Asymmetrical Information

Have they also heard that it's a ritual on the US highways? Even passing trucks at five-over-limit in the left lane cannot save you from the Tailgate.

Tailgating (talosgatigos) was popular among ancient Greeks at their games. Indeed, ancient greek pottery shows many depictions of tailgating at wrestling matches. In fact Greeks are famous for this practice although it is unlikely they invented it.

It's oh-so-ironic, but in thier own way, who are more provincial than New Yorkers?

Particularly weird since the ivies (particularly Yale) have strong tail-gating traditions. It's not as if this is something unfamiliar to the sort of blue-state blue-bloods who write for the New Yorker.

Jane, I don't see how you get that the New Yorker thinks tailgaiting is an exotic ritual. It was referring to an event that has come to be referred to as "Tailgate", self-explanatorily because it involves tailgating. That university apparently has a specific name for the tailgaiting session occurring at that time, and the story was merely identifying this. Duke would not be alone in creating an unnecessary self-explanatory name. If the paper said "The confrontation occurred at Winter Dance, a ball-type gathering held annually in December", I wouldn't assume, "Heh, they've never been to a school that had a winter dance!"

Person, the distinction is, of course, somewhat fine . . . but the way it is described sounds to me as if the writer has never heard of tailgating before.

Considering there hasn't been a pro or major college football game played in NYC in a generation (since the Jets left Shea in '83), I can see why New Yorkers might be out of practice...

Maybe they just thought that 'Tailgate' was a heretofore undisclosed White House scandal involving... you know, I think I'm just going to keep that one to myself.

Odd.

I guess the writer in question hasn't been to the Santa Fe opera, either. Tailgating there tends more towards cafe-red checked tablecloths, French wine & so forth, on the tailgate of a Porsche S.U.V. to be sure, but it still is "tailgating".

Well, Jane, I think you're being unfair. I probably would have phrased it the same way, and I know what tailgating is. And if you want other examples, I can probably think of more cases where some event's name is just a capitalization of what goes on there, with possibly a modification, and for which the reader would need to be reminded, without sounding too redundant, that it is what it sounds like. I mean, how would you have phrased the passage while conveying all appropriate information succinctly?

The reason I belabor this minor point is because, let's face it -- The New Yorker is bad enough as it is, esp. with the recent Malcom "principle of plurality" Gladwell essay. Do you really need to read things into their phrasings to find something to criticize?

I'm going to agree with Person on this one. You're trying a little too hard.

Reread the sentence like this:

"even know as Toolus, a quasi-sanctioned school function held in a parking lot beore fotball games."

Then consider Duke named the event, not the New Yorker. If anything, I think the New Yorker author is making a bit of a funny and you're missing it.

Carry on!

Very late to this party, but:

Note that the "event known as Tailgate, a quasi-sanctioned school function held in a parking lot before football games."

Is this one event held before all football games (note the plural)? Or was the author trying to define "tailgating" to an otherwise ignorant audience? Who would be that ignorant audience, anyway? Or was the author actually ignorant?

As for a better way to say it, if Person is correct: ""event known as Tailgate, a quasi-sanctioned school function that is just what it sounds like."

I think Jane's right, Landrey. The line might make sense if it were called "Toolus." But it's not called "Toolus"; it's called Tailgate. Which is self-explanatory, and hence not in need of being defined.

Why not just say "tailgating"? That conveys every bit as much information as the article did, in many fewer words.

Comments are Closed.