Susan Page

I assume most of the "audience" does not read the comments, so you may be surprised to learn that Susan Page left one today. Who is Susan Page? She works for USA Today (which honestly, I don't read) but she also is a frequent guest and substitute host on the Diane Rehm Show which is where I know her from. This morning I posted about something she said on the air, specifically a word she used that I thought was a silly made-up word. It was my normal sort of off-handed absently vitriolic diatribe that started with her and then wandered around the subject of cute little made up words; you can read it two or three posts below if you really want. Her comment back to me was nothing but classy. I don't think I'd have been so restrained if I'd written what I wrote about her comment about something I said. She simply pointed out she had not coined the term "stagflation." For this reason, I feel I should post not just a reply comment, but also post her reply and my reply to that here, at the same level as my original comment. It seems only fair.

Susan's Reply:

Hey, just for the record, I didn't invent "stagflation" as a word. It was coined during the 1970s, when after the oil price shocks we had stagnated growth and inflation -- where we might be headed again. "Stagflation" is a first cousin of "the misery index." Maybe that's a phrase about to make a comeback, too.
Thanks.
Susan Page

My reply to Susan:

I have to say that I never expected to have anyone with celebrity about whom I write respond to one of my rants. I find it a vaguely humbling experience though I’m not entirely sure why; I think there is just a degree of affirmation in knowing that someone unrelated to me reads this thing where I vent from time to time. I also grant you that I just dashed back there and re-read what I wrote about Susan Page.

So, to Susan Page, of USA Today: If it really was you (one always must doubt a bit on the Internet unfortunately), thank you for reading and thank you for commenting. I still think that Stagflation is a silly, overly-cute word as are green collar, whatever-gate, and a whole host of other words people invent all the time. However, none of that lessens, in any way, my appreciation that you took the time to read and comment. I listen to snippets of the Diane Rehm show a lot and I know you are a frequent guest and hostess on the show, so this may not be the last time I take your name in vain. Regardless of what I may say from time to time in the heat of a rant, you should know how much I usually appreciate your rather more neutral view of things during the Friday News Round-up (or on other topics) than the views provided by some of the other guests. I am also quite aware of how much easier it is for me, sitting in my quiet chair here in Illinois, to take cheap, off-the-cuff, shots at those like you who are a bit more in the spotlight and don’t have the luxury of being able to take equally cheap shots back. I don’t believe I could restrain myself half so well.