Can you name the most commonly used words in English?
Clicking on the link above will take you to a sporcle.com page that contains a word game that tests your knowledge of common English words.
Good luck.
–Paul
February 4, 2010
What a Waste
While reading an article on politics on a popular news Web site recently, I reluctantly ventured into the comments section. I normally won’t read the comments section of an article on politics since it often seems to be just a hub for the vile and sophomoric among us——and have you ever noticed that many of them can’t spell?
This time, it was waist versus waste. The comment writer advised others not to waist their time. I’m not sure what anyone’s midsection had to do with her stance on the Obama administration—-maybe she was making some sort of cloaked insult about the president’s lack of a six pack, I don’t know.
Waist is a noun denoting the most narrow part of the torso. In Don’t waste your time, waste is a verb denoting doing something that doesn’t give you enough in return to make it worthy of doing. Don’t waist your time has no meaning.
Sherry
January 24, 2010
The Future is Still Not Now
I’ve written about this problem before, but it’s so pervasive that it bears repeating.
While watching the NFL pre-game show in the morning, the question was posed Who wins the game tonight? I’ve also heard on other game days Who has a better game today?, as well as Who gets the win this afternoon?
In each case, the speaker used the present tense to describe a single event that will occur in the future. This seems to be a highly popular trend, especially among broadcasters of all types—-and when I say all types, I mean weather and sports. As I mentioned the last time that I wrote about this, there’s a purpose in crafting sentences this way: Some people believe that speaking in the simple present tense makes the dialogue seem more potent and immediate.
To describe situations that have not happened yet, use the future tense. Who will win the game tonight? Who will have a better game today? Who will get the win this afternoon?
In all three cases, the answer turned out to be the same: not the Jets.
Sherry
January 20, 2010
Bad Economy–Bad New Words
Whenever I see newly created words, I often think of Sherry’s recently invented word, funfaithful, because her contrived word is at least as good as these new economy words, which were discussed recently on the Oxford University Press USA blog:
Funemployed
Funemployed means “taking advantage of one’s newly unemployed status to have fun or pursue other interests.”
Yeah, I’m sure that fun is a popular sentiment among the millions of people who have lost their jobs in the past couple of years–talk about being out of touch.
Zombie Bank
A zombie bank is “a financial institution whose liabilities are greater than its assets, but which continues to operate because of government support.”
Zombie bank–is that a joke? Seriously, that makes funfaithful seem brilliant.
Freemium
Freemium is “a business model in which some basic services are provided for free, with the aim of enticing users to pay for additional premium features or content.”
This is not a new concept. It’s not a highly effective business model, but it’s not new–or deserving of a new word. Today’s Internet consumer expects content to be free; any type of premium content is generally ignored.
–Paul
January 16, 2010
Blog Update–Comments Closed!
Since we’ve always viewed the blog as more of a source of information rather than a forum for discussion, we have decided to close the comments sections on all posts.
We will re-open the comments for the Your Pet Peeves page in a few days. (Update–comments on Your Pet Peeves page have been re-opened.)
–Paul and Sherry
January 15, 2010
Definition: Minority
I just want to get something straight since this sometimes seems to get confused: The word minority, as it applies to a population of people, means “a smaller party or group opposed to a majority, as in voting or other action.”
Minority Doesn’t Mean Inferior
In other words, the word minority is not synonymous with inferior. Minorities do not deserve equal treatment because the majority decides out of the kindness of their gracious hearts that these inferior people may now have what the majority has.
They should be granted the same rights as the rest of us because they’re the same as the rest of us; there are just fewer of them. Sadly, it’s more difficult for minorities to gain access to the same rights since they have less political and social influence–because of their number, not because of something inherently inferior about them.
Rush Limbaugh
That brings me to Rush Limbaugh’s quote about how President Obama wants to use Haiti to “burnish his credentials with minorities in this country and around the world, and to accuse Republicans of having no compassion.”
Most Americans, thank goodness, want to help the people of Haiti because they see people who need help. Rush sees a minority–apparently a minority who may or may not deserve our help. If we want to help them, it’s because we want to score political points with other minorities.
I’d love it if Rush Limbaugh went to Haiti to do his show on one condition–as long as he is treated the way he thinks a minority should be treated. He’d be a minority there–at least 90% of the population of Haiti is of African descent.
He probably thinks that the country is full of minorities, which doesn’t seem possible–unless his definition includes more than a reference to a relative number.
–Paul
January 14, 2010
Change Out the Football
I recently heard an esteemed celebrity football announcer say during one of the Sunday games that the referee was going to change out the football. Change out?
What does it mean to change out? Is it more important to change it out than to simply change it? Does it sound more exciting, more challenging, more game-changing to change something out?
This wasn’t the first time I’d heard the expression change it out when change it would have been correct. I’m not even certain whether changing something out really is the same thing as simply changing something, but what I do know is that the referee was going to change the ball.
Sherry
January 12, 2010
Factoid Verus Fact
I’ve received some criticism related to my book (Literally, the Best Language Book Ever) for my tendency toward prescriptivism, and we’ve also had some negative comments on the blog for the same reason, but the “word” factoid probably explains the need for rules and consistency in language as well anything.
Factoid is not included in any print dictionary we own, but it is defined in many online dictionaries, including dictionary.com, where it means either an insignificant fact or something fictitious or unsubstantiated that’s presented as fact.
In other words, factoid means either fact or fiction, rendering the term an instant source of confusion. The person saying it, or the person hearing it, can rightfully interpret the word in two opposing ways.
So much for the prescriptivist philosophy of “all that matters is that listener knows what the speaker means.”
–Paul
