By Paul Yeager, author of Weather Whys: Facts, Myths, and Oddities and Cloudy and Cool.
Awesome is often used to mean something incredibly good, but technically, it means something that inspires awe of any type. When I saw that the video of Hurricane Katrina, released by NASA five years after the devastating storm, the only word that came to mind is awesome.
See the video in the NASA Releases Eye-Opening Satellite View of Hurricane Katrina story on AOL news.
By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever
This is another example of what I like to call “Close but no cigarette.”
I don’t remember where I heard it, as a good blogger should, but I recently heard someone on the television say the incorrect “the point is mute” instead of the correct “the point is moot.”
The point is moot, of course, means that the point has no practical significance. For instance, the point about how to spend the holiday bonus is moot after being fired from the job.
The point is mute would mean that the point cannot speak, which is the case for all points.
I know. I know. Common usage has most likely blurred the two, and if a mistake made often enough is reason for you to accept something, then this post is mute.
By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever
Who doesn’t enjoy a little humor related to funny typos, mistakes, and wacky statements on a resume or cover letter–except for those who made the mistake and didn’t get the job, that is?
We all make mistakes–believe me–but when I see some of these things I wonder if they’re not made up.
I mean, seriously, who would put “Exposure to German for two years-but many words are inappropriate for business” as a language skill?
Follow the link below to see the AOL (I love AOL for some reason…) article:
Resume Mistakes That Keep Hiring Managers Amused But Cost You the Interview
By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever
That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. We apparently have a new word, candwich. The new word is for a new product: a sandwich in a can.
You know me–I’m not in favor of just making up new words when our old standards will work fine, but hey, if we’ve decided hat it’s finally time to can a sandwich, then we may as well call it something. Candwich is a silly enough name for a silly product.
One of the reasons that this new product could be created (although I’m not sure how different it is from a sandwich wrapped in plastic) is the development of a bread that can stay fresh inside of a can for a year.
Year-old bread…I gotta get me some candwiches.
Do not use myself as the subject of a sentence. Myself and the other -self words—himself, herself, ourselves, etc.—are reflexives, and reflexives cannot be used as subjects. Nominatives should be used as subjects. The nominatives are I, we, he, she, and they. You is both nominative and objective, so it can be used as either a subject or an object.
Incorrect example: Myself and the rest of the team will be working on Saturday.
Correct example: The rest of the team and I will be working on Saturday.
The verb is will be working, and the subject (who or what will be working) always needs to be a nominative, so the correct pronoun to use is I.
Sherry
By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever
Headline in today’s Daily Collegian, which is the excellent student newspaper at Penn State: Bank Robber Flees Scene.
I have to admit that I was not surprised by that–rarely do you find a bank robber who decides to wait around for the police to show up.
Seriously, the Collegian is great–often with better writing and reporting than the local paper–but that headline was too funny to pass up.
By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever
None of us is perfect, of course, but it’s interesting to note mistakes of particular notoriety, such as the one Thomas Jefferson apparently made in the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence.
He initially referred to “citizens” as “subjects.”
While that might seem like a heinous error to us today, it’s important to remember that before we gained our independence, that was the common reference.
Perhaps my making reference to this on July 14 and not July 4 might seem like a heinous oversight to some of you as well, but maybe I think all days are fitting to celebrate our independence. Did you ever think of that?
Or I forgot to post it earlier.
By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever and Weather Whys: Facts, Myths, and Oddities.
Over-inflated and convoluted language does not make a person sound more intelligent, but it does make a person seem as if:
None of those would fall into the category of effective communication, which is best represented by a direct, simple expression of thoughts.
Don’t Sound Like This Person!
On a recent Jon Stewart episode, Stewart showed a clip (he did not conduct the interview himself) of Beverly Ginn (an Arizona attorney) saying the following in reference to the controversial Arizona immigration law:
“Reasonable suspicion exists when an officer is aware of specific, articulable facts which, when considered with the objective and reasonable inferences, forms the basis for particularized suspicion.”
By the way, reasonable suspicion apparently includes speeding in a car based on an interview later in the show, but would you have known that from this quote?
Why the Big Words?
I’m no psychic, so there’s no way for me to know why Ginn chose to use that particular language; however, I got the distinct impression–perhaps from the fact that she couldn’t seem to say the line with a straight face–that she was clearly trying to add confusion rather than add clarity.
She didn’t want it to be obvious to her audience what would actually determine when a suspected illegal alien could be asked for identification based on the current law, so she spit out a bunch of inflated words that gave no real information.
Don’t be like that.
Speak Plainly
Stewart summed up her quote by saying, “Mexicans are ****ed.”
Now, that was short and direct…and I knew what he meant.
For some reason, I feel that I should introduce this video of a funny British man giving a language rant with the line of “And now for something completely different.”
Since we changed the design of the site, I know that some of our other pages are not as obvious as they were in the past, but they’re still there, including:
Cloudy and Cool Paul Yeager–AOL News
