The Word Guy from Creators Syndicate

Put a Sock in It! for 02/15/2012

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Sometimes you put your foot(wear) in your mouth. Let's look at the origins of some "soxy" and "sole"ful terms.

— Blue stocking

Oddly enough, this derogatory term for an intellectual woman derives from an intellectual man. In 1750s London, a group of upper crust ladies began hosting evening gatherings for men and women to discuss literature. This proved to ...

Updated: Wed Feb 15, 2012

Cue up a Queue of Tricky Phrases for 02/08/2012

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Verbs followed by prepositions can be tricky. Can you select the correct verb in each phrase?

1. At dawn, the band's fans started to (cue up, queue up) for tickets.

2. The danger of infection (militates against, mitigates against) extensive surgery.

3. The hikers (clambered up, clamored up) the steep trail.

4. The stream was (teaming with, teeming with) fish.

...

Updated: Wed Feb 08, 2012

Let Us Now Pronounce Famous Men for 02/01/2012

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Q: What's the proper way to pronounce "Carnegie"? I am from Pittsburgh, where the guy lived for many years and had a university named for him — Carnegie Mellon. We pronounce it "kahr-NEG-ee" in these parts of the woods. I hear newscasters and people from the New York area pronounce it "KAHR-nuh-gee." — Liz in Butler, Pa.

A: Funny you should ask. ...

Updated: Wed Feb 01, 2012

Getting Our Kilter Back in Whack for 01/25/2012

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Why do we say something is "out of kilter" or "out of whack"? Has something ever been "in kilter" or "in whack"?

I first heard the term "out of kilter" as a kid while watching my father build a basketball backboard and hoop next to our driveway. I had rarely seen him more serene and busy.

But after the concrete ...

Updated: Wed Jan 25, 2012

Do You Have 20/20 Revision? for 01/18/2012

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Can you find 20 errors in the following account of the ongoing battle over English usage?

Commentators on English usage follow one of two general principals. Prescriptivists believe English should adhere to a multitude of discreet rules and find it nerve-wracking when they see a violation of these regulations. They wish there were less errors, and they try to staunch these mistakes. ...

Updated: Wed Jan 18, 2012

Getting Excited About Prepositions for 01/11/2012

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Some random dispatches from the word front ...

THEY'RE SO EXCITED!

A U.S. senator's website reports that the senator was "genuinely excited to meet Jon Stewart." A headline says that golfer Michelle Wie is "excited to start a dream job." A competitor on a high school swim team says, "We're really excited for the championships."

Is it just me, o ...

Updated: Wed Jan 11, 2012

2011: A Year When Cliches 'Went Missing'? for 01/04/2012

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800
Each January, I usually present my readers with a collection of terms that were overused during the previous year. But guess what? Tired expressions that had abounded in 2010 went missing in 2011.
This epic event was a real a-ha moment for me. The wow factor of this game-changer trended positive all year long, from the Arab Spring in the Middle East to O ...

Updated: Wed Jan 04, 2012

Using 'Dilemma' Presents a Dilemma for 12/28/2011

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Q: I have been taught that a dilemma is a choice between distasteful alternatives. A dilemma is not to choose between a hot fudge sundae and chocolate cake — unless one is a diabetic. Has this "rule" been subsumed by modern usage? — John Shulansky, West Hartford, Conn.

A: I'll take the cake. And in the minds of some linguistic purists, so will my answer.

Trad ...

Updated: Wed Dec 28, 2011

Not Your Grandfather's Christmas for 12/21/2011

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Have you ever wondered how certain Christmas classics might be rendered using today's lingo? ...

Dear Editor:

I am 8 years old. Some of my friends are trying to throw Santa Claus under the bus. Is Santa Claus, like, real? — Virginia

Dear Virginia:

Your little friends just don't get it. They refuse to buy into any paradigm that isn't transparent. They think noth ...

Updated: Wed Dec 21, 2011

And a Word Book in a Pear Tree for 12/14/2011

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Joy to the "Word"! Several terrific new books about language have arrived just in time for the holiday season.

If your bon mots turn into bon nots, check out "Word Hero" by Jay Heinrichs (Three Rivers Press, $14). With wit and verve, Heinrichs shows how to craft fiendishly clever one-liners. Try using, for instance, the "Mr. Potato Head" — describing s ...

Updated: Wed Dec 14, 2011

Should 'Silver Bullet' Be Shot? for 12/07/2011

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

More and more people are using the term "silver bullet" when they mean "magic bullet," and Brad Conway of East Hampton, Conn., wants them to stop it. "Perhaps there's been an outbreak of lycanthropy," he writes slyly.

Magic bullets? Lycanthropy? East Hampton? This is starting to get interesting ...

The term "magic bullet" was devised by the ...

Updated: Wed Dec 07, 2011

Is This Pronoun Choice out to Lunch? for 11/30/2011

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Q: What's your opinion of the commonplace use of "they" to mean "he or she," "them" to mean "him or her," and "their" to mean "his or her?" Here is an example of part of a note that might be sent home by my child's school: "If your child wishes to purchase a lunch, they should bring their money in an envelope." — Karen ...

Updated: Wed Nov 30, 2011

Doing a Double Take on Double-Talk for 11/23/2011

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Word pairs are the bread and butter of English. We love, for instance, to say that price gougers are charging us an "arm and a leg," even though losing just one of these appendages would be bad enough. During a downpour, it rains not only "cats" but also "dogs," and describing a tingling sensation summons both "pins" and "needles."
...

Updated: Wed Nov 23, 2011

Goin' A-huntin' for Linguistic Integrity for 11/16/2011

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

She was a-drivin' fast. We might could stop here. He'll hurt hisself.

These sentences conjure images of hillbillies, hunting and hound dogs. Indeed, many of us would dismiss these American Southern regionalisms as ungrammatical and nonstandard.

But these constructions actually possess an integrity of their own: They reflect a rich linguistic heritage, exemplify grammatical consist ...

Updated: Wed Nov 16, 2011

Giving What for to 'Want for' for 11/09/2011

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Emily Hughes of Bloomfield, Conn., writes to ask me about this sentence from a recent advice column: "I can understand that you want for your wife to look young."

"I hope you can explain this use of the word 'for,'" Hughes writes. "What purpose does it serve? It sounds awkward."

"Awkward" is the nice word for it. Most usage authorities conde ...

Updated: Wed Nov 09, 2011

Man up and Be Gender-Neutral! for 11/02/2011

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Q: Is it properly "workmen's compensation" or "workman's compensation"? — George Coshow, Middle Haddam, Conn.

Neither. The original term was "workmen's compensation," which first appeared in print in 1917. But most usage authorities, including the Associated Press Stylebook, now advise using the gender-neutral term "workers' compensation," wh ...

Updated: Wed Nov 02, 2011

Meet the Men Behind Your Menu for 10/26/2011

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

How did the brother of Carthaginian general Hannibal end up as the mayonnaise on your roast beef sandwich?

Hannibal, famous for crossing the Alps with elephants to attack Rome during the Punic Wars, named a port on the Mediterranean island of Menorca for his brother Mago — "Portus Magonis" ("Mago's Port"). Over the centuries, "Portus Magonis" evolved i ...

Updated: Wed Oct 26, 2011

How Can 'Many' Be Fewer? for 10/19/2011

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Faithful reader Henry Smith of East Hartford, Conn., writes to ask about the legitimacy of the phrase "many fewer," as in "Skeptics persist, but there are many fewer of them."

His concern is understandable. The juxtaposition of "many," which denotes large quantities, and "fewer," which denotes small quantities, seems strange. You can almost imagine ...

Updated: Wed Oct 19, 2011

Hey, Hey! Down With Cliche! for 10/12/2011

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Against the backdrop of recent anti-Wall Street demonstrations, let's examine some upcoming rallies against overused terms ...

Literary characters Dick, Jane and Sally have organized a read-in to protest the pretentious Briticism "spot-on," meaning "exactly correct." "We've never exhorted our dog with that twitty phrase," said Jane. "We always used the ...

Updated: Wed Oct 12, 2011

Oh, for a Corrigible Cat! for 10/05/2011

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

When my cat, Tabby, leaped up onto my desk for the fourth time yesterday, I told him, "You're incorrigible!" Then I started to wonder, "Has any cat or any person ever been corrigible?"

In fact, yes. The adjective "corrigible," meaning "capable of being corrected, reparable" (as in "a corrigible error"), has existed in English since the 14 ...

Updated: Wed Oct 05, 2011