We're through the looking glass here, people

Not only has Dan Brown, the author of The Da Vinci Code, been accused of plagiarism, but now book reviewers and bloggers are accusing each other of the same crime. In a Language Log post, Mark Liberman points out what he calls "Some striking similarities" to criticism his colleague Geoff Pullum wrote to a new review by Mark Steyn.

He makes a reasonably convincing case. Steyn, by the way, is a Republican-friendly columnist from the UK.

Also by the way, the little glimpse I'm getting into Dan Brown's writing style by reading posts like this is decreasing the likelyhood of my ever reading him even further. And I didn't think that was possible.

Liberman (and Pullum, and Steyn) speak of:

Brown's habit of starting books with phrases like "renowned curator Jacques Saunière", "physicist Leonardo Vetra", and "geologist Charles Brophy".

Hmmmm. "Lesbian museum gift shop worker Annabel..." That's it, I'm a genius, I'll sell a million copies.