Fashion Board--Penske . . . forever!

[Spanky]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
On page 174, Friedman is describing a flight he took on Southwest Airlines from Baltimore to Hartford, Connecticut...

I stomped off, went through security, bought a Cinnabon, and glumly sat at the back of the B line, waiting to be herded on board so that I could hunt for space in the overhead bins.

Forget the Cinnabon. Name me a herd animal that hunts. Name me one.

This would be a small thing were it not for the overall pattern. Thomas Friedman does not get these things right even by accident. It's not that he occasionally screws up and fails to make his metaphors and images agree.

It is OK to make criticisms, but only if you can come up with specific examples to support your criticisms. Otherwise you are just name calling. That is exactly what this review is: random name calling appropriate for a twelve year old. Out of all the blanket statements this guy makes the only specific criticism is the one he makes above. The reviewer avers that you can't say "herded onto an airplane" and then "hunt for a space in the overhead bin" because that is mixing metaphors and images. Really. Friedman never said riding on Southwest was like being a herd animal - (although that would have been correct) - so there is no metaphor here and therefore no mixing metaphors. As for mixed images, he just used the verb "herded” and used the verb "to hunt. There are no images here, just descriptive verbs. The only image "hunting for a bin" brings to my mind is well....hunting for a bin. There are no images to mix, and if there were, is it such a crime to mix them?

That is the best example he can come up with to support an endless barrage of unsubstantiated criticisms? He says it may seem a small thing - well then why didn't he use another example that is not a small thing? Why is this the only example?

Please tell me I misinterpreted this post and you were really showing this review to show how pathetic the reviewer is.

I have a lot of criticisms of Friedman but this review is pathetic.