Some random dispatches from the Word Front . . .

Palin's Patois — Connoisseurs of regional English are salivating over Sarah Palin's classic Upper Midwest/Northern Plains dialect. Her flat "a" sounds ("marry" as "merry"), elongated "o" sounds ("Minne — soooh — ta") and Canadian inflections remind many people of the dialect used by characters in the movie "Fargo," dontcha know.

Meanwhile, pronunciation purists are looking askance at Palin's rendering of "Iraq" as "eye — rack," insisting "there is no 'eye' in Iraq." But perhaps, as with George W. Bush's "nucular," this may simply be a way of poking a stick in the eye of eastern elites.

Olympicisms — For some of us, the most fascinating event at this year's Olympics was the 100-meter noun dash — the race to convert slowpoke nouns to sleek verbs. This year's winners are "medal" ("She'll probably medal in the 100"), "world record" ("Will he world record in the 400"?) and "final" ("She hopes to final in the 800").

It's the use of another verb — "defend" — by Olympics commentators that bothers Mark Friden of Star Lake, N.Y. He points out that, until recently, "to defend a gold medal" has meant to compete with other teams or individuals to retain first — place status, e.g. "Guo Jingjing will defend her gold medal in springboard, won in Athens in 2004."

But, more and more, sportscasters are using "defend" to mean "successfully defend," as in "Guo Jingjing looked so strong in the preliminaries that she's likely to defend her Olympic gold medal." Mark asks, "Hadn't she been defending it ever since the competition in that event started in Beijing?"

Yup. As any trial lawyer will tell you, those who defend don't always do so successfully.

— Stormy Weather — "Our weather reporters never talk of rain or snow or fog," writes Esther Sluder of California. "It is always a 'rain event,' 'fog event,' etc. Is that expression unique to the San Joaquin Valley?"

Unfortunately, no, and now even TV commercials are picking it up, touting "sales events" instead of "sales."

Judi M. of Canton, Conn., is annoyed by the overuse of the phrase "pop — up showers" by TV forecasters. "Why can't they just say 'showers'?" she asks. "I know it is most likely taken from computer pop — ups, but enough is enough!"

Similarly, Oren Spiegler of Upper Saint Clair, Pa., wonders why newscasters describing hurricane flooding say water "overtopped" the levees, rather than "topped." In his view, "overtop" is over the top.

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045. To find out more about Rob Kyff and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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