ER for August 2010

By John T Harding

Second Series
Volume II, Number 5
August, 2010

   UBER DONE -- For decades, writers have been cautioned to stick with standard English whenever possible, and to avoid foreign words and phrases. Too often, however, a word or phrase catches on among denizens of the craft, and is stuck in whenever possible, plausible or even realistic. And while it may be a clever usage the first few times, it quickly grows stale from excessive use. Such is the fate of the German "uber," which in recent weeks has struck the New York Times newsroom like a virus, complete with umlaut, the double-dot over the letter u. There was a time, in the years BC (Before Computers) that daily newspapers had to avoid foreign usages, because special characters such as the umlaut were not available on Linotype machines. But now, the special sense of accomplishment that comes with being able to foist erudition upon readers has infected too many writers. As a result, we see such phrases as "uber-rich." Perhaps I'm being uber-sensitive to the uber-use of a word or phrase, and I worry about a steak being uber-done, or the weather being uber-cast. But good writers keep in mind that when an English equivalent is available, use it. In the case of "uber" the English equivalent -- and linguistically similar word -- is "over." A close relative is the English word "super," which is the form used when translating Nietzsche's concept of the "uber-mensch." Except that the philosopher was not thinking of Clark Kent as the Superman, but as a man who was above other men, philosophically and morally.

   HYPHEN WATCH -- The rules say to break a word and insert a hyphen between syllables. But many word processing systems still don't know what constitutes a syllable, so it's up to human intervention to tell them. Recent examples of mis-broken words: "Tran-sport" from The Economist in a story about railroads in America, and "businesspe-ople" from Page 1 of the Sunday New York Times.

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Editor's Revenge is a free newsletter on the use, misuse and abuse of the English language in America. Logomachist: J.T. Harding.