Trivia

TRIVIAL IT AIN'T -- The course of a full education used to be a grounding in the seven liberal arts, a grouping that was split in two divisions: the trivium (grammar, logic and rhetoric), and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy). The trivium provided the basic instruction in organizing, structuring and presenting ideas, but it was by no means "trivial" in the modern sense of the word suggesting "unimportance." This three-part grounding remains crucial. Logic is how you organize your thought; grammar is how you present it, and rhetoric is the art of persuasion.
Unfortunately, rhetoric has acquired a poor reputation because of its use by advertisers, marketers and politicians, who use rhetorical techniques to persuade people to do things they might not otherwise do.

DANGER, DR. SMITH -- Adjectives should in some way enhance or modify the meaning of a word.  And a case can be made for redundancy for emphasis. However, there are limits. For example, some commentators refer to a "dangerous civil war" in Syria. Is there another kind, like a "safe civil war"? Others have warned of a "full scale civil war." Perhaps this is to differentiate it from a half scale civil war, or at some other point on the bellicosity scale.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE -- How comes it that early cellphones (e.g. Motorola's Dynatec in 1983) were measured in ounces and inches, while the new Razr is measured in grams and millimeters?
And have you noticed how a can of coffee, which used to be a pound (16 ounces), is now 10.5 or 11 ounces? Or a container of juice, which appears to be a half-gallon, is really 59 ounces? Yet the prices remain the same.

Ain't capitalism wunnerful?

Flackery

TRUE, BUT -- Mitt Romney has joined the ranks of candidates claiming great credit for budget balancing. In current ads, the candidate notes that as governor of Massachusetts, he "balanced the budget every single year." As if he had a choice, and this was a great accomplishment. A quick check of the state web site shows, however, that under Massachusetts law, the budget "must be balanced."

DIFFERENCES -- The terms business and industry are often used interchangeably. But are they? A business can be a single firm, from a corner store to a transnational corporation, or a group of firms conducting similar operations. Texans take pride in their "awl bidness." And Mad Ave execs speak of the "advertising industry." Careful writers, however, will use separate contexts. Put it this way: Industry deals with manufacturing and production, while business refers to sales and service.