FOLLOW FOUL -- The manuals insist that writers keep constructions parallel and never end a sentence with a preposition. Sometimes, however, that can result in a sentence that trips on itself. This example is from The Moral Landscape, a new book by Sam Harris: "Controversies about human values are controversies about which science officially has no opinion." The opening phrase, "Controversies about ..." sets up the reader for the second, identical phrase, leading the reader to expect mention of a second controversy. Instead, Harris switches to the prepositional, "about which ..." forcing readers to rescan the sentence. Grammatical rules are good, but sometimes flexibility is better. Or, as Winston S. Churchill said of the rule concerning prepositional endings: "That is the sort of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put."
SILLY QUESTIONS -- Barbara Walters recently asked Sarah Palin, "If you decide to run against Barack Obama, do you think you could win?" Palin's reply: "I believe so." Of course she would say yes. What political candidate enters a contest expecting to lose?
GLEANINGS of an Itinerant Speller -- "Run the gambit." The word should be "gamut." It comes from early music notation, where "gamma" is the name of the basic tone, and "ut" is the first note of the scale. It began:
UT-queant laxis
RE-sonare fibris
MI-ra gestorum
FA-muli tuorum
SOL-ve polluti
and ended with DO-mine. Later revisions brought about the familiar DO RE MI version we all learned as children. So, to "run the gamut" is to travel the entire range, from gamma to ut. "Gambit," by the way, is used in chess to refer to the sacrifice of a pawn to gain an advantage. The word is related to the Italian gamba (leg), as in viola da gamba, a stringed instrument larger than the violin that is played resting on the knee. American slang used to refer to a woman's beautiful legs as "gams," and strategists refer to gaining an advantage as "getting a leg up."
BULLY FINANCE -- With the Irish financial system in turmoil, commentators have been referring to "bond vigilantes" or "market predators," to describe investors who move in on weak systems to take advantage of rate differentials. Pug Mahoney, our market sage from across the pond, said that in a schoolyard, they would be called bullies, and would be known by name and face. But in international finance, media mavens and the general public know them only as mysterious "men in gray suits." Maybe, says the Sage, they should be identified as those who knock over the first domino.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
The Druid Way
1/ You are a worthwhile person
2/ Believe in yourself
3/ Think for yourself
4/ Follow your bliss
5/ Seek beauty in life, in Nature, in other creatures
6/ Enjoy beauty in music and art as you perceive it.
Don't let others tell you what you "must" enjoy
7/ Read. Anything and everything that pleases you
8/ Do all things in moderation
9/ Say please and thank you
10/ Find someone to love. Tell them so
11/ Seek balance in all things
12/ If it harm none, do what you will
2/ Believe in yourself
3/ Think for yourself
4/ Follow your bliss
5/ Seek beauty in life, in Nature, in other creatures
6/ Enjoy beauty in music and art as you perceive it.
Don't let others tell you what you "must" enjoy
7/ Read. Anything and everything that pleases you
8/ Do all things in moderation
9/ Say please and thank you
10/ Find someone to love. Tell them so
11/ Seek balance in all things
12/ If it harm none, do what you will
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Pointing
PUNCTILIOUS -- Punctuation and punctual come from the same root as point and pointing. We speak of arriving "on the dot." In Spanish, the phrase for arriving on time is "en punto." Punctuation refers to putting points (dots and other marks) into a sentence to clarify meaning. Leaving out necessary points makes for foggy reading. E! News left out an apostrophe in a caption phrase "It's the bees knees," making it unclear whether the knees belong to one bee or several.
INSIDE OR OUTSIDE -- Periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks for the sole reason that it looks better. Other marks can be inside or outside, depending on whether the punctuator is part of the quoted material. Example A: "How much is that?" he asked. Example B: Did he say "no trespassing"? Note also no double punctuation in Example A. Don't use both comma and question mark inside the closing quote.
HYPHEN HAVEN -- For those unsure on the use of the hyphen, consider this: The New York Times used "royal-watchers" to refer to those who watch the royals. This differentiates this crowd from "royal watchers," who would be royal persons watching someone or something else.
WHO ELSE? -- NBC News reported that Lisa Murkowski was "only the second person since 1954 to win election by write-in vote." Pug Mahoney spent the rest of the evening wondering who the other was. For the record, the other write-in winner was Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina.
ONE WORD OR TWO -- The English language has the wonderful capacity to use a word as a noun, verb or adjective without changing its form. But when a verb phrase becomes a noun, a two-word phrase will often become a single word. For example, the verb phrase "roll over" becomes the noun "rollover," "crack down" becomes "crackdown," and "turn around" becomes "turnaround." Some writers, however, use the closed-up noun form when they should retain the two-word verb phrase. Careful writers maintain the difference.
GLEANINGS of an Itinerant Speller -- It's "Manhattan," with the letter a throughout. No e, if you please. The word counterinsurgency would be more readable with a hyphen. Make it counter-insurgency.
INSIDE OR OUTSIDE -- Periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks for the sole reason that it looks better. Other marks can be inside or outside, depending on whether the punctuator is part of the quoted material. Example A: "How much is that?" he asked. Example B: Did he say "no trespassing"? Note also no double punctuation in Example A. Don't use both comma and question mark inside the closing quote.
HYPHEN HAVEN -- For those unsure on the use of the hyphen, consider this: The New York Times used "royal-watchers" to refer to those who watch the royals. This differentiates this crowd from "royal watchers," who would be royal persons watching someone or something else.
WHO ELSE? -- NBC News reported that Lisa Murkowski was "only the second person since 1954 to win election by write-in vote." Pug Mahoney spent the rest of the evening wondering who the other was. For the record, the other write-in winner was Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina.
ONE WORD OR TWO -- The English language has the wonderful capacity to use a word as a noun, verb or adjective without changing its form. But when a verb phrase becomes a noun, a two-word phrase will often become a single word. For example, the verb phrase "roll over" becomes the noun "rollover," "crack down" becomes "crackdown," and "turn around" becomes "turnaround." Some writers, however, use the closed-up noun form when they should retain the two-word verb phrase. Careful writers maintain the difference.
GLEANINGS of an Itinerant Speller -- It's "Manhattan," with the letter a throughout. No e, if you please. The word counterinsurgency would be more readable with a hyphen. Make it counter-insurgency.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Forecasting
CAUTION -- A master programmer and senior computer exec once said, "Life is a series of if-then statements." Economic forecasters rely on the ceteris paribus (other things equal) assumption. Which is to say, if a trend continues as it has in the past, and if all other factors stay the same, then we can predict such-and-so. However, in the real world, nothing stays the same -- other things never remain equal. It's like forecasting the weather.
Many economists are reluctant to make forecasts, but their corporate and government employers, as well as the media and the general public, insist on wanting to know what will happen in the future. And if one economist won't provide a forecast, or couches it in too many CYA phrases, then news reporters go to another, who talks with a greater degree of confidence. (Note all the if-then statements in the above.) There are no guarantees. The best we can hope for, based on the heroic assumption that there will be no major changes, is a reasonable degree of accuracy. But even this does not define "major" change, or "reasonable" degree of accuracy.
PYTHON ALERT -- TV promos for the reality series "Sarah Palin's Alaska" have her saying she'd rather be outdoors than in a political office. Maybe she never wanted to be governor at all. She always wanted to be a lumberjack. Cue the music:
She's a lumberjack and she's OK
She sleeps all night and she works all day
She cuts down trees, she skips and jumps ...
GLEANINGS of an Itinerant Speller -- Legimate. We're not sure what that means, but adding -ti- in the middle would make it a legitimate word.
FROM THE RIM -- Sarcasm is wasted on the young, destructive to the old, and useless against the self righteous.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -- Be alert. The world needs more lerts.
Many economists are reluctant to make forecasts, but their corporate and government employers, as well as the media and the general public, insist on wanting to know what will happen in the future. And if one economist won't provide a forecast, or couches it in too many CYA phrases, then news reporters go to another, who talks with a greater degree of confidence. (Note all the if-then statements in the above.) There are no guarantees. The best we can hope for, based on the heroic assumption that there will be no major changes, is a reasonable degree of accuracy. But even this does not define "major" change, or "reasonable" degree of accuracy.
PYTHON ALERT -- TV promos for the reality series "Sarah Palin's Alaska" have her saying she'd rather be outdoors than in a political office. Maybe she never wanted to be governor at all. She always wanted to be a lumberjack. Cue the music:
She's a lumberjack and she's OK
She sleeps all night and she works all day
She cuts down trees, she skips and jumps ...
GLEANINGS of an Itinerant Speller -- Legimate. We're not sure what that means, but adding -ti- in the middle would make it a legitimate word.
FROM THE RIM -- Sarcasm is wasted on the young, destructive to the old, and useless against the self righteous.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -- Be alert. The world needs more lerts.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Reactions
EDUCATION -- American students score poorly in math compared to other nations, and have shown a sharp increase in attention deficit disorder. Are the two related?
NBC reported that American students ranked 14th in a study of math proficiency at an advanced level. In the same broadcast, science reporter Robert Bazell cited research showing a 22 percent increase in ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) since 2003, resulting in a full 10 percent of American kids being treated. What's going on here? The view from this corner is that the two are related. The reason students do poorly in school is that they're bored. And rather than cure the boredom, the system claims it's a medical condition, and pushes another pill. Consider also that the average starting salary for teachers is less than $30,000, and tops out at an average below $50,000. Is it any surprise that the kids are bored?
In a related matter, the governor of New Jersey wants to put a cap on salaries of school superintendents, some of whom make more than $150,000 in districts with only a few hundred students.
Solution: If you want better student performance, hire better teachers. To get better teachers, offer higher salaries. Money talks, or somebody walks.
TRUTHINESS -- If you sound like you know what you're talking about, people will assume you do. Politicians have used this principle for centuries, and part of a reporter's job is to give both sides, so the reader can decide who's lying. Note: Maybe they both are. It's not always our job to say. However, political candidates often use half truths and are selective in their choice of facts in their talks, emphasizing some and ignoring others. Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank cited the case of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who writes in his memoir that the government is trying to tell Americans "how much salt we can put in our food." That allegation is based on a program dealing with processed food, and how the industry and government are cooperating in an effort to develop standards. The medical evidence is clear that too much salt is hazardous to health, but Gov. Perry's alarums ring out the danger of salt police.
It's been said that everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts. This is true, but it's critical to remember that of the myriad of facts available, deciding which pieces of information are relevant and important involves selectivity and opinion. In journalism, this is known as news judgment. History is written by the winners.
TAKING SIDES -- One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. This applies to the IRA, the Israeli Irgun, the 18th Century Boston Tea Party, the 19th Century Quantrill's Raiders (Jesse James was a member) as well as to modern day activists.
DROPPINGS-- Leaving out a letter or a syllable, even one of only two letters, can change the meaning of what you write. Consider the words mediate and meditate. The loss of a single letter changes the meaning radically. Here's another instance where spellcheck won't help; you must look at each word separately as well as in context.
IMAGINE -- With increasing specialization, doctors know more and more about less and less, so that eventually they will know everything about nothing.
NBC reported that American students ranked 14th in a study of math proficiency at an advanced level. In the same broadcast, science reporter Robert Bazell cited research showing a 22 percent increase in ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) since 2003, resulting in a full 10 percent of American kids being treated. What's going on here? The view from this corner is that the two are related. The reason students do poorly in school is that they're bored. And rather than cure the boredom, the system claims it's a medical condition, and pushes another pill. Consider also that the average starting salary for teachers is less than $30,000, and tops out at an average below $50,000. Is it any surprise that the kids are bored?
In a related matter, the governor of New Jersey wants to put a cap on salaries of school superintendents, some of whom make more than $150,000 in districts with only a few hundred students.
Solution: If you want better student performance, hire better teachers. To get better teachers, offer higher salaries. Money talks, or somebody walks.
TRUTHINESS -- If you sound like you know what you're talking about, people will assume you do. Politicians have used this principle for centuries, and part of a reporter's job is to give both sides, so the reader can decide who's lying. Note: Maybe they both are. It's not always our job to say. However, political candidates often use half truths and are selective in their choice of facts in their talks, emphasizing some and ignoring others. Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank cited the case of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who writes in his memoir that the government is trying to tell Americans "how much salt we can put in our food." That allegation is based on a program dealing with processed food, and how the industry and government are cooperating in an effort to develop standards. The medical evidence is clear that too much salt is hazardous to health, but Gov. Perry's alarums ring out the danger of salt police.
It's been said that everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts. This is true, but it's critical to remember that of the myriad of facts available, deciding which pieces of information are relevant and important involves selectivity and opinion. In journalism, this is known as news judgment. History is written by the winners.
TAKING SIDES -- One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. This applies to the IRA, the Israeli Irgun, the 18th Century Boston Tea Party, the 19th Century Quantrill's Raiders (Jesse James was a member) as well as to modern day activists.
DROPPINGS-- Leaving out a letter or a syllable, even one of only two letters, can change the meaning of what you write. Consider the words mediate and meditate. The loss of a single letter changes the meaning radically. Here's another instance where spellcheck won't help; you must look at each word separately as well as in context.
IMAGINE -- With increasing specialization, doctors know more and more about less and less, so that eventually they will know everything about nothing.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Gleanings
GLEANINGS of an Itinerant Speller -- "Inconvenient" seems to be a problem word for many writers, with letters dropped and entire syllables shifted. The two most common misspellings are "inconvient" and "inconvienent," both of which can be easily avoided by using spellcheck. For most computer users, that's built into the F7 key. Run the spellcheck program, which is simply a lexicon, or list of words, that is stored and to which the text is compared. When a word is flagged, the user then chooses from the suggested alternative spellings. This assumes that the user recognizes the correct word and selects it. Another heroic assumption.
Spellcheck does no more than a person can do; it examines each word individually and compares it with a previously stored list. Spellcheck cannot, however, deal with context; it cannot determine whether a given word is appropriately used. And until computers can be taught meaning and semantics, it will be up to humans to keep things straight. One way to do that is to consider the elements of a word, especially polysyllabic words of Latin and Greek derivation. For example, the word "convene" can be broken up into the two elements con-vene.The Latin roots are together - come.
Linguistically, English is classified as a Germanic language because of its grammatical structure, but because of extensive borrowing through the early years when it developed by combining Anglo-Saxon with Norman French as well as by the extensive use of Latin by scholars and clerics, some 80 percent of the English language vocabulary has Classical roots -- Latin and Greek.
HERE'S A TRICK -- For those whose first language is Spanish, if you don't know the English word, try the Spanish word and give it an English pronunciation. You'll be surprised at how often it works. It may not be exact, but it will be close.
CAUGHT -- Trapped in a vise is very different from being caught in a vice. The first is a gadget used by carpenters; the second is what gets politicians in moral trouble.
MORE ALLEGATIONS -- There is no such thing as an "alleged victim." The allegation applies to the accused perpetrator. Or as Pug Mahoney said while in the dock, "Your honor, I deny the allegation, and I resent the allegator."
DIZZY MATH -- A promotion for a "Disney on Ice" show in Dublin claimed "100 years of magic" for its tradition. Walt Disney was born in December, 1901, and began his career as an animator in 1920. The publicity mavens are at least ten years off. Some magic.
LAZY WRITING -- English is a great language for short, punchy, active verbs. Use them whenever you can, and eschew obfuscatory polysyllabic derivations. At the same time, don't get stuck with a few verbs that you use so often that they lose their punch. There are plenty available, so use them and mix 'em up.
Spellcheck does no more than a person can do; it examines each word individually and compares it with a previously stored list. Spellcheck cannot, however, deal with context; it cannot determine whether a given word is appropriately used. And until computers can be taught meaning and semantics, it will be up to humans to keep things straight. One way to do that is to consider the elements of a word, especially polysyllabic words of Latin and Greek derivation. For example, the word "convene" can be broken up into the two elements con-vene.The Latin roots are together - come.
Linguistically, English is classified as a Germanic language because of its grammatical structure, but because of extensive borrowing through the early years when it developed by combining Anglo-Saxon with Norman French as well as by the extensive use of Latin by scholars and clerics, some 80 percent of the English language vocabulary has Classical roots -- Latin and Greek.
HERE'S A TRICK -- For those whose first language is Spanish, if you don't know the English word, try the Spanish word and give it an English pronunciation. You'll be surprised at how often it works. It may not be exact, but it will be close.
CAUGHT -- Trapped in a vise is very different from being caught in a vice. The first is a gadget used by carpenters; the second is what gets politicians in moral trouble.
MORE ALLEGATIONS -- There is no such thing as an "alleged victim." The allegation applies to the accused perpetrator. Or as Pug Mahoney said while in the dock, "Your honor, I deny the allegation, and I resent the allegator."
DIZZY MATH -- A promotion for a "Disney on Ice" show in Dublin claimed "100 years of magic" for its tradition. Walt Disney was born in December, 1901, and began his career as an animator in 1920. The publicity mavens are at least ten years off. Some magic.
LAZY WRITING -- English is a great language for short, punchy, active verbs. Use them whenever you can, and eschew obfuscatory polysyllabic derivations. At the same time, don't get stuck with a few verbs that you use so often that they lose their punch. There are plenty available, so use them and mix 'em up.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Allegations
CYA PHRASING -- Too often, the word "alleged" is used when there is really no need for it. When a victim is bound, gagged, blindfolded, with throat slit and two bullet holes in the back of the head, there is no point in calling it an "alleged murder." The allegation -- equivalent to the word "charge" -- is to be used against the accused perpetrator, when he or she is found and arrested. The event actually occurred. The allegation should be reserved for whodunnit.
Likewise, there is no point in referring to an "alleged terror plot," when "improvised explosive devices" are found on airplanes. Clearly, there was a plot. The allegation can easily be held until the alleged perpetrators are allegedly arrested and allegedly charged in connection with the alleged terror plot.
Also noted last week was the change in phrasing by some TV networks to use the word "bomb," rather than more tame term "improvised explosive device." It is, after all, a bomb for all that it may be improvised or home-made. Add to the list the term "potentially suspicious." Either it is or it ain't.
We can understand a government or a military calling the opposition insurgents or fighters, rather than the more dignified and, in their view, more honorable term "soldiers." Much depends on whose side you're on. Some 230 years ago, the soldiers in Gen. Washington's Continental Army were called a gang of rabble, or rebels, by the official government in London.
Much also depends on conduct. There is no honor or respect attached to killing civilian bystanders.
CLICHE CORNER -- "Brutally" slain, murdered, raped, etc. All murders are brutal. Get thee to a thesaurus.
WHO SAID? -- A foreigner landing with a bunch of armed bandits and establishing himself king against the consent of the natives has no divine right to rule, and this is no basis for a system of government, even if some alleged goddess or some other moistened bint threw a sword at him, or if some watery tart launched a scimitar in his general direction.
Answer:
a/ Thomas Paine
b/ Monty Python
c/ Both of the above
GRATUITOUS PHRASING -- In an obit for James Neal, the lawyer who successfully prosecuted Teamster leader James Hoffa as well as Watergate perpretrators John Mitchell, John Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman, The Week newsmagazine wrote, "At 5 foot 8 inches, the genial, backslapping Neal carried himself like a big man." This is the Great American Fallacy, that somehow bigger equals better, and that even though the man was "only" 5 foot 8 inches tall, he somehow was able to overcome that by carrying himself "like a big man." At that height, Neal was not particularly tall, but neither was he short. The average height of an American man is 5 foot 9 inches, about the same as in European countries. Moreover, the American average has not changed much since 1776. The average soldier in the Continental Army stood 5 foot 7.
None of this, however, has affected the prejudice in favor of height. For decades, MBA graduates taller than 5 foot 8 have gotten better paying jobs sooner and with more responsibility than those graduates below that mark. All of which is to say that a man's height as a qualification for employment has as much relevance as a woman's bra size.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -- Never let a machine know you're in a hurry.
QUOTATIONS of the Samurai Rim Man -- I'm the only me I've got. I can only be me; everyone else was taken.
Likewise, there is no point in referring to an "alleged terror plot," when "improvised explosive devices" are found on airplanes. Clearly, there was a plot. The allegation can easily be held until the alleged perpetrators are allegedly arrested and allegedly charged in connection with the alleged terror plot.
Also noted last week was the change in phrasing by some TV networks to use the word "bomb," rather than more tame term "improvised explosive device." It is, after all, a bomb for all that it may be improvised or home-made. Add to the list the term "potentially suspicious." Either it is or it ain't.
We can understand a government or a military calling the opposition insurgents or fighters, rather than the more dignified and, in their view, more honorable term "soldiers." Much depends on whose side you're on. Some 230 years ago, the soldiers in Gen. Washington's Continental Army were called a gang of rabble, or rebels, by the official government in London.
Much also depends on conduct. There is no honor or respect attached to killing civilian bystanders.
CLICHE CORNER -- "Brutally" slain, murdered, raped, etc. All murders are brutal. Get thee to a thesaurus.
WHO SAID? -- A foreigner landing with a bunch of armed bandits and establishing himself king against the consent of the natives has no divine right to rule, and this is no basis for a system of government, even if some alleged goddess or some other moistened bint threw a sword at him, or if some watery tart launched a scimitar in his general direction.
Answer:
a/ Thomas Paine
b/ Monty Python
c/ Both of the above
GRATUITOUS PHRASING -- In an obit for James Neal, the lawyer who successfully prosecuted Teamster leader James Hoffa as well as Watergate perpretrators John Mitchell, John Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman, The Week newsmagazine wrote, "At 5 foot 8 inches, the genial, backslapping Neal carried himself like a big man." This is the Great American Fallacy, that somehow bigger equals better, and that even though the man was "only" 5 foot 8 inches tall, he somehow was able to overcome that by carrying himself "like a big man." At that height, Neal was not particularly tall, but neither was he short. The average height of an American man is 5 foot 9 inches, about the same as in European countries. Moreover, the American average has not changed much since 1776. The average soldier in the Continental Army stood 5 foot 7.
None of this, however, has affected the prejudice in favor of height. For decades, MBA graduates taller than 5 foot 8 have gotten better paying jobs sooner and with more responsibility than those graduates below that mark. All of which is to say that a man's height as a qualification for employment has as much relevance as a woman's bra size.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -- Never let a machine know you're in a hurry.
QUOTATIONS of the Samurai Rim Man -- I'm the only me I've got. I can only be me; everyone else was taken.
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