What a Difference an Ellipsis Makes …

Last week, I noted that the Wall Street Journal‘s best-seller chart listed Jimmy Carter’s current book as simply “Palestine,” while other charts listed it as “Palestine Peace Not Apartheid,” while Amazon.com listed it as “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,” and I wondered why the WSJ chose to omit the word “Apartheid.”

In today’s printed version of the WSJ‘s list, there’s been a change in the listing of the book, however slight. Instead of “Palestine,” it’s listed as “Palestine …”

Personally, I love using an ellipsis; those three little dots can imply so many things. In this case, the ellipsis feels like an exhausted sigh.

It is fitting, I guess, that the title of a book about Israel has led to such Talmudic parsing. I wonder what Rashi would have had to say about Carter’s title. To those who care about such things, there is of course meaning in every jot and tittle.