After all, some language is so irresistible that some of us come to think of
it as our own. We can't help ourselves. It's the verbal form of kleptomania,
this compulsion to appropriate others' clevernesses.
Joe Biden, the senator from Delaware, was once so impressed by some Brit's
eloquent speech that he adopted it as his own.
It's understandable why others' good stories and perfect phrases should
tempt us to borrow them. What's not understandable is why people would steal
bad prose. It's not the theft that troubles in such cases, but the poor
taste of the thief.
The late Molly Ivins is my exemplar in these matters. When she was caught
sounding word-for-word like Florence King - accidentally, of course - let it
be said for Miss Molly that she had the taste to copy from the very best.
Originality is a much overrated virtue compared to good taste in collecting.
To quote a once celebrated Southern author, James Branch Cabell, "very few
sane architects commence an edifice by planting and rearing the oaks which
are to compose its beams and stanchions. You take over all such supplies
ready hewn, and choose by preference time-seasoned timber."
Hear, hear! I wish I'd said that. And someday I just might.
It's not imitation but plagiarism that is the highest form of flattery. But
always call it Research! |