So the NYTimes Mag is all about comedy and being funny (somehow that is just so appropriate after the elections are finally over, isn’t it?) and there’s an essay in there by Garrison Keillor which contains this:
How to Write Your First Hollywood Comedy
By Garrison Keillor, star and screenwriter, “Prairie Home Companionâ€
…2. Find a director. A famous one who is older than you and who is famous for improvised dialogue. This takes so much pressure off the screenwriter. Let’s say you choose Robert Altman. Call up your friend who knows a guy who went to college with a guy who is now Robert Altman’s attorney and wangle a dinner date with Mr. Altman. A threecourse meal in a place with ficus plants and white tablecloths. Mr. Altman has just finished shooting a new picture and he is in a grand mood. He regales you with stories about his famous movies, and then, polite man that he is (he is from the Midwest), he asks if there was something you wished to talk about. “Yes, sir,†you say, “there is.â€
Well! I thought – wangle? Wrangle certainly. But no, of course the combination of Mr. Keillor and the NYTimes would not leave an “r” out of a word, not even to make it funny. So I did the right thing — I looked it up. So here for your edification and amusement:
wangle: to obtain something desired by persuasion or manipulation; often by means of scheming, trickery or deceit.
Now go, wangle somthing for yourself!
