My wife thinks this cartoon summarizes her life. It just might.
I'm trying to cut back but sometimes it's irresistible. I don't send stuff on "that begs the question" when people really means it raises the question anymore. Life is just too short.
Still, at her prompting, I did write to the NYT writer about his use of the phrase "prodigal son" in this article:
"So far, no one has taken up Mr. Pettit's call for Philadelphia's best grave robbers to bring home the city's prodigal son before the bicentennial of Poe's birth in January 2009."
The parable of the prodigal son is about a son who prematurely claims his inheritance and spends it all wastefully. That's what makes him prodigal: his wastefulness of a great resource.
You label Poe a prodigal son because you think the parable is about leaving or leaving and returning rather than the wastefulness. Poe was perhaps wasteful of his talent or his money, but that is not the central part of your argument.
No doubt that will set everyone straight and we can move on.
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