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Archive for May, 2009

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Why Just Unfaithful? Be FUNfaithful!

Posted by languageandgrammar on May 29, 2009

Here’s one for all of the descriptivists out there. Since many of them who write to us insist that as long as people use an arrangement of letters, that means it’s a legitimate word, I thought it might actually be fun to jump on the descriptivist bandwagon and propose a new “word” of my own: Funfaithful.

I thought that this word could be used to mean either a man or a woman who’s in a committed relationship—usually a marriage—but is having an extra-relationship affair. Instead of just being plain old UNfaithful, which has no pizazz and sounds as if it could be rather boring, why not call it FUNfaithful since having an affair is FUN—-at least for the person having it.

It’s in the same vein as staycation; while it’s really just still a vacation, now we have to qualify the location of the vacation by explaining that we’re staying home. Funfaithful also gives us a little more in the way of explanation of our actions. It’s not JUST being unfaithful—-oh, no—–it’s FUN!

Sherry

Posted in humor, language | Tagged: , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Language of Forecasting

Posted by languageandgrammar on May 27, 2009

I’ve trained many young weather forecasters in my time, and I’ve always said that even the most accurate forecast is of no use if it’s not communicated well.

On my weather blog (cloudyandcool.com), I’ve taken a look how well the government’s summer 2009 long-range forecast (Long Range Forecast?) has been communicated–I wasn’t impressed.

–Paul

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It’s Memorial Day, Stupid

Posted by languageandgrammar on May 24, 2009

On the radio last night, I heard a talk-show host say I hope there’s lots of laughter at YOUR house this holiday weekend. Lots of laughter? Was she kidding? Does she know that it’s MEMORIAL DAY? It’s a solemn holiday, not a holiday to plan a pool party and rationalize drinking a couple of six-packs at the neighbor’s late on Sunday night because we don’t have to go to work on Monday morning.

The host’s wishes for a good time this holiday weekend were, I have to say, typical of the kinds of sentiments I’ve heard uttered on this particular holiday for years. Paul wrote about this same topic, but I felt compelled to also share my experiences with holiday well wishers, whether they be insane, insensitive, or just plain stupid.

Memorial Day: it’s a day to honor those Americans, men and women, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, friends and colleagues who have died while fighting in the wars that the rest of us have been too afraid to fight, too old to fight, or too unable to fight. We send brave, patriotic, dedicated Americans, many of them just children, off to foreign countries while the rest of us continue to safely sip coffee at Starbuck’s and watch the evening news from the comfort of our Barcoloungers. And to honor these people, is this how we’re supposed to spend Memorial Day—deciding whether we want relish on our hot dogs and complaining that it’s too cold to go swimming?

I can’t wait for someone to ask me whether I had a barbecue or went to any parties this weekend so that I can reply with No, I stayed home and wept for all of the brave soldiers who gave their lives while doing the job that people like me would never do.

Sherry

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Language of Freedom

Posted by languageandgrammar on May 23, 2009

This is the Memorial Day weekend, of course, and it is a solemn occasion (Enjoy the Funeral), not just the unofficial beginning of summer, the time when every gallon of paint in the country is on sale, and the first weekend of sunscreen and salt-water taffy.

The purpose of Memorial Day is to honor those who died in the service of this country. Many of us will generalize or politicize that statement, saying instead that Memorial Day is for honoring those who died fighting for (or protecting) our freedom. These are not synonymous statements.

Not all of the battles we’ve fought have been for the purpose of fighting for or protecting our freedom. It’s not that simple; we’ve sometimes fought for the freedom of others, and many of us believe that we have sometimes fought for the political purposes of a few.

Many Americans, most of whom had barely begun to live, died because of what we determined was worth fighting for; therefore, we need to be accurate about those reasons.

Surely, we respect those who died in our service enough to do that.

–Paul

Posted in language | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

Mantuary

Posted by languageandgrammar on May 20, 2009

The good news is that I might have been too harsh on one of the terms that I’ve made reference to in the past–man cave. Sure, it’s annoying, trendy, and sexist with a seventh-grade maturity level, but at least it’s made of two words that are otherwise useful.

The bad news is that there is a new term with all of the same charming characteristics of man cave, and it’s one of those special hybrid words–you know, like the wildly popular ginormous.

Move over man cave; mantuary is now on the map, as was indicated in a recent AOL headline: One Guy’s Mantuary Has Bar, Games, and Biggest TV We’ve Ever Seen.

I wonder why men ever get married–if we’re to believe that they’re only ever happy in caves where beer flows continuously, sports rolls on bigger-than-life televisions, and a sign on the door says “no women allowed.” In other words, a man is only happy when he’s in his sanctuary, a mantuary.

–Paul

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Larry King on Language

Posted by languageandgrammar on May 17, 2009

When I was doing a recent google search for trendy language (is that really that much more difficult than saying when I recently googled trendy language?), I came across some Larry King commentary on the topic. His comments, found at Larry King about trendy language, mirror many of the thoughts we have.

King touches on the effectiveness of simplicity in language, turning nouns into verbs,  instant cliches, and inflated language. The post says that the article was found in the Bangkok Post in 1996, but it’s still valid today–if not moreso.

–Paul

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Desperation Versus Determination

Posted by languageandgrammar on May 13, 2009

I believe in the power of words, and I also believe in the power of positive energy; therefore, it’s not surprising that I believe it’s important to focus our language–and thus our lives– in a positive direction. That’s why I’m starting a new feature on the blog, Words to Live By, which will attempt, through language, to give us a way to turn some negative aspects of our lives into positive ones.

Similar But Vastly Different

When either desperate or determined, we have no control over the outcome–we don’t currently have what we want and whether we get it isn’t up to us; however, desperation is living passively and hopelessly, and determination is living actively and confidently.

Desperation

We have all desperately wanted something, whether we desperately wanted a relationship to work out, desperately wanted a particular job, or  desperately wanted to lose weight. I’m talking about true desperation, not just wanting something that would make your life better as long as it’s convenient.

This is the only person who will make me happy, and I know I’ll never be happy if this doesn’t work out.

This is the perfect  job for me, and if I don’t get it, I will have wasted the years of preparation leading to this moment–it will all be gone, and another opportunity like this will never come my way.

I am overweight, unhealthy, and unattractive, and if I don’t do something about it, I’ll always hate myself.

We’ve all felt that desperation, and we’ve all felt that heavy, torturous hopelessness and lack of power that comes with it. It’s a paralyzing feeling as you wait for someone or something to decide your fate. It prevents you from controlling your own life.

That’s no way to live, and perhaps more important, it’s no way for you to get what you want. My recommendation is that you turn desperation into determination.

Determination

A determined person focuses on what he wants and commits to doing whatever he needs to do in order to get it.  I’m talking about a sincere, focused commitment to a specific goal, not wishing that things were different as long as it’s easy.

I hope this relationship works out, but I’m determined to find a way to be happy regardless, either with someone else or by myself. No man or woman is going to decide whether I’m happy.

I’ve worked too hard and too long for me not to find a job that satisfies all of my needs, and I’m going to find it even if it takes until the day before I retire. This one job isn’t going to make or break my career.

I’ve made a lot of poor choices in my life, but I’m going to love myself today and commit to whatever changes I need to make in order to be healthy.

We’ve all felt the feeling of true determination–and the sense of hope and power that comes with it. We know what we want, and nothing is going to stop us. It’s a great feeling.

Desperation or Determination

When faced with something that we want and have no control over whether we get it, we can be desperate or determined. It’s a choice.

–Paul

Posted in language, words to live by | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Possessive Pairs

Posted by languageandgrammar on May 11, 2009

No, I’m not talking about when your wife won’t let you go to a bar with your friends or your husband doesn’t let you talk to anyone at the office Christmas party; those problems would require the assistance of, oh I don’t know, perhaps a marriage counselor, not an editor.

What I’m talking about is how to indicate possession when discussing a single object that belongs to two people.

If two people own or have possession of one thing, put the apostrophe after only the second name. For example, when Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann hosted a single post-election show, we referred to it as Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann’s post-election show.

Other examples: Dick and George’s secret plan (one plan that they devised together), Barack and Michelle’s gift to the Queen (they gave her one gift together), and Sherry and Paul’s blog.

If you’re talking about two separate things that belong to two separate people, however, each name gets an apostrophe, as in Chris Matthews’ and Keith Olbermann’s shows (Matthews’ show is called Hardball, and Olbermann’s show is called Countdown), and Newsweek’s and Time’s front-page stories (each has its own front-page story).

Sherry

Posted in language | Tagged: , , , , | 3 Comments »

Your Language Complaints

Posted by languageandgrammar on May 6, 2009

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, this is the fourth installment of what you, the readers languageandgrammar.com, have listed as Your Pet Peeves.

Since we’ve had well over 100 comments, with probably close to 200 peeves, we thought that it only be fair that we highlight them.

There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that we’re just trying to prove that other people complain as much as we do.

Your peeves:

  • “This won’t talk English to me” (I don’t work in a video store, as our commentor did, so I’ve never heard it)
  • “Methinks” being correct is a pet peeve of someone who wanted to mock me for saying something makes as much sense as saying “me thinks” in Literally, the Best Language Book Ever (What? You didn’t buy a copy yet? Me thinks you should.)
  • 12 midnight and 12 noon (not sure of what the peeve was–other than sometimes using a.m. and p.m. is not always clear)
  • More disagreement with redundant entries in my book (yes, the same person), including brief summary, close proximity, final conclusion and new development (I guess maybe I was his pet peeve!)
  • Another “gotcha” from the same man (I’d hate to read his comments if hadn’t liked my book!) about an incorrect tense and disagreement about the lack of logic of “pushing the envelope.”
  • Using “Impact” to mean “affect,” which is one of Sherry’s favorite topics (Impact Does Not Mean to Affect, More on Impact, and It’s Not Impactful–It’s Inane)
  • Misuse of “gotten”
  • “Anyways” in stead of “anyway”
  • Using “on either side” instead of “on both sides” (On Either Side of This Mistake)
  • “Most importantly” instead of “most important” (Most Important/Most Importantly)
  • “PIN Number” redundancy
  • “Irregardless” (No Regard for Irregardless)
  • “Can you be more pacific” instead of “Can you be more specific” (ha!)
  • “My point being is” instead of “my point is”
  • Lack of proper punctuation, capitalization in e-mail, instant messages, twitter posts, etc.
  • Every so often
  • “All of the sudden” instead of “all of a sudden”
  • “Couple something” rather than “couple of something” (You Have a Couple Of Something, Not A Couple Something)

Posted in grammar, language, writing | Tagged: , , , | 3 Comments »

I Was So Dis-focused—–I Mean Distracted….

Posted by languageandgrammar on May 4, 2009

I heard a commentator on one of the 24-hour news channels use the non-word dis-focus last week. At first, I thought that it was a grammatical hiccup, but then he used it thrice more.

He was talking about one of the political parties using one issue to dis-focus the country from another issue. Did he really think that dis-focus was a word? Did he just draw a blank four times when trying to think of the word “distract”? And if he did draw a blank, couldn’t he have just said “take the focus off”? I wish I knew the answer to at least one of these questions.

I was so jarred by the commentator’s repeated use of dis-focus that I, myself, became dis-focused—-I mean distracted—-and lost interest in what he was saying. That’s something to consider when trying to make yourself sound smarter by using non-words: people will often become so distracted by your grammar that your message will be lost. It’s better to stick with simple, straightforward, standard language.

Sherry

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