The American Spectator

Print Email

Text Size

The Nation's Pulse

(Page 2 of 2)

NONSENSE SYLLABLES HAVE THEIR BENEFITS in our modern commercial system. You can't sue a nonsense syllable for a false promise. If there were actually a menopause drug called Groovalot, some irate woman might well sue the maker on the basis that she didn't feel groovy at all, thank you. And she might win.

Unfortunately, syllabubs march on, into ever-more obscure oblivion. You no sooner learn the names of your prescription meds than one of them goes off patent, and next time you pick it up, the pharmacist is talking about a generic called "Alprazolam."

I've got that one. I can't even remember what the brand-name antecedent was called.

It's some kind of IQ test aimed at us oldsters, I sometimes think. When we get to the point where we can't recite three dozen nonsense syllables back when the docs ask us, "What meds are you taking?" they'll know it's time to put us away.

As if diminishing night vision weren't bad enough.

topics:
Sports