Ripper Notes #28 - "The Legend Continues"

[CraigInTwinCities]

Hi Craig,

A couple of quick clarifications here, if I may...

Ripperoo hasn't been around for at least four years. There are still four Ripper periodicals, though, because you forgot Ripperana, which is still around, at least as far as I know.

It's not particularly meaningful to call Ripper Notes a U.S. journal. Only one of our three editors is from the United States. We publish from printing presses on two continents, take payments in two different currencies, and have contributors from around the world. We're "The International Journal for Ripper Studies," and have been for a long time. Yes, I happen to live in the United States, but then so do both of the editors of Ripperologist, and nobody calls that a U.S. journal.

All good points and duly noted. I didn't realize Ripperoo was gone under down under, LOL. And yup, forgot Ripperana. I guess I refer to RN as a US pub out of habit more than anything, but yes, it's grown to be widely spread out globally.

No harm meant... just meant to make the point that I don't think the market is even close to saturated with Ripper journals just yet...

[CraigInTwinCities]

...but first there's an article about Romanticizing Mary Kelly. As I am reading it, a nagging thought keeps popping into my head; the fact that I’ve read this before. Exactly and in its entirety…what? Craig you dirty plagiarizer!... Er nope…a search shows that it was published months ago on the web and been soundly discussed on the boards following that posting. Once again…trees died for this....

I bask in what, from Ally, can only be called a rave review. Libelous plagerism charges aside (it's my blog, I think I'm allowed to post my own writing on my blog, LOL), I somehow suffered the least of her all-out attack.

I'VE MADE IT IN RIPPEROLOGY! LOL

Oh, and I love it when trees die for me... Helps me sleep soundly at night.

[CraigInTwinCities]

I read Craig Hansen's brief essay, which was pretty much like a couple of posts I've written on a few threads. I should have had a byline on that baby!

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

Golly, Tom... Siding with Ally? LOL... It's a marriage for you two, then!

[CraigInTwinCities]

Tom

Are you the one who told Craig that Mary Kelly was a native of London?

Apparently some folks enjoy taking quotes out of context. "...at the time of her death" just blurred past you?

Of course, interpreting the phrase "a native of" leaves things open to misinterpretation, I suppose. The modifying phrase should have clarified the meaning, though.

Some would, of course, prefer the phrasing "a resident of London at the time of her death," but even that can be similarly mis-read if folks are of a mind to be critical.

Oh well.

[Robert]

Hi Craig

I must be missing something. Surely a native of London is someone who was born in London?

"A resident of London" would have been fine, except that the word "allegedly" seems odd.

Robert

[Tom_Wescott]

Pay Robert no mind, Craig. He's just a message board bully. Don't let him in your head or he will own you.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Robert]

Hi Craig

Actually, I wouldn't have mentioned it, except that I saw a chance to rib Tom.

I am an extremely self-effacing, unassuming sort of bloke.

THE Robert Linford

[caz]

Apparently some folks enjoy taking quotes out of context. "...at the time of her death" just blurred past you?

Of course, interpreting the phrase "a native of" leaves things open to misinterpretation, I suppose. The modifying phrase should have clarified the meaning, though.

Some would, of course, prefer the phrasing "a resident of London at the time of her death," but even that can be similarly mis-read if folks are of a mind to be critical.

Oh well.

Hi Robert,

Yes, fancy letting the context just blur past you like that. You missed the second howler.

Hi Craig,

Please tell me you didn't really write:

'Mary Kelly was a native of London at the time of her death'.

And Ally let you get away with two howlers the size of a native of Croydon??

If I am still here in Croydon at the time of my death, one thing I thought I could console myself with is the fact that I am a Londoner, born and bred, ie a native of London.

The natives of Croydon are revolting.

Love,

Caz
X

[Ally]

Caz,

When you realize that the article you are currently reading in a fresh off the presses magazine was already published online months and months ago and that the article was already linked on the boards, discussed on the boards and nitpicked on the boards, all minor inconsequentials are lost in the overwhelming refrain:

Trees died for this.

And besides it's hardly me who let him get away with the howlers. That would be the editors. I really had nothing to do with it.

[CraigInTwinCities]

Trees died for this.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

(See? I told you trees dying for me helps me sleep soundly at night)

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[CraigInTwinCities]

Pay Robert no mind, Craig. He's just a message board bully. Don't let him in your head or he will own you.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

Thanks, Tom.

Bullies, even on the 'net, are usually pretty self evident. (Like those who have not one good thing to say about an entire issue... must be on the payroll of some other pub...)

[caz]

Hi Craig,

I quite agree - Robert is the prettiest, most self evident bully I've ever seen on these boards.

And I'm a banana with cream and a cherry on top.

Hi Ally,

Yes, I see what you mean. I do remember seeing some of the previous nitpicking on the boards, and I may even have read the whole article at the time. So l really should have picked up on those two howlers myself.

My daughter saw the offending material last night as she read over my shoulder (ie the bit about Mary Kelly being 'a native of London at the time of her death' - I'm still wincing; she'll be in bed until lunchtime ). She thought our reactions (mine and Robert's) were a whole lot more charitable than hers would have been in light of the misdirected swipe Craig took at Robert the Bully. She remarked that the 'modifying phrase' that 'should have clarified the meaning' only clarifies the fact that the writer hasn't the foggiest idea what the word 'native' means.

Love,

Caz
X

[Tom_Wescott]

Taking a momentary hiatus from Craig and Andy bashing, I was curious if anyone has bothered to read Dan's essay. Did it just go over everybody's heads?

I've read the whole issue except for the conference stuff since I'm pretty well read up on that from Casebook and Ripper Notes. While I agree with Ally that it's a shame it took up so much space in an issue not really all that long, I also see the other side - Ripper Notes is the ONLY print periodical in Ripperology capable of covering these events in any great detail for the reference of people well into the future. As we've seen with the Casebook many times in the past, cyber-storage is not exactly dependable and everything can be lost in the blink of an eye.

Anyway, back to Dan's essay. A lot of good, topical, controversial stuff in here and neery a peep thus far. Even from Ally. What's up with that?

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[aspallek]

Was I bashed? I hardly felt it....

[Stephen Thomas]

Some would, of course, prefer the phrasing "a resident of London at the time of her death," but even that can be similarly mis-read if folks are of a mind to be critical
.

Hi Craig

How could that be mis-read?