A monthly column in which we attempt, however futilely, to defend the English language against misuse and abuse
Jockspeak
Athletes and sports commentators have a language all their own. A few examples, along with our admonitions to the perpetrators:
• Phillies Coach Larry Bowa, commenting on former Phil Darren Daulton (who is recovering from cancer): “He looks good. He was over my house yesterday.” Really, Larry? Dutch was hovering above your domicile?
• Michael Carter-Williams, late of the 76ers, now with the Milwaukee Bucks: “I try to emulate my game after Jason Kidd.” MCW, my man, you emulate Kidd by fashioning/modeling your game after that of the Bucks head coach.
• Announcer at NCAA wrestling tournament, commenting on the Iowa coach’s philosophy and his team’s acceptance of same: “They have boughten into it.” Not a word, dude.
• Radio/TV personality Dan Patrick: “The Seahawks should’ve put themselves in a less riskier position.” You committed the double comparative there, Danny boy. It’s “less risky.”
Sure and Begorrah
A couple of weeks before St. Patrick’s Day, we received a note from the very Irish Mary Kate McKenna, of Wilmington, reminding us that the nickname for the holiday is St. Paddy’s Day, not St. Patty’s. (We had it right in a story in the March issue). Mary Kate says this annual gaffe on banners, invitations, menus, etc., drives her Dublin-born hubby “‘round the bend.” Patty, she points out, is the nickname for Patricia.
Niceties
Reocurring is not a word. It’s sometimes used instead of recurring, which means happening or occurring again.
A reader asks us to explain the difference between farther and further. Here ‘tis: the first refers to physical distance; the second covers time or figurative/metaphorical distance.
An Annoying Habit
The execrable “hone in” for “home in” trend continues unabated. Frequent contributor Larry Kerchner reports that a recent crawl (the continuous verbiage appearing at the bottom of your TV screen) on CCN Newsroom read: “Authorities hone in on terrorist cells.” Comments LK: “Maybe they used honing pigeons. I can see them now, laboring over their little whetstones.” (Hone means to sharpen).
Talk About Irony
Just read an online discussion of frequently misused words that included this sentence: “This is the kind of mistake we are often pray to.” That would be prey.
Busted
Mike Dinsmore, of Elsmere, points out that a recent O&A story contained the phrase “waiting on a bus.” Mike notes that it’s “impossible to wait on a bus, unless one was serving food and drink to the people on the bus, or if one was seated on (or atop) the bus, awaiting its departure.” Waiting for a bus is the correct term, of course. “I think the Rolling Stones have a lot to answer for in this matter,” says Mike. “Their 1981 song, ‘Waiting on a Friend,’ certainly did not help matters.”
Measurement Literacy
• Light-year: This term measures distance, not time, as it might suggest. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year (about 5.88 trillion miles). Thus, to say “I read that book light years ago” would be wrong.
• Walter Frank, of Wilmington, notes that the media (and everyone else) are being redundant when they refer to “a high rate of speed.” Says Walter: “Even a high school physics student should know that speed can be defined as the ‘the rate at which something moves.’ So, ‘high rate of speed’ equates to ‘the rate of the rate at which something moves.’ A really astute high school physics student also might observe that this sounds somewhat like ‘acceleration.’ That is the rate at which the speed of a moving object changes over time.”
Media Watch
• “The public believes the U.S. economy unfairly advantages the wealthy”—Claire Snyder-Hall, in The News Journal. Advantages as a verb? Really?
• USA Today’s Paul Myerberg says Joe Paterno didn’t want a statue of himself erected, describing Paterno as “disinterested” in the proposal. That means neutral, but it sounds so much more sophisticated than the correct uninterested, doesn’t it?
Follow me on Twitter: @thewaronwords
Word of the Month
carrel
Pronounced kar-rul, it’s a noun meaning a small cubicle with a desk for the use of a reader or student in a library.
Seen a good (bad) one lately?
Send your candidates to ryearick@comcast.net
