A Tool’s Guide to Loot
Thursday, September 1st, 2005
“We fear the anarchy, the feral fanaticism and, at the heart of it, the primeval bugbear . . . ” Yes, and what we fear most of all has come to pass: Linton Weeks, the WaPo’s poetaster of Style, breaks down the cultural meaning of looting. But 12 or so graphs into his bugbear-baiting, our Style savant clearly loses track of things and resorts to that last desperate gambit of all lazy elementary school book report authors: He supplies a dictionary etymology. “The word ‘loot’ comes from Sanskrit and means ‘booty’ or ’spoil.’” But I dunno, that just isn’t folksy enough somehow, is it? You can just picture Linton whittling on the porch as he adds: “It has that basic sound to the ear. Something meaningful; something valuable.” MORE »
“We fear the anarchy, the feral fanaticism and, at the heart of it, the primeval bugbear . . . ” Yes, and what we fear most of all has come to pass: Linton Weeks, the WaPo’s poetaster of Style, breaks down the cultural meaning of looting. But 12 or so graphs into his bugbear-baiting, our Style savant clearly loses track of things and resorts to that last desperate gambit of all lazy elementary school book report authors: He supplies a dictionary etymology. “The word ‘loot’ comes from Sanskrit and means ‘booty’ or ’spoil.’” But I dunno, that just isn’t folksy enough somehow, is it? You can just picture Linton whittling on the porch as he adds: “It has that basic sound to the ear. Something meaningful; something valuable.” MORE »
