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Old 08-26-2012, 07:55 PM   #8
Andrew H.
Grand Master of Flowers
Andrew H. ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Andrew H. ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Andrew H. ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Andrew H. ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Andrew H. ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Andrew H. ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Andrew H. ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Andrew H. ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Andrew H. ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Andrew H. ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Andrew H. ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
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It's not only unnecessary to do so, I think it's a little insulting, as the implication is that I wouldn't understand the reference otherwise. It's condescending. It's also unnatural.

In some contexts, I might say (indeed, I have said...): "A facility for quotation covers the absence of original thought."

But I would never in real life say: "As Lord Peter Wimsey said, 'a facility for quotation covers the absence of original thought.'"

And I would certainly never say, "As Lord Peter Wimsey said in Dorothy Sayers's 'Gaudy Night (tm)':..."
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