The WAY to WOW Shows
Cocktails & Great Books: The Elements of Style
August 28, 2025
Automatically generated from YouTube captions; names and wording may contain errors.

[0:07] Who are you and where are you going? What do you want? [Music] Hello and welcome to Jiggers's Place. I'm your host Kevin Bemel and uh I'm here in Jiggers at Jiggers's Place every other Thursday at 5:00 PM Pacific time so we can sit back, have a cocktail and

[0:42] a schmoo as I like to say, see teach a little Yiddish uh and uh as we head into the end of the week. So today and and and and for those of you who watch the show or have seen it before, so you know that one of the uh consistent themes is great books and I've talked about 19th century literature. I talked about uh Stephen Crane's extraordinary book uh where uh the red badge of courage uh and I' I've

[1:18] talked about others. So this this show I'm going to be talking about what I would argue is the seinal book on how to write English well and it's known as the elements of style and it was wr written by a Cornell English professor named William Strum. Uh, and I'm going to talk more about uh, William Strunk uh, when we sit down, but for now

[1:54] I'm going to make a cocktail called the Strunk. So, it's it's a riff on the uh, the sidecar, which is a brandybased cocktail, a classic classic cocktail, okay? Or or or a variation if you if you know if you don't like the word riff. So uh and and it's compi it's comp comprised of brandy in this case I'm you using deoui um cognac this is a vss cognac vss means very special it's the youngest of the

[2:32] cognacs I believe it's vs is aged for about a year if memory serves but you have vs you have vo and then you have exo not exe executive officer for those of you who like me were in the Navy. Exo means extraordinary or extraordinarily old. Okay, so it's got uh brandy in this case, cognac, by the way, like champagne. Champagne can only come from the Champagne region in France. Cognac can only come from the cognac region in

[3:09] France. That's why it's called cognac. There's another type of brandy called Armanyak, which as you might guess comes from Armanyak in France. Okay? And there are bries made all over the world. When we say brandy, we typically need mean brandy uh distilled from a grapebased uh liquor. But there are all kinds of fruit bries. uh pear, peach, apricot, cherry, uh kirwaser is a is a very famous German

[3:44] uh cherry brandy. So all kinds of bries. Uh but when we when we say brandy just all by itself, usually we we we mean a grape based brandy and cognac is among the finest in the world. Okay. Then we're going to add some orange liquor. In this case, I'm using Quantro, my my favorite orange liquor, especially since it's it's mentioned in the movie Casablanca. Uh, and u uh but but again, there are lots and lots of different orange lurs and and triple sack, which if you're a a

[4:20] margarita drinker, uh you may you may be familiar with tripack. That's another type of orange liquor. Okay? And by the way, you can make fantastic margaritas with quantra. Okay. And then two other ingredients. Um some lemon juice. If you get if you get my if you're on my email list, you get the recipe. It says fresh orange uh a fresh lemon juice. I'm not using fresh. Um I'm just using a very nice pre-made uh lemon juice. And then good old angura bitters. So, we're going to start out and we're going to put this

[4:56] in a cocktail shaker. I have my chilled uh uh cocktail glass, aka what what most people call a martini glass uh because that's what martini martinis are served in a cocktail glass. Uh but it's it's actually known as a cocktail glass. And we're going to get 2 oz of brandy. A little bit more. There we go. Okay. I've got ice in my shaker as I'm sure you have already guessed. See if we can get this this cork back in here. There we go.

[5:33] Okay. And we're going to use a half ounce of quantro. Now, for those of you who are who um like me keep kosher, you may say, "Wait, wait, quantro? There's no certification on quantro." That's correct. But quantro made in France is kosher even if it doesn't have a certification on it. Um and that's a nice thing. And so um just make sure the quantro you're buying is sourced in France and you're good to go. So, a half ounce of quantra

[6:08] and a half ounce of of lemon juice. Okay. Go. and into the shaker. And just one dash of Angusura bitters. Okay. And now we are going to shake it.

[6:46] I always mention this. We're not shaking it just to mix the ingredients together, but also to let some of the ice melt. So the water and the various ingredients mix to get mixed together and open up the flavors. You can see the hopefully you can see the shaker is looking all frosty now. Okay. And of course, you know, very skilled bartenders have all sorts of fancy ways they shake. If you've ever seen the movie Cocktail, you'll remember that. It's uh

[7:21] can't can't think of the actor's name now. But anyway, uh famous for what the Mission Impossible movies and the Top Gun movies and he was also, like I said, in in the movie Cocktail. Okay, that's that's pretty good. About 20 to 30 seconds should be enough. And let's see if I can There we go. Get the cover off. And we'll pour this. Okay. It's got kind of a golden flavor.

[7:58] Oops. Going to spill it. So, take a sip here. Ah, very refreshing. Okay, I'll see you on the sofa.

[8:43] H you know it's my favorite day of the every other two week period uh to to be with you and uh have a cocktail. This is quite delicious. What's not to like about cognac and a little quantro and lemon juice? Very refreshing. Okay, so uh as I mentioned in in the opening,

[9:18] we're going to talk about the elements of style. So this is a um basically a faximile of the original book. um a recreation of it and you can see it's small. Imagine if high school English were cons, you know, consisted or even college English consisted of reading this book. We could have done it in, you know, an hour basically. It's what not even 100 pages long. It's 52 pages long, right?

[9:54] And in many ways, this is what you need to know in order to write well. So, let me let me tell you a little bit about um William Strunk. He was born in 1896, so in the 19th century. And he was, as I mentioned, he was an America. He was an American, a professor of English at Cornell University where he taught for more than three decades. So you know that's we these days we think of universities

[10:30] as places where a lot of research is done and and that is much more the case now than it used to be. But in the 19th and I would say through perhaps the middle of the 20th century, universities were first and foremost places of teaching and learning. That that's why they existed. Uh the the while they were modeled on the German research university that the focus there was far less of a focus on research then there is now. So um he and and

[11:10] as a man of the Victorian era uh Strunk really developed a passion for the English language, for communicating in English and in particular for writing in English. and he he really dedicated his life to helping his students master the art of communicating in the English language and writing effectively. And he believed that good writing should be concise,

[11:45] direct and free from unnecessary ornamentation. And when I talk to you about some of the uh some of the elements of style, you'll you'll see that that that's what they're all about. Okay? And I don't, you know, I think one of the problems with uh English communication today is people tend to be ver verbose and yet not communicative.

[12:21] I I I struggle with that and and so I I try to pick my words carefully. I I try to be exacting in word selection. so that uh the person with whom I'm communicating can be as clear as possible about what I'm what I'm attempting to say. So in 1918, Strunk Privately published the original the elements of style and and as I showed you, it was just a concise handbook for his Cornell students. It

[12:56] wasn't anything that he intended at least in the beginning to be to have anything like the impact it has had since then. And it really, this book in 52 pages distilled his teaching and and really attempted to make it as clear, concise, and simple as possible for students to write. Well, I mean, it's it's a tremendous goal and

[13:31] a tremendous achievement, I think, on Strong's part. Uh now as I mentioned a minute ago it was originally privately published. Eventually it was published you know with a with a conventional publisher uh and as what is now widely known not as the elements of style but of white. So Eie White was an author uh roughly contemporary with William

[14:06] Strunk. He took and revised the original the elements of style and then he in essence the book was published under both of their names. Originally in 1939 I believe sorry in 1959. Okay. So in 1959, Eie White and uh published the revised edition of the elements of style and th this is the one that most people if if they're following the elements of style, this is this is what they're following, not not the

[14:42] original book. So let me tell you a little bit about uh Evie White. And if you if you are a a devote of children's literature, I think you'll you may already recognize uh the name Eie White. So Elwin Brooks, EB White, was born in 1899. He was an American writer, essaist, and contributor to the New Yorker magazine. He was celebrated for his his wit. And if you've read any of his books, there

[15:17] is an underlying wittiness to all of them. Uh he's widely known and known to me certainly as one of the greatest authors of children's books including okay Charlotte's Web, Steuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan. All of which I have in my library. All of which I have been reading on a fairly regular basis since I was a child. Although Charlotte's Web may have originally been read to me by

[15:54] my mother. That's that's how long I've been. But but these you may have seen the movies and I think all these book certainly Charlotte's Web and Steuart Little have been made into movies. The movies do not compare to just how charming, how marvelous, how wonderful these books are. And and of the three, actually, The Trumpet of the Swan, I think, is my favorite. And I I don't want to tell you what it I don't want to give away the story or anything, but for anyone who has struggled

[16:31] because he felt he was different, the trumpet of the swan is the well, I want to say it's the anid the you know like the antidote like all by itself it will fix it but it as a kid I always felt like I was a fish out of water And when I read the trumpet of the swan, I realized that everybody has their things. And just because we're different than other people doesn't mean we're less

[17:07] than, right? Different is just different. It is not a comparative value judgment. And and that that is the theme of The Trumpet of the Swan. It is a marvelous book. As I'm sitting here talking to you about it, I'm thinking I I think I got to re read the book again. I I don't even remember how many times I've read it in my life, but it's such a wonderful book. And while these are children's books and and I I of course I never met Evie White, but on some level I think these were books that Evie White wrote

[17:44] knowing that adults would, you know, parents would share them with their children and parents needed to get something out of them as much as children did. In that sense, they are like the the classic Walt Disney. Walt Disney's Walt Disney the the the the man when when he produced a movie, it had to be a movie that families would love, not just children. And Eie White wrote in very much the same vein. It it's really a shame that that Walt Disney when he

[18:21] was alive never made any of Eie White's books into movies because I think that he he really would have done those movies justice. Okay. So um in 1957 uh EB White was invited uh by the publisher to revise and expand the original 1918 version of the elements of style by his former professor William Strunk Jr. and and White admired Strunk's um concise uh rules for clear

[18:59] writing. Um but he and all he wanted to do was he aimed to sort of modernize uh them and and and broaden the guide for a wider audience of students, writers um and edit editors. So um I I'll talk to you after we talk about uh some of the principles of the original uh uh elements of style. I'll talk to you about how uh how Eie White changed them.

[19:35] Wow, that's good. Okay, now you may have wondered or maybe not why Jigger's place is Jiggers's place, right? Shouldn't it be jiggers's apostrophe place or [ __ ] apostrophe s place? And the answer is no. It can't be either one of those. And here's why. Jiggers was my dog, my beloved dog for

[20:14] many, many years. And his name was Jiggers. J I g. So it can't be. And since Jiggers's place is a place to among other things honor Jiggers, okay, it's his place. If it were [ __ ] apostrophe s place, that is not Jiggers's place. That's [ __ ] That's the place of [ __ ]

[20:52] That's not his name. If it was Jigger's apostrophe place that says that it is the place of multiple jig of of of more than one [ __ ] Okay? In other words, the way we make the possessive of a plural is we take the plural and add a an apostrophe afterwards. But Jiggers is singular because it's his name. So in order to make it his place, it has to be

[21:29] Jiggers apostrophe s place according to the elements of style. So when I created Jiggers's place, it it is first and foremost an homage to my beloved dog, but second of all, it's a it's reminiscent or not reminiscent, it's it's a I can only think of the Hebrew word. It's ana uh it is a reference to

[22:04] the elements of style. So, you know, here in the as we we you know, get toward the end of the second season of Jiggers's Place, you get a little bit of insight into why it's called what it's called and why it's a little bit inelegant, Jiggers's Place, but it is grammatically correct. Okay. So, uh, that that's that's, you know, the way you make a possessive is by adding an apostrophe s to the word. Okay. Um, in a

[22:41] series of three or more terms with a singular conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last. So, red, white, and blue is correct. Now, there's what's known as the legal comma, okay? Which is what I use because I was a law clerk. So, if you were ever to see me write a string of words that way, you would see me write red, white, comma, and blue. Okay? And and in that respect, I don't follow the elements of style.

[23:19] Okay? which which only shows you that while I'm a rules guy, I do believe that sometimes we shouldn't follow the rules. Okay. Uh so let's see. Let's what's another good one? Uh oh. Uh do not break sentences into two. Okay. So you want to avoid fragments like because I went to the store period and bought milk. Period. No.

[23:56] Because I went to the store and bought milk. That would be the proper way to say that phrase. Okay. You don't need the extra word. Uh well, you don't need the extra punctuation. I mean, for for an. Okay. Let's see some other ones. So, use a dash to set off an abrupt break or interruption or to announce a long, a positive or summary. Okay, so I'll give you an example so you

[24:32] understand what means. He finally answered dash after five minutes of silence dash that he was not coming. Do you see that the dashes are giving a meter to the sentence that a comma just will not have? By the same token, it's all one long sentence. So, you don't want to turn it into three sentences because that that has a different sense to it than what the writer actually means. So you can see

[25:10] that that what Strunk was fundamentally after was being as communicative as possible. Okay, here's another one. The number of the verb agrees with the number of the subject, not the noun intervening between the two. So the bouquet of flowers smells uh lovely. Okay. Now it it's one of the weird aspects of English that when you have a single noun as the subject, the verb is

[25:48] in the plural and vice versa. When you have a plural noun in the subject, the verb is in the singular. So the the flowers smell lovely, a flower smells lovely. Isn't that weird? Okay. So, but then what happens when you have a single subject, a noun, that's a single noun that's the subject, but there's an intervening noun that's a plural. Well, because that second noun is part of a

[26:23] prepositional phrase, the bouquet of flowers, so the the verb has to agree with the subject noun, the bouquet. So the bouquet smells lovely. The bouquet of flowers smells lovely. Okay. So a prepositional phrase which is which is a phrase begun by a preposition. Okay. Does not alter the subject the the the num the num numerical

[26:58] uh the numerical context of the subject. Okay. All right. Are you thinking I'm I'm I'm a grammar laab deal Nazi. I can own it. Okay. I I definitely can own it. Drank it up halfway through the show or twothirds of the way through the show. Okay. Omit needless words. So, he is a man who is honest. That's that's verbose.

[27:33] just say he is an honest man. It's direct, fewer words, and actually I would argue more descriptive. Okay. Um All right. So th those give you an idea of of the the elements of style and you can see the the conciseness,

[28:08] the omission of unnecessary words. All of those are aspects of it. Um, and it's it's not in the original it's not one of the original uh elements of style, but one of my big bugaboos is ending a sentence with a preposition. So people will say, "What are you using that for?" Okay, we're and that sentence ends in a

[28:44] preposition. Okay, now I know I sound like Sheldon in the Big Bang Theory, but it's it's not correct grammar to end a sentence in a preposition. The correct syntax construction of the sentence is for what are you using that? Now, you might say to me, well, that sounds pretty snoody. Okay. Yeah, it does. I would argue it sounds like someone who is educated in English.

[29:19] And I, you know, it really depends on how how a person wants to present himself. So, I'm I'm willing to think I'm willing to risk people thinking I'm a little bit snoody by speaking and writing English correctly. So, uh, last week or the week before, someone sent me an email or maybe copied me on an email in which he did he he did not end the sentence with a preposition.

[29:54] He used he he in the sentence he said for which. And I have to tell you, I was so delighted to see him using proper grammar. He was a lawyer, by the way. I I didn't copy anybody else on this, but I responded him by saying, "I just I hope you'll forgive me for for, you know, taking your time, but I really respect the fact that you use uh correct grammar by not ending your sentence at a preposition." And he sent me back an an email a few minutes later saying, "Thank you."

[30:30] Right? probably the only two people in the world who care about such things. But it's it's a shame that English is subject to uh what I call word inflation and also devolution. So word inflation, everything today seems to be awesome. Now as as someone who works to live a god- centered life,

[31:06] awesome refers to God. That's pretty much and if it's not God or godlike, it's not awesome because awesome means in it inspires awe. And there are very few things in this world that genuinely inspire awe. Monoloa volcano is awesome. To see it erupt is to see the unbelievable power embodied in our

[31:41] planet earth. That is truly awesome. To be in the midst of a hurricane or a tsunami and to experience the power of the ocean is awesome. To give somebody a candy bar that they like is not awesome. It's just not it. It's a lovely thing to do. It's a lovely thing to do, but it's not awesome.

[32:18] And so, so this sort of what I call word inflation is a shame. The flip side is the things that are oftentimes described as evil aren't evil. They may be bad. They may be very bad. But if they're evil, what was Hitler? Super duper evil. So by moderating our language, we give ourselves a broader pallet of

[32:53] words to use and we can be much more descriptive and we can better communicate with others. So that's that's number one. And then on the other side is the devolution of language. The idea that I can spell words however I want to spell them and you have to figure it out. That's a shame. As recently as the early to mid 19th century that spelling

[33:28] was really not standardized. Spelling only became standardized with the advent of dictionaries. And perhaps more to the point with the writing and broad adoption of an English dictionary and probably the first one that really did that was the OED. Now the the Oxford English dictionary. Now, there were dictionaries that predated the OED, but

[34:04] they were not as thoroughly researched, as effectively compiled, and did not have the gravitas behind them to make a statement about this is how words should be spelled. Okay. with the advent of the OED and I just have to mention Simon Winchester, one of my favorite authors, wrote a book called The Professor and the Mad Man, which is about the history of the writing of the

[34:39] OED. It is an extraordinary book. And I mean that with no hyperbole. I've I've I've read it a number of times and I I actually got to meet Simon Winchester at a book signing now probably about 25 or 30 years ago. So by standardizing spelling we create a situation where we can go to a book and be assured of understanding the meaning of a

[35:16] particular word. Once we change the spelling of that word, what we're saying is I may have a different definition of this word than the word in its standard spelling. And that's a shame because that's degrading the ability of people to talk to one another and it's separating us. And I don't think we need more separation in the world. I think we need more coming together in the world.

[35:52] So those are not principles in the element in the elements of style, but I think they're principles in line with the elements of style. So I I mentioned that I would talk a little bit about the revisions that Eie White made when he wrote his revised edition of the elements of style and created what is as I mentioned now known as shrunken white. So um he expanded the examples and explanations to clarify Strunk's original rules. He gave practical advice on style and usage. He

[36:29] gave uh guidance on formulating sentences that sound natural. A as as an author an author of fiction and a storyteller, EB White, I think, was particularly well suited for that aspect. And then he put on us he he also uh added a section on style principles. So write in a way that comes naturally, revise and rewrite. This is good advice for anybody who wants to write well. Okay. And then he

[37:04] made he he added some observations on word choice and tone encouraging writers to avoid jargon which is I think so important. It's it's a similar issue to standardized spelling. When we use jargon, jargon is typically used to exclude people and to establish superiority. So if a doctor were to say to you, well, I've examined you and I have to tell you you have foreign

[37:39] matter in your umbilicus. Would you be nervous? It kind of sounds bad, doesn't it? What the doctor has actually told you is he ha is that you have lint in your belly button. Now, if he had said to you, you have lint in your belly button, would you have been in the least concerned? Probably not, because you could just take the lint out or take a shower and and it would all be taken care of. But foreign matter in your umbilicus

[38:16] sounds pretty serious. It's very jargony, right? And so this is why Eie White advised against using jargon. And not that he needs me to do this, far greater writer than I would ever even aspire to be, but uh I I hardily uh support Eie White in this. And then the last thing is he advised people to write in a conversational reader friendly tone. And that is that is certainly

[38:54] sage advice because in the end if we're writing something presumably we're doing so in so as to uh encourage people to read what we're writing. Okay. Now, by the way, that's not always the case. If we're writing a journal purely to put our thoughts on paper to clarify our our our own emotions, our own thinking, maybe just to get some get some of the anxiety out of our psyche. So then we don't have to worry as much about these

[39:29] the principles that Evie White propounded. But if we're if we're writing to be communicative, then writing in a conversational, friendly, engaging style is superb advice. So, uh I I encourage you to get copies of the elements of style, not not necessarily the original version. Uh Shrunken White is is definitely an improvement. I will put a link to this book in the show notes. It will of course be an affiliate link uh

[40:04] to to Amazon like most of my book links are. And you know if you click on it I think I get you know three cents. Uh but and and and this you if you can see this this edition cost $2.75. I assume it costs more now probably assume more like $10 or something like that. If you want to be a good writer, get strunk and white. Get white. Read it. Learn the principles and embed them in your own writing.

[40:41] So, I thank you very much for joining me this afternoon or evening if you're on the East Coast. As I said in the beginning, this this is the highlight of my my my every two week period and I really appreciate uh I see I have a couple of live viewers on. Really appreciate you joining me. I I if you made the cocktail, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and I'd love to hear your comments, thoughts, criticisms. Um, but mostly I hope that that

[41:16] Jiggers's place is a bit of a refuge for you from the work a day world, the craziness of contemporary life. So, uh, I wish you a wonderful rest of the week, a truly restorative weekend, and signing off as I always do. uh really remembering you, my dear Marie. Uh we're we're coming up on uh unfortunately the well I'm I guess yeah the the sad sixth anniversary of your

[41:52] passing in in just a few days on Monday. And uh you know up I know you're up in heaven. You know you are my bell. Courage at all times my friends.