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I’ll be on Wisconsin Public Radio on Wednesday morning

Posted by languageandgrammar on May 1, 2012

By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever and Weather Whys: Facts, Myths, and Oddities

I’m happy to report that I’ll be on Wisconsin Public Radio from 9 a.m. until 10 a.m. (Eastern time) on Wednesday, joining host Joy Cardin and listeners to discuss language pet peeves. Joy’s show is on the Ideas Network, a 19-station network serving Wisconsin and spilling into neighboring states, such as Minnesota and Illinois.

There is a live streaming option from the link above, and I’ll post the archive link when available.

Speaking of archives, this is the second time that I’ve joined Joy, with the first time being a few years ago after the book first came out. If you’re interested, you can listen to that interview on this archived stream.

It’s a good discussion, as might be expected from an NPR audience.

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“Stretchered” Off the Ice?

Posted by languageandgrammar on April 17, 2012

By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever and Weather Whys: Facts, Myths, and Oddities

Although it’s often difficult to be (because of the unnecessary violence often intended to injure opponents), I’m a fan of hockey.

The hockey act that resulted in the ridiculous language example I’m about to cite is an unfortunate example of what could be a great sport; however, let us, for the moment, only look at the language use in question: Marian Hossa Was Stretchered Off The Ice After This Brutal Hit From Raffi Torres.

Stretcher is a verb? The word now means “the act of moving someone (presumably into an ambulance) while on a stretcher.”

Call dictionary.com; even they don’t have that verbification (what I called the process of turning nouns into verbs in my book) yet. Call the descriptivists who think that, as long as the meaning is understood, it’s legitimate usage. We have a new verb!

Let’s do a little conjugation of the verb stretcher, at least of the present tense:

  • I stretcher
  • You stretcher
  • He/she/it stretchers
  • We stretcher
  • The stretcher

You get the idea.

If you want a new word, then simply turn a noun into a verb and you have one. You verbed it.

We certainly wish Marian Hossa the best and hope that hockey takes serious steps to remove the unnecessary violence from the game.

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Confusion Between Lead and Led

Posted by languageandgrammar on December 8, 2011

By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever and Weather Whys: Facts, Myths, and Oddities
lead balloon

Lead and led are two completely different words with completely different meanings, but since the past tense of the verb form of lead is pronounced the same as the noun form of the word lead, confusion runs rampant!!

For more information, read my most recent AIS Writing Tip, Confusing Word Pair: Lead and Led.

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Today’s New “Word” Is Logomisia

Posted by languageandgrammar on October 18, 2011

By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever and Weather Whys: Facts, Myths, and Oddities

a neologism: pokemonetisation

What if someone who doesn’t like the way in which we make up new words for no reason or change the meaning of existing words as part of superficial trends finds a made-up word that accurately represents his dislike of that process?

Well, if that person is me, he writes a post about it!!

The new “word” is logomisia, and it means, according to the Urban Dictionary, “disgust for certain words or a particular word; a disgust for certain words or for a particular word.”

The word does not seem to appear in regular dictionaries or even in dictionary.com, which seems to embrace any new word or new usage of a word quickly.

Don’t feel bad. We all experience logomisia at some point–even the typical descriptivist who believes that common usage is all that’s needed to change language.

Embrace it, and go ahead–use the new “word.” You know you want to.

For the record, the new (and often useless) word is called a neologism, and the above image is a neologism from plasticbag.org.

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Why Do They Hate Us?

Posted by languageandgrammar on July 29, 2011

By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever

Why do they hate us (U.S. citizens)?

The most common answer has always been that they hate our freedom, but I have breaking news from across the pond: It might be because of our language.

The BBC recently posted an article on the 50 most noted (a polite British way of saying annoying) Americanisms.

Dare I say that I must be British at heart since they make many excellent points, including:

  • Reach out instead of “ask.”
  • It is what it is, which is what it is: a phrase that says NOTHING.
  • Where’s it at? instead of the grammatically correct “Where is it?”
  • Ridiculousity, which the contributor hopes is being done tongue-in-cheek, but I wouldn’t bet on that–based on how often I hear the next one.
  • Physicality, which isn’t a word despite its growing use. (Note: People in the U.S. love to make up -ality words since it makes them sound so smart, at least to those who think anything ever uttered instantly becomes an acceptable word.)
  • Least worst option; the contributor suggests asking what the “most best option” might be.
  • Going forward instead of the standard “in the future.”

I could go on, but I don’t want anyone to get his knickers in a bunch.

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For All Intents and Purposes

Posted by languageandgrammar on July 20, 2011

By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever

This mistaken phrase for all intensive purposes falls into the category I like to call “Close but no cigarette.”

The correct phrase is for all intents and purposes, and it means, more or less, “for practical purposes.” A correct example would be: For all intents and purposes, the game was over in the fourth inning when the Yankees scored 10 runs.

The commonly used incorrect version of the phrase (for all intensive purposes) seems to indicate a sense of urgency, such as an intense situation. This is contrary to the original use of the phrase.

A Google search for the mistaken phrase results in 17 million-plus results. Granted, many of those are entries that point out that it’s incorrect; however, it is a general indication of the widespread use of the incorrect phrase.

For more information, see this Wise Geek entry: What does “All Intensive Purposes Mean?”

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Thought Leaders and Thought Followers

Posted by languageandgrammar on June 27, 2011

By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever

I was a recent Web conference associated with my day job, and I was extremely fortunate to attend during a year when there were so many thought leaders floating around, including one of the keynote speakers. I was merely one of the much less important thought followers.

Leaders, innovators, experts, and book authors are nothing new, but the concept of a thought leader is. It’s a re-hash of the old terminology, but I find it to be condescending. I might not have the expertise of one of the so-called thought leaders, but my thoughts are as valuable as his or hers.

I know. That’s not how the term is intended, and it’s just the people in a new generation defining themselves in their own way. But I’m telling you this: I have my own thoughts, and I’m not going to follow anyone else’s!

Speaking of thoughts, mine often wandered to the attendees who paid a couple of hundred bucks each for the right to not pay attention to the presenters. How could they–with tweets to send and follow, Facebook pages to update, e-mail to send, and Web sites to visit?

Seriously, have you noticed how little attention people now pay to other people, including those who they adorn with such titles as “thought leaders?” It’s getting progressively more difficult to get work done with so few people paying attention.

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Tween a Rock and a Made-Up Word

Posted by languageandgrammar on May 20, 2011

By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever

Using overly trendy language can lead to all sorts of problems, such as lengthy conversations and  strained relationships. To make my point, here is a hypothetical conversation between a mom who thinks she’s hip and a friend who prefers to use normal language:

Mom: “I don’t know what to do. Now that Sarah is a tween, she’s getting more difficult to handle.”

Friend: “Sarah is 13 already? I thought she was 11. I thought her 10th birthday was just last year.”

Friend (agitated and concerned) continues: Geez. I’m getting old fast. Maybe it’s dementia. I’ve got to see a doctor.”

Mom: “No! She’s 11, not 13. Why do you think she’s 13?

Friend: “Because you just said she’s a teen!”

Mom: “I didn’t say that! Aren’t you listening?”

Friend: “Oh my God. It’s worse than I thought. Now, I’m hearing things. I could have sworn you said that Sarah is a teen. Maybe I can call Dr. Phil or Dr. Drew.”

Mom: “No, I said ‘tween,’ not ‘teen.”

Friend: “Dr. Oz. I like Dr. Oz. He can help me. Yeah, Dr. Oz.”

Friend (catching up to the conversation):”Tween?!?!? What the CENSORED does that mean?”

Mom: “There’s no need for that tone. A tween someone who’s not yet a teenager but isn’t exactly a child, either.”

Friend (laughing): “Oh, so you meant to say pre-teen, but you accidentally invented a new “word.” That’s funny.”

Mom: “I didn’t make it up. Everyone is saying it. It’s either tween or tweenager.”

Friend: “No–not everyone. That’s stupid. I call them ‘pre-teens’ like I always have–and so does everyone else I know.”

Mom: “Well, you don’t have to call me stupid. You’re the one who doesn’t know the new words.”

Friend: “It’s not a word. The only time I’ve ever heard tween was when someone was too lazy to say between.”

Don’t let this happen to you!

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Another Impact

Posted by languageandgrammar on April 29, 2011

Although I’ve written about impact before, it bears repeating, especially since more and more people seem to be getting addicted to its use as a verb that means to affect.

Impact is a noun that denotes forcible contact or a collision between objects, as in The impact was strong enough to be felt miles away, or a verb that denotes something physically pressing closely into something else.

I’m not sure where its use as a verb meaning affect started, but it’s a recent development, most likely initiated either a) in order to create false melodrama or b) by someone who has poor grammar skills. Impact sounds much more dramatic than the correct word affected, which is what is usually meant when impact is used.

Dictionary.com, which has never met a grammar mistake it has not only liked but embraced, says, “Although recent, the new uses are entirely standard and most likely to occur in formal speech and writing.” Entirely standard? Why?

In other words, they’re preemptively spouting their descriptivist dogma in an attempt to prove they’re right—–but on what grounds? It sounds like on the grounds that this grammar error has been repeated many times by many people and is perpetuated in part by these kinds of dictionaries.

Sherry

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Stresscalation?

Posted by languageandgrammar on April 17, 2011

As you know, we here at Everything Language and Grammar are all for making up words whenever it’s convenient because language changes, and since it does, we should all have the authority to change it ourselves.

All right, before you think we’ve gone all descriptivist on you, I’ll stop the sarcasm and give you today’s made-up word: stresscalation.

I guess it means escalation of stress, but some people are too busy and stressed to say all of that, so they’ve shortened it to one, easy-to-use non-word.

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