A Bit Overcooked.

I mentioned in a recent post that a publisher in Brooklyn had sought my agreement to reprint a story of mine in an anthology of the magazine series in which it had earlier appeared. I sent them an email to confirm such agreement.

Today I received a reply from the editor in which he says, among other things, ‘First of all, let me say how thrilled I am that you will be participating.’ OK, pleasant as his message is – and I’m not entirely blind to pleasantries, you know – there are still two points with which I’m slightly uneasy:

1. I don’t see that I’m ‘participating’ as such. They asked ‘may we reprint your story?’ and I said ‘yes.’ Is that participating? To my mind, participation implies that I will be taking some active role in the process, which I assume I won’t. At least, I hope I won’t.

2. I’m suspicious of the word ‘thrilled.’ It’s a big word, somewhat on a par with ‘excited.’ Why on earth would an editor feel that way about my little tale? In fact, it seems most unlikely that he does feel that way since he has lots and lots of little tales vying for his attention.

I would have been content, and more comfortable, if he’d simply said ‘I am pleased to receive your confirmation.’ Maybe it’s an English thing. We English are rather fond of understatement and congenitally suspicious of the opposite.