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Ring Lardner

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Author

The Resume

    (March 6, 1885-September 25, 1933)
    Born in Niles, Michigan
    Birth name was Ringgold Lardner
    Sports columnist and short story writer
    Wrote 'You Know Me Al' (1916), 'Gullibles Travels' (1917), "Treat 'Em Rough' (1918), 'The Big Town' (1921), 'How to Write Short Stories' (1924) and 'Round Up' (1929)
    Father of screenwriter Ring Lardner, Jr.

Why he might be annoying:

    He went to college to study engineering, then left after flunking all but one of the courses.
    He hated his first name, but gave it to one of his children anyway.
    When he published his first collection of short stories, he wrote the magazines he had sold them to for copies; he had such little regard for his stories that he didn't bother to save any copies himself.
    Ernest Hemingway said he was 'hampered by lack of intelligence, lack of any aesthetic appreciation, terrible repressions and bitterness. Any one of those is a terrible load for any writer to carry no matter how talented.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    His writing was praised by Virginia Woolf and H. L. Mencken.
    He was the second recipient of the Baseball Hall of Fame's J.G. Taylor Spink Award for contributions to baseball writing, following only the award's namesake.
    The Wall Street Journal named 'You Know Me Al' as the best piece of American humor writing (2006).

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 37 Votes: 16.22% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 11 Votes: 45.45% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 28 Votes: 53.57% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 7 Votes: 42.86% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 32 Votes: 15.62% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 9 Votes: 22.22% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 37 Votes: 81.08% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 7 Votes: 85.71% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 18 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 39 Votes: 35.90% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 8 Votes: 37.50% Annoying