We have read your manuscript with boundless delight. If we were to publish your paper, it would be impossible for us to publish any work of lower standard. And as it is unthinkable that in the next thousand years we shall see its equal, we are, to our regret, compelled to return your divine composition, and to beg you a thousand times to overlook our short sight and timidity.
-- Rejection slip from a Chinese economic journal, quoted in the Financial Times --
Have a great Wednesday!
Hmmm. Perhaps there's a lot to be said for reading tone in that rejection letter.
ReplyDeleteIt made me think of this comment written on a student paper by an English professor (oh, they can be such elitist, sarcastic, bratty snobs) from Ohio University:
"I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top."
This is the kind of guiding mentor to whom America entrusts its youth.
Hurry back, Cipriano. I am lost without your daily commentary.
Like thread through a needle. . . .
Yes anonymous, thank you for your comments and for adding that you are utterly adrift without my daily soul-nourishment.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that English professors and snobbishism are so inseparably linked? Why is it that they go together, like peanut butter and honey?
Anyhoo... your added comment, about the student's paper, reminds me of this little snippet of helpful advice, attributed to the great Samuel Johnson:
"Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good."
English professors are definitely BRATTY... yes. It just seems to go with the territory.
I am having the time of my life, on hiatus!
Cippy