'Overstate' Creates State of Confusion by Rob Kyff on Creators.com

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'Overstate' Creates State of Confusion

Have you noticed that pundits and politicians sometimes use "understate" when they mean "overstate"?

Derel Schrock of Colorado Springs, Colo., sent me this example from comments by Congressman Allen West on Fox News: "I can't understate the seriousness of cuts in the defense budget." Technically, of course, this means that the cuts are completely inconsequential.

West meant to say "overstate," meaning that the budget cuts are very serious. So it wouldn't be overstating the matter to say, for instance, that the budget cuts are more momentous than God's decision to cut two planets from the solar system. Neptune and Jupiter, you're fired!

But the logic behind the "overstate" trope is just complex enough to confuse us. And sometimes people say "understate" when they mean "underscore," which has the opposite meaning. Because of all this confusion, use "overstate" with care.

Pundits also relish these two trendy usages ...

—Concerning "concerning" — The use of "concerning" to mean "causing concern, disturbing" continues to proliferate. During an interview on the "PBS Newshour," for instance, Congressman Douglas Collins said, "That was concerning to me."

The problem here is that "concerning" can also mean "regarding." So when we hear "That was concerning," we think the speaker might be about to say, "That was concerning last year's budget." We're confused, if only for a millisecond.

Likewise, the increasingly common use of "worrying" to mean "causing worry, troubling" (as in "This trend is very worrying") creates misdirection because "worrying" usually describes a person or mental state ("a worrying aunt"). This problem is easily solved by replacing "worrying" with "worrisome," which means "causing anxiety."

—"Gran"diloquence — When I hear "granular," I think of salt, pebbles and, well, granola. But now people are using "granular" to mean "detailed, piece-by-piece." A TV pundit, for instance, recently called for "an extended and granular look" at the troubled finances of Detroit. Was he calling for a study of sandboxes in city playgrounds?

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language includes this meaning of "granular" in its latest edition, providing this phrase as an example: "granular sales at the corner store." Presumably, this refers to sales of assorted small items, rather than bulk sales of salt and granola.

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, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254