One of the joys of a well read mind is recognizing tropes (a figurative or metaphorical use of a word or phrase) and appreciating good use. The 2011 novel “The Martian” by Andy Weir and its movie adaptation (2015) had just such a referent to Ms Parker and her colleagues. When abandoned Astronaut Mark Watney revives the Mars Surveyor lander to send pictures back to Earth, the technician controlling the lander response points out that the 30+minute light-speed limited response would hardly provide an Algonquin Table repartee!
Dialog and writing that is NOT lowered to grade school levels is now, unfortunately, a rare thing, and as such is to be treasured. Dorthy Parker never wrote down to her readers and listners. Can anyone point me to a comparable literary person of today?
R I P Dorothy Parker, at rest after 54 years!
I dunno? PJ O’Rourke perhaps?
She is gone now but I always looked forward to Florence King’s column, “The Misanthrope’s Corner” in The National Review magazine during the W.F.Buckley era.
I used to have a collection of her work, titled “Stet! Damn it”!