Maledicta, “The International Journal of Verbal Aggression,” has been in print on and off since 1977. Published by Reinhold Aman (whose interest in abusive language is more than just academic: he spent a year in the federal pen for sending his ex-wife threatening postcards), it’s a strange little artifact that might appeal to connoisseurs of foul language and/or wingnut ranters.
And Aman does seem like a true crank. He’s an ex-con with a Ph.D. in medieval German literature who publishes a journal–by turns scholarly and juvenile–on cussing. He consistently refers to his former employer, the University of Wisconsin, as “Dungheap U.” He put his time in the clink to use writing a book on prison argot in the form of a Herzog-style letter to Hillary Clinton.
He’s hung up on the Clintons. He attacks them repeatedly, though he’s not too particular about his sources. Or source, since most of his quotes come from one person, the thoroughly discredited Larry Patterson.
So, you’ve been forwarned: he’s not the most savory character. But Maledicta has serious freak value, and there’s some good linguistic bits sprinkled throughout.
On Friday, January 4, 2008, John McGrath blogged:
[Replies by “anonymous” (=Reinhold Aman) in bold. –RA]
Maledicta
Maledicta, “The International Journal of Verbal Aggression,” has been in print on and off since 1977. Published by Reinhold Aman (whose interest in abusive language is more than just academic:
Silly non sequitur follows:
he spent a year in the federal pen
Wrong.
for sending his ex-wife threatening postcards),
Wrong.
it’s a strange little artifact that might appeal to connoisseurs of foul language
Wrong.
and/or wingnut ranters.
Wrong. That ignorant blogger McGrath has no idea what world-famous Maledicta is about.
And Aman does seem like a true crank.
It’s better to “seem like a true crank” than being a libelous and lying journalistic blogger.
He’s an ex-con
And proud of it. Better than being a lying, plagiarizing blogger who needs a life.
with a Ph.D. in medieval German literature who publishes a journal–by turns scholarly and juvenile–
Wrong.
on cussing.
Wrong.
He consistently
Wrong.
refers to his former employer, the University of Wisconsin, as “Dungheap U.” He put his time in the clink to use writing a book on prison argot in the form of a Herzog-style letter to Hillary Clinton.
Wrong.
He’s hung up on the Clintons.
Wrong.
He attacks them repeatedly,
Wrong.
though he’s not too particular about his sources.
Wrong.
Or source,
Wrong.
since most of his quotes come from one person,
Wrong.
the thoroughly discredited Larry Patterson.
Discredited by amoral, opportunistic and/or stupid Clintonistas & wacky “Daily Kos” fans like McGrath.
So, you’ve been forwarned:
Wrong.
he’s not the most savory character.
Better than being an unsavory, lying “liberal” blogger.
But Maledicta has serious freak value, and there’s some good linguistic bits sprinkled throughout.
Labels: cursing, Hillary Clinton, Maledicta, Rheinhold Aman,
Wrong.
wingnut
Better than being a typical, shameless blogger like John McGrath.
Nice piece of lie-filled trash, alerted to by Google, stolen and paraphrased by McGrath from a recent “Daily Kos” attack by one of those “liberal” and lying wackos.
For all you “Wordie” fans: Be forewarned — you can trust that self-important journalist-type liar McGrath as much as you can trust Hillary’s Howard Wolfson.
— Reinhold Aman
Reinhold, this is great stuff! I do love a tempest in a teacup. Your points are addressed in order; quotes are from Wikipedia unless otherwise noted.
Anyone who has spent 5 minutes on Wordie knows that silly non sequiturs are what it’s all about, so I’ll permit myself that.
“In 1993, Aman was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for mailing, after a bitter divorce, two “prank” postcards to his ex-wife and the allegedly threatening 2-page pamphlet “Legal Slimebags of Wisconsin” to many Wisconsin lawyers and judges. The postcards in question had pasted-up headlines of news articles about bitter ex-husbands killing their ex-wives. Because of a judicial error and his “good behavior” in prison, he actually served 15-1/2 months.”
So, I was technically wrong about the length of your term, which I rounded down. The rest stands.
“His dissertation was entitled ‘Der Kampf in Wolframs Parzival’. Parzival being “a major medieval German epic poem attributed to the poet Wolfram von Eschenbach, written in the Middle High German language,”
I think shortening that to “medieval German literature” is allowable.
“Its main areas of interest are the origin, etymology, meaning, use, and influence of vulgar, obscene, aggressive, abusive, and blasphemous language.”
Sounds like cussing to me. Just because I call a spade a shovel doesn’t belittle it, by the way. There’s lots of serious talk about cursing around here.
“In addition to an encyclopedic glossary of prison life and language, Aman offers Ms. Clinton ‘Basic Survival Techniques’ — all the DOs and DON’Ts she may need to survive in prison… He gained his indispensable experience (now shared with Hillary Clinton and others who are about to go to prison) while incarcerated…”
That’s from your own press release. I’ll let it speak for itself.
FWIW, I’ve visited Daily Kos maybe twice in my life, and never read anything they posted about you or Maledicta. I don’t really mind having my credibility compared to Hillary’s, though. I think she’s been a great senator.
I’ll cop to an over reliance on Wikipedia. And I’ve never seen a printed copy of Maledicta, my comments were based purely on the website–which I did spend a good while poking around on.
Reinhold, you are looking a gift horse in the mouth. I felt obliged to include some of the more colorful parts of your history in order not to startle Wordies who followed the links, as they are gentle, peace-loving creatures. But the main purpose of my post was to make visitors to Wordie and Errata aware of Maledicta. And I compared you to Saul Bellow, sort of! I think you should send me a thank-you, instead of getting all heated. But please, no postcards about murdering bloggers.
If you do want to continue villifying me, would you do it on your site, and include links? I could use the traffic.
Lying & ignorant Anonymous (John McGrath) blogged on January 6, 2008:
Preface by Reinhold Aman:
I have replied to bloggers only twice in my life, because it’s a waste of time trying to calmly set those opinionated, ignorant & lying assholes straight. This is my last reply. My replies are again in bold.
Reinhold, this is great stuff! I do love a tempest in a teacup.
Check your dictionary for the meaning of tempest. If a “wordman” like you can’t tell the difference between a “tempest” and a calm response, you’d better find another hobby.
Your points are addressed in order;
Liar. You have conveniently ignored almost all items I’ve indicated as being “Wrong.” Typical blogger.
quotes are from Wikipedia unless otherwise noted.
I noticed the Wikipedia source, too. You could also have tried consulting Who’s Who in America.
Anyone who has spent 5 minutes on Wordie knows that silly non sequiturs are what it’s all about, so I’ll permit myself that. “In 1993, Aman was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for mailing, after a bitter divorce, two “prank” postcards to his ex-wife and the allegedly threatening 2-page pamphlet “Legal Slimebags of Wisconsin” to many Wisconsin lawyers and judges. The postcards in question had pasted-up headlines of news articles about bitter ex-husbands killing their ex-wives. Because of a judicial error and his “good behavior” in prison, he actually served 15-1/2 months.” So, I was technically wrong about the length of your term, which I rounded down. The rest stands.
No, it doesn’t. The exact length of the prison term is irrelevant. Ask your wifey to explain the preceding paragraph to you and show you where you were wrong. Hint: having been sent to prison for “mailing two postcards to my ex-wife” is wrong — both charges were thrown out by the jury and the judge.
“His dissertation was entitled ‘Der Kampf in Wolframs Parzival’. Parzival being “a major medieval German epic poem attributed to the poet Wolfram von Eschenbach, written in the Middle High German language,” I think shortening that to “medieval German literature” is allowable.
Of course it is, and I didn’t mark it “Wrong”, but why are you dragging in my dissertation?
Its
Now referring to Maledicta without transition:
main areas of interest are the origin, etymology, meaning, use, and influence of vulgar, obscene, aggressive, abusive, and blasphemous language.” Sounds like cussing to me.
In that case, you’d better check your dictionary what “cussing” and the above terms mean.
Just because I call a spade a shovel doesn’t belittle it, by the way. There’s lots of serious talk about cursing around here.
Now referring to Hillary Clinton’s Pen Pal without transition:
“In addition to an encyclopedic glossary of prison life and language, Aman offers Ms. Clinton ‘Basic Survival Techniques’ — all the DOs and DON’Ts she may need to survive in prison… He gained his indispensable experience (now shared with Hillary Clinton and others who are about to go to prison) while incarcerated…” That’s from your own press release. I’ll let it speak for itself.
I objected to your “Herzog-style letter to Hillary Clinton.” My book is in no way a “letter” addressed to that criminal bitch. She is not my “pen pal”; my book is a PAL for those who’ll end up in a PEN[itentiary], as clearly stated in the first paragraph in the excerpt-cum-photo you took from my Website:
http://www.sonic.net/maledicta/penpal_pr.html
FWIW, I’ve visited Daily Kos maybe twice in my life, and never read anything they posted about you or Maledicta.
Funny, your blog entry is an almost verbatim copy of that recent Daily Kos crap. Telepathy? You’d fit right in with those slanderous nobodies.
I don’t really mind having my credibility compared to Hillary’s, though. I think she’s been a great senator.
Oy, gevalt! A liar admiring a pathological & sociopathic liar. I actually feel sorry for you, because this makes you look amoral and stupid.
I’ll cop to an over reliance on Wikipedia. And I’ve never seen a printed copy of Maledicta,
But you nonetheless stated that it’s “a strange little artifact that might appeal to connoisseurs of foul language and/or wingnut ranters,” which is “by turns scholarly and juvenile” and “has serious freak value, and there’s some good linguistic bits sprinkled throughout.” Nice job of book reviewing without looking in the books! If you had read just one of the 13 volumes (3,652 pages total), you wouldn’t write such garbage. Typical blogger.
my comments were based purely on the website–
My website is not Maledicta.
which I did spend a good while poking around on. Reinhold, you are looking a gift horse in the mouth.
And I’m looking at the blog of a horse’s ass.
I felt obliged to include some of the more colorful parts of your history
Presenting factual “colorful parts” of my history is fine. However, uncalled-for name-calling (“not the most savory character,” “wingnut,” “a true crank”), lies, and libel are not.
in order not to startle Wordies who followed the links, as they are gentle, peace-loving creatures.
Screw those gentle, peace-loving creatures, 99.99% of whom are Web-hopping click-click-click parasites who don’t buy books but want everything free from the Net.
But the main purpose of my post was to make visitors to Wordie and Errata aware of Maledicta.
Thanks, but no thanks. My site is already overrun by cheap-ass visitors (i.e., parasites), thus I don’t need any more traffic from such types.
And I compared you to Saul Bellow, sort of! I think you should send me a thank-you, instead of getting all heated.
Who’s getting “heated”?
But please, no postcards about murdering bloggers.
Who would want to waste his time corresponding with assholes blogging from their mom’s spare bedroom?
If you do want to continue villifying me, would you do it on your site, and include links? I could use the traffic.
You need more traffic to your pathetic, attention-whoring ego blog? No, you could use a life and do something useful instead.
End of another calm “tempest in a teacup.”
— Ex-con Dr. Reinhold Aman