Parallel-ogram

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.