Michael Critz

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• about 1 year ago, rolig said: Mcritz, I apologize if it sounded like I was getting on your case about the word (b)icicle, and I somehow completely missed your pronunciation guide to the word. The technique of inserting elements in parenthethes as a way of making a pun happens to be something that just gets on my nerves: overused in literary theory by American deconstructionists since at least the 1980s, this is a typographical conceit that usually cannot be aurally conveyed. If I heard your suggested pronunciation for "(b)icicle", I might easily assume it was spelled "b'icicle" or "ba'icicle"; there would be no reason for me to think of parentheses. The pun works visually, but not aurally. I have the feeling that ever since schoolchildren stopped learning how to recite poetry and other texts, the art of reading with the ears, and not only the eyes, has been dying out.
  
  Thanks for responding to my curmudgeonly comment.