My friend Chad Boliek turned what might have been a criticism into an advantage. Recall my having mentioned in a recent column that I had planned and planted misuses of the English language?<\/p>\n
That week I received numerous e-mails, phone calls and hand-delivered responses to these assaults on the language, several people having caught expressions like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a blessing in the skies\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cut off my nose despite my face.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d But others, like Anne Kennedy, went beyond what I said was a deliberate misuse and corrected things I had not intended to be erroneous.<\/p>\n
Well, after a lifetime of looking under rocks for comma splices, dangling modifiers and run-on sentences, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve almost reached the conclusion that one can justify virtually anything. Remember when beginning a sentence with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153and\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153but\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was verboten? Now we see it often, especially in advertising copy.<\/p>\n
And a series of columns could be devoted just to the differences between what we in journalism refer to as AP Style and other manuals of style, often used by English teachers. Why do journalists omit the underline, the bracket and the serial comma, as I just did here? And why do English teachers insist on the serial comma (sometimes called the Harvard Comma) in sentences like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Eat, drink, and be merry\u00e2\u20ac\u009d?<\/p>\n
But back to Chad: When I told him some readers had found errors I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t planted, he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good! That way you can always claim that all the errors were deliberate. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s called \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccovering your \u00e2\u20ac\u0153assets.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
That last sentence, by the way, demonstrates a quote within a quote within a quote, a rare punctuational feature.<\/p>\n
So, having revealed the error of my phrase and having done the mea culpa mambo, I now refer to a couple of interesting language uses on KFUN, Monday, which go under the rubric of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Did they really mean that word?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Luna Community College president Pete Campos was on radio discussing the success some Luna students have enjoyed after setting out in the world. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the transcript with me, but I believe he referred to alumni who have \u00e2\u20ac\u0153acquired \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcnotoriety.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
To which we ask, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Is that the word you wanted, Senator?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Notoriety does indeed refer to being well-known. But for what? For some bad quality or deed.<\/p>\n
Al Capone was certainly well-known, and it was difficult to identify him without tacking on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153notorious.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d But that was for bad deeds. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Notoriety\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is not synonymous with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153popular,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or well-known.<\/p>\n
So, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hope the deeds of our students after leaving LCC make the doers well-known, but not notorious.<\/p>\n
Now is that the word Jesus Lopez intended? Lopez, who hosts a history program that follows that of Campos, was discussing former politicians, including President Lyndon Johnson. Lopez mentioned political movers and shakers, saying one of them \u00e2\u20ac\u0153changed the complexity of America.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
To which we ask Lopez, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Is that the word you wanted?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been trained to expect the metaphor of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153complexion\u00e2\u20ac\u009d when it comes to sweeping changes. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Complexion\u00e2\u20ac\u009d doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t refer solely to Clearasil. Had America of the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc60s become exceedingly complex, and with a swipe of his veto pen, did Johnson change all that?<\/p>\n
We all understand that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153changing the complexion\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of something represents broad, sweeping revisions, but \u00e2\u20ac\u0153complexity\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153complexion\u00e2\u20ac\u009d are not the same.<\/p>\n
Both men, we all know, are extremely articulate, which makes me unable to phantom why they slipped up on those words.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
What ages a language cop? What about gratuitous apostrophes writers sprinkle on words the way people pour pounds of pepper on their Huevo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Rancheros.<\/p>\n
Actually that breakfast item was the subject of an e-mail from Sara Harris, a fellow language observer, who wrote about ordering Huevo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Rancheros during a family trip to Denver last week.<\/p>\n
Sara says \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcHuevo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Rancheros\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 is the way it appeared on the menu.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d An apostrophe in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153huevo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u009d indicates possession. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s as if the eggs held a warranty deed, with the rancheros being their property.<\/p>\n
But Sara explains it better:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The huevo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rancheros were very tasty. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know about the huevos themselves.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d So, the meal must have consisted of the rancheros that belonged to the eggs. As long as something was tasty, the meal was probably worth it.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
The first time I heard \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cahoots\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was as a child. My older sisters, Dolores and Dorothy, were talking about classmates at Immaculate Conception School. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Those girls are really in cahoots,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d one of them said. Hearing that word made me think of something nefarious. What is a cahoot? Is it something like a cootie, perhaps something you eat, like chicos, or a beat-up car, like a jalopy? Is cahoots a place, a state of mind perhaps?<\/p>\n
It took some study to discover that the classmates in cahoots weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feuding, but colluding, conspiring secretly. The dictionary describes the word as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153informal,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d adding that the joint effort of those in cahoots is often unethical, shady, questionable or illegal.<\/p>\n
So, for my part, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d rather simply share secrets or even conspire with another than actually to be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153in cahoots\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with that person.<\/p>\n
Veronna (Ronni) Roberts recently sent an e-mail on cahoots, and much more. The item is too lengthy to cover here, but some of its salient parts follow:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I have been in many places, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never been in Cahoots. Apparently you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Roberts\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 e-mail covers diverse language expressions, such as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153being in Cognito,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153being in Sane,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153being in Doubt\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153being In Flexible.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Roberts will probably share the full e-mail with whoever requests it, rather than keeping readers \u00e2\u20ac\u0153in Suspense,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d wherever that is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My friend Chad Boliek turned what might have been a criticism into an advantage. Recall my having mentioned in a recent column that I had planned and planted misuses of the English language? That week I received numerous e-mails, phone calls and hand-delivered responses to these assaults on the language, several people having caught expressions […]<\/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\/880"}],"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=880"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":881,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880\/revisions\/881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}