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   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9 2022-07-03   
   Ardith Hinton to Anton Shepelev:   
      
   AS>> I think `suit' there denotes general perseverence in an   
   AS>> effort, but the dict.org begs to differ:   
   AH> According to THE FREE DICTIONARY, this term may refer   
   AH> either to card games or to a highly developed   
   AH> characteristic/talent/skill.  Dict.org says it may refer   
   AH> to a person's best asset & uses neatness as an example.   
      
   Indeed: I saw that boring, if not ill, example while writing   
   the my previous post. It says: "Neatness is not his strong   
   suit".  But neatness is a passive quality, not requiring   
   creativity, courage, fortitude, or vigour.  Characterising   
   it as a "suit" devaluates the word!   
      
   AH> The second alternative is more figurative... but I think   
   AH> you were on the right track when you mentioned   
   AH> perseverance WRT Alexander's citation.   
      
   But I dislike that citation on the same ground as the   
   dict.org exmaple. A suit of a man to a maid (whence   
   `suitor') is more to my taste.   
      
   AH> No matter what talents an individual was born with, they   
   AH> may be improved by hard work & perseverance.   
      
   I quote the above for the fun of mentioning my surprise upon   
   initiaal misreading of `improved' as `removed'.   
      
   AH> We could also say neatness isn't a person's forte, using   
   AH> the term as it's used in music to refer to strength (but   
   AH> not necessarily to volume).  :-)   
      
   I believe `forte' refers to the attack of the sound rather   
   than to its volume -- a term I know not from music but from   
   electroacoustics.  Yours is a fine point in both senses. It   
   leads to many interesting insights and contrasts: Imagine a   
   fast-rocking song with minor chords (example upon request!),   
   a naturally bright color (Yellow, Cyan) in a low tone.   
      
      
   P.S.: I offer my warmest compliments on the coming of the   
         New Year and the going of the Old one.  Has anything   
         changed, except the snow in the streets is not last   
         year's?   
      
   P.P.S.: I see you indent the first line of your paragraphs   
           by nine spaces, which may be a typewriter   
           convention.  But they having no line breaks, each   
           one is essentially a very long single line, whose   
           proper display depends on whether and how the client   
           software re-flows it to screen width. I therefore   
           propose another step towards the typewriter   
           canon -- breaking lines at a readable lenght, which   
           is usually between sixty-five and seventy two   
           characters.   
      
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