guilty of elegant variation calls attention to itself and doesn’t permit its ideas to seem naturally clear. It typically seeks fancy new words for familiar things, and it scrambles for synonyms in order to avoid at all costs repeating a word, even though repetition might be the natural, normal thing to do: The audience had a certain bovine placidity, instead of The audience was as placid as cows. Elegant variation is often the rock, and a stereotype, a cliché, or a tired metaphor the hard place between which inexperienced or foolish writers come to grief. The familiar middle ground in treating these homely topics is almost always the safest. In untrained or unrestrained hands, a thesaurus can be dangerous."
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July 06, 2007

DUTTONS LIVES!

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that plans to demolish Duttons Brentwood have been scrapped.  Local activists are credited with the change of heart.

Billionaire Charles T. Munger said Thursday that he has scrapped plans to build 60 luxury condos on San Vicente Boulevard in favor of erecting a two-story retail complex that would retain Dutton's Brentwood Books in a new and improved space.

"I was wrong," Munger said of his plans, made public in January, to build high-end residential units as part of a mixed-use development at the property just east of Bundy Drive. The idea sparked an uprising among residents and longtime fans of Dutton's, who feared the store's demise.

Munger, 83, said the neighborhood's staunch opposition to the project and concern for Dutton's prompted his change of heart.

Posted by at 08:47 AM in Local Heroes |

| | |

Comments

shauna

Hooray!

Not to show any ingratitude, but um:

"Munger, 83, said the neighborhood's staunch opposition to the project and concern for Dutton's prompted his change of heart."

Maybe the total collapse of the residential real estate market has something to do with scrapping plans to build and sell 60 luxury condos?

I'm just saying.

Posted by: shauna | July 06, 2007 at 09:10 AM

Kevin Smokler

Thank you from all of us, Mr. Munger. Dutton's is a legacy worth celebrating.

Posted by: Kevin Smokler | July 10, 2007 at 01:51 PM

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