What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening to our language? English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into South-East Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria. In human time, it hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been around that long, but yet … but yet …<\/p>\n
Let me explain:<\/p>\n
I read Sunday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Parade, a better-than-average publication when it comes to the use of the English language. But on the cover, next to a photo, it reads, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153At Coolidge High School in Washington, D.C., Natalie Randolph is making history \u00e2\u20ac\u201d as one of the nation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only female football coaches.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The problem is with the part-whole relationship, the words \u00e2\u20ac\u0153one of,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s contradicted by the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153only,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which ought to denote a bit of exclusivity. How can Natalie Randolph be both? She simply can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153one of\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153only\u00e2\u20ac\u009d at the same time. The writer must mean \u00e2\u20ac\u0153one of the few.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
That kind of usage, the wretched \u00e2\u20ac\u0153only,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is worse than the constant misuse of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153unique.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Remember, unique does not lend itself to any kind of modification, so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nonsensical to refer to a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153plan that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most unique.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153very unique.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unique or it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not.<\/p>\n
So it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s words like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153only,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153unique\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and even \u00e2\u20ac\u0153most\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that get us into trouble. An old Mutt and Jeff comic strip featured a banquet in which the emcee announced, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to introduce my most charming wife.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Jeff whispered to Mutt, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the most charming wife, I wonder what the others are like.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Through many a column, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve written about the uses and abuses of language. Little has changed: different examples, same problems. In the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc40s, during grammar classes at Immaculate Conception School, we got daily poundings. Sister Mary Sinsympatia, would ask, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Arthur, is that a participle or a gerund?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Taken aback, I thought I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been busted, that I must have brought some illicit object to school, like a slingshot. I had to think quickly and gamble on which answer would yield a lesser punishment, a participle or a gerund? And I also wondered, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Was that a yes-or-no question?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The drilling on grammar made us equate them with the import of the mysteries of the rosary: The first mystery: The placing of the predicate; the second mystery: the cases of the preposition; the third mystery: the examination of the infinitive; the fourth, the declension of the verb; the fifth, the diagramming of the sentence.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
Later, in keeping with schools\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 penchant for naming things (as if giving something a name somehow simplified it), we encountered some horrendous poetic terms whose origin was out of Dante\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Inferno, or worse, a medieval medical book.<\/p>\n
We have perfectly lovely poetry: lines by Whitman, Emerson, Longfellow, Shelly and Keats. But, apparently we needed to dissect them in order to appreciate them. Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where we learn terms, the most innocuous of which is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153iambic pentameter.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d They degenerate to words like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dactylic tetrameter\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153trochaic and anapestic heptameter.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Now aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t these lovely-sounding terms? A trochee is really a metrical foot, and a foot contains various stressed and unstressed syllables. But the trochee (rhymes with tokay) sounds like either a lozenge or a medical procedure needed when something goes down the wrong tube. Heptameter is a line of poetry with seven stresses, but it reminds one of something in a reptile garden.<\/p>\n
A trochee, far from being a cough drop, consists of a stressed syllable followed by one that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unstressed, as in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153water,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153heater,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153pencil.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the composition of many, if not most, English words, but yet having to memorize such terms takes away much of the enjoyment of poetry.<\/p>\n
An anapest is merely a three-syllable foot containing two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Seventeen\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is an example. So is the flow of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house …\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Simple enough, but words of Greek and Latin origin make the analysis of poetry like those annoying June bugs that fall into and get barbecued by our torchiere.<\/p>\n
Imagine someone in your family suddenly spouting doggerel. You try to help, but you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re fresh out of tetrameter and your supply of anti-dactylic formula is low. The way to cure Junior would be a medical procedure, in which the doctor might explain, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to have to perform a dactylectomy \u00e2\u20ac\u201d possibly a pterodactylectomy. Then, see that he takes these spondees (another poetry term), and call me in the morning, especially if he begins to split his infinitives.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Remember, we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily learn to write by spouting grammar and usage rules. And memorizing the nomenclature of matters poetic doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily create a Tennyson or an Edgar Allan Poe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening to our language? English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into South-East Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria. In human time, it hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been around that long, but yet … but yet … Let me explain: I read Sunday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s […]<\/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\/646"}],"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=646"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":647,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646\/revisions\/647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}