Editing Dancer

This is the last time I do this for free, by the way.

Let's ignore for the moment the fact that if I were Shirley's brother, I'd punch Mr. Dancer in the nose.

The line where he explains he "went looking" at Country Western dances -- "where I excel." First off, any decent editor would have taken out the "where I excel" line because it adds nothing to the point being made, unless the point is vanity. The other problem is, in the context of that sentence, a reader could reasonably interpret the "where I excel" as referring to picking up women, not as being a good country dancer.

Anyone posting Over/Under on the Shirley/Dancer relationship?

You seem to have missed this .... "Before I met Shirley ..."

However, I agree that vanity is a big part of many Dancer articles.

I'm an excellent driver.

Anyways, it doesn't bother me. I think the point of a column is to let the author's personality come out a bit. "where I excel" might add nothing to the point being made but it helps add some personality to the column.

Surely you jest.

To the point of his column - I like to gamble to de-stress. I play for low stakes so a good or bad day will not have any monetary affect. When I'm playing I forget everything else in my life and I'm concentrating on the turn of the next card. For me that is escape and a stress reducer. But, unlike Dancer, I gamble for fun and not for profit. I do enjoy a touch of occasional stress in my work and believe that it sharpens the senses and improves performance.

Arc,

Sometimes I wonder where you're coming from. I didn't miss anything -- that's the point of editing. The "where I excel" is unnecessary -- it's a vanity line that adds nothing, unless he wants you to think he's vain (it's possible he's not, of course, and this line is image management, but I doubt it). If it were "during Shirley," well, that makes it kind of sleazy by most people's standards, but it's not relevant to what I'm saying.

Oh, I see, if you interpret the line as meaning he's good at pick-ups, then somehow "before Shirley" becomes relevant? But his excelling at pick-ups would also be unnecessary to the story and his points. Besides, I'm pretty sure he meant he's a good dancer, not pick-up artist, which is why he needs an editor. No sense for him to appear more sleazy than necessary.

Anyway, by God, I worry about you. Why or how would I have missed "Before Shirley?"

DonDiego is not particularly good at picking up women at Country Western bars or any bars, especially since teechur put the kibosh on any such activity. And he possesses zero dancing skills. However, he excels at drinking, . . . at least until slumber overtakes his thirst.

First time reading one of his articles for me....but misspelling "Sudoku" seems more egregious than not removing "where I excel" I would say

Try that stuff called white lightning, I hear its pretty good for inducing slumber.

redietz, you simply don't understand advantage play. If you are looking to meet women at a dance, you improve your odds by being a very good.....dancer! Right, ladies? That was Bob Dancer's point, which is to say he was attempting to maximize his expected value.

Shortly thereafter, Bob and Shirley decided to settle down, which had the added benefit of reducing the variance.