\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWhat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happened to Lee?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d my friend Susan Swan straight-facedly asked me this week, and I fidgeted while attempting an answer.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, Lee, our erstwhile features editor at the Optic, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t with us any longer,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I think I answered. Susan responded, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean that Lee.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
But let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s back up a little. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get to the other Lee in a few graphs.
\nLanguage is what people say it is, which is why you won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever find me criticizing its usage.<\/p>\n
Yeah, right.<\/p>\n
For centuries, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve made distinctions between nouns, adjectives and adverbs. Mixing them up, confusing the three parts of speech, is easy. I know. And I believe I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m better at it than you are.<\/p>\n
There was a movement decades ago, promulgated mainly by newspaper types, to get rid of the y-endings in words like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153relevancy,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153coherency,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153permanency\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153radiancy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Why? Because we know that these words \u00e2\u20ac\u201d all of them nouns \u00e2\u20ac\u201d add nothing to understanding and can better be expressed as the original words, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153relevance,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153coherence,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153permanence,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153radiance,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d etc. Call this theory \u00e2\u20ac\u0153un-y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u009d if you wish, but stay with me.<\/p>\n
Hoping to find support for my contention that these y-endings are pointless and silly, I did research online and came across a web site that lists dozens of nouns ending with \u00e2\u20ac\u201cncy.<\/p>\n
Some words simply must end in \u00e2\u20ac\u201cncy, words like consistency, decency and incumbency, but a slew of other \u00e2\u20ac\u201cncy words can be expressed better if they end simply in -nce. Among these words are affluence, abeyance, belligerence, brilliance, competence, constance, deviance and elegance. All of these words, by the way, have \u00e2\u20ac\u201cncy companions, which mean the same thing.<\/p>\n
Whereas it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s usual to find thousands of words with multiple meanings, it should not be so common to find two almost-identical spellings of the above words, when they have identical meanings.
\nWhen I come across words like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153correspondency,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I want to utter choice expletives. But decence forbids. And I need more patiency.<\/p>\n
Now, back to Lee:<\/p>\n
Susan was referring not to the former award-winning editor but to the demise of another kind of Lee, the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u201cly,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which turns most adjectives into adverbs, such as handsome and handsomely, steady and steadily and merry and merrily. Susan mentioned that the truncation of the words occurred \u00e2\u20ac\u201d of all places \u00e2\u20ac\u201d during the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Susan said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They used expressions like \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThey ran that race successful (no \u00e2\u20ac\u201cly),\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcthey moved swift,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThey skated graceful.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
So I checked out Susan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s theory, by replaying some of the commentary by Olympic anchors Bob Costas and Cris Collingsworth, I discovered they had indeed stripped the \u00e2\u20ac\u201cly from some would-be adverbs. Now if we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even trust network experts, supposed exemplars of language usage, whom can we trust?<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
Is the English language heading south (southerly)? Teen-speak, virtually everywhere, has devolved into a series of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I go,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153you go\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153he, she or it goes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d This is what I mean: Rather than use the verb \u00e2\u20ac\u0153say\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153said,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d many teens simply \u00e2\u20ac\u0153go.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
European teens don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t miss out either. Every American nuance they can add to their otherwise good English, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve apparently adopted.<\/p>\n
Last year my family and I stood in line at a fast-food place in Stockholm, Sweden, listening to Big-Mac-swallowing teens. One teenie-bopper goes, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll order like a fish fillet.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d When his time came, he like asked for exactly that: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have like a fish fillet.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
In France, teens freely inserted \u00e2\u20ac\u0153like\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153go\u00e2\u20ac\u009d into virtually every locution. In Germany, youngsters spoke English and strangely sounded a lot like American youth. And in Denmark where we seldom hear English, and where teens appear to speak their native language first, we were still able to converse in English with some of them.<\/p>\n
We asked directions of some Danish youngsters at a sidewalk caf\u00c3\u00a9. And what words did they use most? Naturally, they uttered \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ya know\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a lot, as well as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153like\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153go.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d One explained that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If you turn like left at the statues, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re, ya know, there.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Remember, in Copenhagen, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a difference between turning \u00e2\u20ac\u0153left\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and turning \u00e2\u20ac\u0153like left.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The \u00e2\u20ac\u0153go-ing\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is partly the result of attempting to capture the complete dialogue, no matter how vacuous. For example, I overheard a conversation between two teens at the recreation center in town.<\/p>\n
One teen was telling another about a phone call she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d just completed.<\/p>\n
Here is a (much) shortened account:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jim called me and he goes, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWhatcha doin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122? I go, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcNothing much. You?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 He goes, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWanna go out for breakfast?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 I go, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWhy not?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
In real time, it took as long for the girl to recite her news flash as the original conversation. And because of her total inability to summarize, she needed to repeat every word.<\/p>\n
Strange, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hearing less of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m like . . .\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as it gets pre-empted by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153go.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Whereas Valley Girl Speak floods each recitation with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153like,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the newer trend simply \u00e2\u20ac\u0153goes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
For example, the same phone call described above would have been like:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jim called and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWhatcha doin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m like, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcNothing much. You?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Either way, the one listening to the dialogue needs to stick around to catch every word of the performance, including the denouement, the stunning conclusion: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWanna go out for breakfast?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m like, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWhy not?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I go\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m like\u00e2\u20ac\u009d should never replace \u00e2\u20ac\u0153say.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Remember, trains go choo-choo, dogs go bow-wow and cats are like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153meow.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
But people say things. Or at least they should.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWhat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happened to Lee?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d my friend Susan Swan straight-facedly asked me this week, and I fidgeted while attempting an answer. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, Lee, our erstwhile features editor at the Optic, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t with us any longer,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I think I answered. Susan responded, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean that Lee.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d But let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s back up a little. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=554"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":558,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions\/558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}