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What was he saying about "buying ink by the barrel"?
by 6LLvveMx2koXfwn 2y ago
What was he saying about "buying ink by the barrel"?
- throwanem 2y agoHe quotes an old truism against unnecessarily picking fights with the media - in the saying's heyday, this being newspaper publishers, who notionally bought ink by the barrel (though more likely as a concentrate), and certainly could and did slant both editorial and opinion coverage in the organs they owned. The specifically quoted figure uses ink in the (specified) large volume of a barrel as metonymous of the volume of negative coverage, accurate or otherwise, anticipated to comprise the publisher's side of the fight.
- 6LLvveMx2koXfwn 2y agoOK thanks for answering in good faith - however I was alluding to his verbosity . . .
- throwanem 2y agoMore of any Bits about Money article isn't written down than is. In this case, much more.
- Terr_ 2y agoIt's referring to an idiom equivalent to: "Do not start a certain type of fight, when the other side fights that way routinely." In particular, a fight of written words when the opponent does so many written words that they purchase ink in bulk.