And as you might expect from a lexicographer, he doesn’t mince words.
Barrett recently issued an RFP to redesign his superb Doubled-Tongued Word Wrestler Dictionary (a must-read for anyone who loves language, by the way). Apparently, a disproportionate number of hucksters, poseurs and fraudsters responded to his call. He fires back today, and it’s a scorcher certain to leave a lot of online rip-off artists dabbing aloe vera on their blisters:
Let me tell you: if you can’t be bothered to punctuate and spell correctly, there’s no way in hell you’re coming anywhere near my web site. If you can’t be bothered to read my RFP—and given the questions you’re asking, it’s pretty clear you didn’t read past the first paragraph—then I’m going to add your email address to my killfile so I never have to hear from you again. If you think sending me an invoice with your “proposal†is going to help, especially when your proposal in its complete form says “$60 per page, 100 page minimum,†then if I ever meet you on the subway I’m going step on your heels. If I ask that the site not be image- or Flash-based, and then you propose some Photoshop- or Flash-heavy ideas, then be prepared for me to tell you to go screw. If you think my RFP is a chance for you to push your fraudulent search-engine optimization services—and I do mean fraudulent—then I hope you die alone with your stupid “top links†sites and your stupid Google PageRank of 4 that you’re so proud of.
