Don’t know whether Howie Carr was tired or a Boston Herald copy editor has never heard of the term “plug ugly.” But an extra a misplaced comma provides an unintended bit of hilarity in Carr’s column today: “Mitt not only got his teeth knocked out by Mike Huckabee, but the Huckster and his new plug, ugly Ed Rollins, mussed up his hair pretty good, too.”
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That was a funny book–raj
Huh. I always thought it was “pug ugly”. Learn something new every day!
O’d bet dollars to doughnuts that it’s the copy editor’s fault. Howie has obviously watched more than his share of Jimmy Cagney-Pat O’Brien-Edward G. Robinson gangster movies.Bob in Peabody
It’s not an extra comma, but a misplaced comma. It should have been: “Mitt not only got his teeth knocked out by Mike Huckabee, but the Huckster and his new plug ugly, Ed Rollins, mussed up his hair pretty good, too.”Plug ugly is a noun. Plug ugly doesn’t describe what Rollins looks like (except indirectly). It describes what kind of person he is: a bully.The commas set off the parenthetical “Ed Rollins,” which is the name of his new plug ugly.It’s a parenthetical because there can be only one “new pug ugly.” Therefore, “Ed Rollins” doesn’t modify the phrase. If Howie had struck “new” it could have been written: “Mitt not only got his teeth knocked out by Mike Huckabee, but the Huckster and his plug ugly Ed Rollins, mussed up his hair pretty good, too.” This is similar to the situation where one has more than one brother: “He went fishing with his brother James.” In both cases the names — “James” and “Ed Rollins” — modify the nouns — “brother” and “pug ugly” — and are not parentheticals.Thus endeth the pedantry.
Whoops, if Howie struck “new,” there would be no comma after Rollins, either.The comma after “Rollins” is good evidence that Howie intended “Ed Rollins” as a parenthetical.Now endeth the pedantry.
Sean: Obviously I meant to say “misplaced comma,” and I’ve now fixed it. What you’re saying is that Howie intended “Ed Rollins” to be a nonrestrictive (or nonessential, if you’re following along in your AP Stylebook) phrase; but it ended up with “ugly Ed Rollins” as the nonrestrictive phrase.
I did’t know Huckabee and Rollins were “hooking up”. Just shows you how far these guys will go to get the gay vote. Eats, Shoots & Leaves is a great book.
Pedantry or no, it’s a great lesson in why grammar is important. Grandpa, too. —Larz
It’s interesting to see Carr Knee-Capping Romney, he must have stiffed him on interview requests.