Archive for September, 2008
September 27th, 2008
When you’re describing scenes of destruction, it’s tough to top “wrack and ruin.” However, use of the word “wrack” should be confined to this phrase. “Wrack” is “wreckage,” from its Middle Dutch ancestor “wrak,” meaning “a wreck, wrecked ship.”
For all other uses, “rack” is preferred: on the rack (from the old torture device), off-the-rack clothing, a spice rack, a rack of lamb, rack-and-opinion, rack ‘em up, nerve-racking, racked with pain, rack your brain and so on.
It doesn’t seem right for one version to have most of the fun, but that’s English.
September 26th, 2008
If “habitable” means “fit to be lived in,” does “inhabitable” mean “unfit to be lived in”? No — both words mean “in livable condition.”
The verb “inhabit” means “to dwell or live in; occupy.” Use of “habit” as a verb as a synonym for “inhabit” is considered archaic. But the adjectives live on in harmony.
This recalls the classic doubling up of “flammable” and “inflammable,” both of which mean “easily set on fire; that will burn readily or quickly.”
Webster’s says that “flammable” is now preferred in commerce and industry, which is a good thing. This is a label that should not be open to misinterpretation.
In the same vein, “habitable” can be considered clearer than “inhabitable,” which could be confused with “inhospitable.”
September 25th, 2008
Awhile back a reader inquired about using the phrase “pushed back” in reference to something that has been rescheduled for later. For example, when we report that trash pickup will be pushed back a day during a holiday week. The reader suggested it should be “pushed forward.”
It’s the old perspective thing again.
Most of us think of time as a continuous thing moving inexorably from past to future. Logically, then, “back” would be toward the past and “forward” would be up ahead on the calendar.
However, if you take the point of view that the future is moving toward us, something that is rescheduled earlier is moved forward and something that’s reset for later is moved back.
The logic may be a bit strained, but the idiom is sound. A Google search yields more than 4.4 million instances of “pushed back.” I didn’t check them all, but the ones I did all had the same sense of occurring later.
A search of “pushed forward” produces about 811,000 examples — meaning moved to an earlier date.
This time travel stuff is tough on everyone.
September 24th, 2008
In what he called a move to help tame Illinois’ budget, the governor designated several state parks and historic sites for closure. Technically, the latter should be called “historical sites,” but just think what changing all those signs would cost.
“Historical” is a much broader term, basically meaning anything having to do with history. There are historical documents, historical novels, historical artifacts and so on.
“Historic” should be reserved for things “of lasting significance or importance.” Everything that has happened is history, but very few of those events are historic.
So what in the world could “prehistory” be? That’s stuff that happened before records of it were kept. Human prehistory is what archaeologists dig into. Trying to figure out what happened before human beings appeared is the task of geologists, cosmologists — and theologians.
September 23rd, 2008
In the dust-up over Sarah Palin’s dealings as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, with a local librarian, some confusion has arisen over whether Palin posed “rhetorical’ questions or “hypothetical” ones.
It’s more likely they were the latter, because the former would be basically just for intimidation. Hypothetical questions use “what-if” scenarios: Let’s assume these conditions, then what would you do?
A “rhetorical” question is just for effect or emphasis, and an answer isn’t expected. For example:Â ”Wasn’t that the worst movie you’ve ever seen?” The questioner is really saying, “That’s the worst movie I’ve ever seen, and I assume you feel the same.”
“Rhetoric” is a word with classical origins whose meaning has been altered down through the centuries. It comes from the Greek “rhetor,” who was an orator or “a master or teacher of rhetoric.” And in those days, “rhetoric” was “the art of using words effectively in speaking or writing.” So being proficient in rhetoric was a good thing.
Nowadays, we are likely to ask a speaker to cut through the rhetoric, because the prevailing idea is that it’s “artificial eloquence; language that is showy and elaborate but largely empty of clear ideas or sincere emotion.”
And “rhetorical question” is a specific term born of this revamped meaning.
That doesn’t seem fair, does it?
September 19th, 2008
Apparently there are many Americans who still haven’t decided how they will vote in November, and millions of dollars are being spent to help them make up their minds. So it seems like a good time to consider the difference between “convince” and “persuade.”
To “convince” is “to overcome the doubts of” or “make feel sure,” using argument or evidence. “Convince” is followed at some point by “that” or “of”:
“A prosecutor tries to convince a jury that the accused is guilty. A defense attorney tries to convince a jury of his client’s innocence.”
To “persuade” is “to cause to do something.” It is usually followed by “to”:
“He persuaded the jury to find his client not guilty.”
So “convince” produces a point of view, “persuade” produces an action.
In the presidential race, the goal of each campaign is to convince people that its candidate is the better one and then persuade them to vote for him.
It’s a fine point, but one considered worth preserving by most usage experts. Of course, not all of them are convinced.
September 17th, 2008
To continue is to go on and on and on. But don’t write “continue on.” Save that “on” for a place where it’s needed.
As part of this continuing education, let’s also review the difference between “continual” and “continuous.”
The former is about repetition, “happening over and over again.” Legislatures are places of continual argument, but they do take breaks from it.
“Continuous” is “going on or extending without interruption or break; unbroken; connected.” When you’re at sea, the ocean appears to be continuous.
“Continuity” is the noun for “the state or quality of being continuous; connectedness; coherence.” It’s also a word used in the arts for a script for a film, radio or TV show, comic strip, etc. In movies, it also refers to matching how things appear from one shot to the next.
This family of words also contains “continuum,” a rare example of two “u’s” together. “Vacuum” is another.
Space is essentially a vacuum, but space-time is a continuum.
September 12th, 2008
A general trend in English is the loss of hyphens when forming words with prefixes. It wasn’t too long ago, for example, that words like “today” and “tomorrow” were written “to-day” and “to-morrow.”
Sometimes, however, with “re-” words, a hyphen alters the meaning. For instance, the verb “resign” means “to quit,” but “re-sign” means “to sign again.” Someone who “resigns” is off the team; someone who “re-signs” is back on the team.
Webster’s notes a number of these pairs, although some of them can be a bit of a stretch. Among the better ones are:
“re-coil,” to coil anew; “recoil,” to pull or kick back (recoil in horror, the recoil of a rifle).
“re-cover,” to put a new cover on: “recover,” to regain possession of or get better.
“re-collect,” to gather together again; “recollect,” to remember,
“re-creation,” a new version; “recreation,” play, amusement, relaxation.
“re-dress,” to put clothes on again; “redress,” to make right.
“re-form,” to form again; “reform,” to make better.
“re-pose,” to watch the birdie again or rephrase a question; “repose,” to lie at rest.
“re-strain,” to put back through a strainer or pull a muscle again; “restrain,” to check, suppress, restrict.
And an examaple of pushing it a bit:
“re-ally,” to re-form an alliance; “really” — yes, really.
September 11th, 2008
A “caucus” is “a private meeting of leaders or a committee of a political party or faction to decide on policy, pick candidates, etc.” It also can refer to the group at such a meeting or “a faction or group of politicians.”
It also can be a verb for the above activity.
Webster’s says the word probably came from the “Caucus Club,” an 18th-century social and political club.
The likely ultimate source, it says, was the Medieval Greek “kaukos,” for “drinking cup.” I like the implication that the emphasis of the original caucuses may have been on conviviality.
Here’s to politics!
September 10th, 2008
Recently, I’ve seen a couple of references to something or someone being “on the ballet.” I’ve been reading about elections for a long time, and I don’t think that one has ever come up before.
Yes, “ballet” IS a word, but it’s pronounced “ba-LAY” and it’s a form of dance. You know, “Swan Lake,” ballerinas on tiptoe and one of my favorite words, tutus.
The word that belongs in election coverage is “ballot,” rhymes with “mallet.” “Ballot” traces back to the Italian “palla” for “ball” — also the source for “balloon.”
If it helps, balloons are often full of hot air and so are many people on ballots.
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