The pain of chocolate

From End of the Pier Show (Henry Gee at Nature Network):

".....In the office I googled ‘pain au chocolate’ and instead of receiving the usual error – ‘Did you mean “pain au chocolat”?’ – I got scads of recipes for the fictitious pastry with the extra ‘e’. Had the world gone mad? To check, I bearded my colleague Oliver Morton, Nature’s respected Chief News and Features Editor, a man who combines wit, a forthright manner and urban sophistication with an ability to spell. He reasured me that, no, I hadn’t gone mad, and that the superfluous ‘e’ was (and I quote) “a sad reflection on the world in which we live”.... "

Read on for thoughts on spelling, careers and the fragility of trust -- not to mention train journeys even more insanely early than mine. Though my train doesn't have a buffet. Hence no hurtful product of the cocoa bean, no "almost coffee", and no excuse for a blog post. (Debra, if you are reading, please note with, I hope, approval, the last comma in that list in the previous sentence.)

Comments

[Dave Lull]

For a discussion of the serial comma see Petrona's Horses for courses:

http://petrona.typepad.com/petrona/2006/12/horses_for_cour.html

[Susan Balée]

I read Henry's piece which is, indeed, very funny. Like the commenter on his blog, I believe someone needs to write a book titled "The Pain of Chocolate." But I think it should be a diet book as opposed to a grammaresque "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves."

By the bye, I've just finished a wonderful collection of personal essays by Anne Fadiman, "At Large and At Small." Her piece on coffee is wonderful. I had to go brew a pot after I read it!

[Maxine]

Thank you, Dave and Susan, for your comments.
Dave, thanks also for the link -- after I wrote the post last night Petrona was down: in fact I thought I may have lost it -- so could not check out that old link. Many thanks for doing so!
Susan, good thought, just going to put that coffee on now. And thanks for the reading tip.

[Henry Gee]

There's a spelling error in the quote above - which I have now corrected. It's amazing, when writing a piece about careless spelling, how easy it is to be hoisted on one's own petard.

[Maxine]

I'm reasured (reassured), Henry ;-)

[Dave Lull]

"[Anne Fadiman's] piece on coffee is wonderful. I had to go brew a pot after I read it!"

That essay now can be found here:

http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,,2216039,00.html

[Sally Crawford]

Susan Balée,

Don't, please, even get us started on the Oxford or serial comma ('Eats, Shoots, and Leaves'). I mean, I don't think even the good Lynne deals with that one - although she may do.

'Grammaresque' is very acceptable though. :))