WELL ONE WOULD, WOULDN’T ONE?

Then there’s that wonderful English habit of using the impersonal pronoun “one.” From the Times this morning, here’s a classic piece of self-puffery from William Rees-Mogg, former editor of the Times of London:

In 1967 Roy Thomson bought the Times and created Times Newspapers. He later made a fortune in North Sea oil. I have always had very fond memories of him, for his good nature and generosity. In any case, one feels grateful to a man who buys the Times and makes one editor.

GREAT INSULTS: “I know your name, but I can’t recall your face.” – Oscar Wilde.

RUBIN SUCK-UP WATCH: “Mr. Rubin calmly ate a bowl of plain blueberries during a long breakfast interview in his red-and- beige office. Among fly-fishing trophies and official photos, Mr. Rubin hung an engraved chart of all the Treasury secretaries he had reproduced from the original at the Treasury Department. Wearing his customary charcoal suit and white shirt, he is youthfully trim but gives little evidence of overt vanity. Mr. Rubin – who carries the title at Citigroup of chairman of the executive committee – masks an overpowering intellect behind verbal modesty, hedging his views with a courtier’s self-effacement (“Maybe I’m wrong,” and “this is just my opinion, for what it is worth,” or “this could be a bad idea”) in a way that disarms bosses and opponents.” – New York Times today.