At what point will the term \u00e2\u20ac\u0153turn of the century\u00e2\u20ac\u009d refer to this century instead of last? To me the expression corresponds to the era when my dad, born in 1903, came around.<\/p>\n
But we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been into the 21st century for 11 years, and technically, the few years past ought to be the real turn of the century.<\/p>\n
In addition, for years I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard people say things like, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Back in oh-2, when I was a kid …\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s usually an exaggeration, one I used in class a number of times.<\/p>\n
Jessie Farrington, a reader of this column, posed an interesting issue as she wrote, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I have said many times that \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI retired from the Vet School in oh-1\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and that \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcmy dog Jebediah died in oh-4 and Nelson (another pet) died in oh-5.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I will be saying that \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcboth Spot and Suzannah died in oh-9,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 but I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t imagine saying \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI hope I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have any further losses in ten.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 I think I would be more likely to say \u00e2\u20ac\u02dctwo thousand ten,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 but only time will tell.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
To me, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153turn of the century\u00e2\u20ac\u009d must imply a couple of low numbers preceded by \u00e2\u20ac\u015319.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d And \u00e2\u20ac\u0153oh-2\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t refer to the very recent past \u00e2\u20ac\u201d the past that neighbors \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the year 2K.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It remains an enigma: Why can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t 2002, for example, refer to the turn of this century?<\/p>\n
When I got a telephone in oh-9 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d well actually, it was in \u00e2\u20ac\u212271 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d I had the number listed and without hesitation, I gave out my number on course syllabi, explaining to my students that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If you know you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to be absent from class, please call.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d And giving out the number orally, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d usually say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s your age (39) and my age (72).\u00e2\u20ac\u009d For years, regardless of the obvious inaccuracy, students remembered the combination, and it was simpler back then, when we had the 425 prefix and precious few 454s. And that was years before cell phones arrived, with their individual, difficult-to-remember prefixes.<\/p>\n
The \u00e2\u20ac\u0153your age and my age\u00e2\u20ac\u009d mnemonic worked for years, and a number of non-students seemed flattered to be regarded as only 39. But unflattering to me was the response by some that, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re 72.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d At the time, I must have been 32, and it smarted to hear some wise guy say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I would guess you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re around 50.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
As for the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153oh-2\u00e2\u20ac\u009d idea, the euphony seems to exist only for this small group of numbers. Is it the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153oh\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that makes it sound all right? Saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was born in 19\u00e2\u20ac\u009d just doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t cut it.<\/p>\n
And as far as the telephone mnemonic, my age recently caught up with the last two digits of my phone number. To keep it easy to remember, will I need to request a new number, one digit higher, each time I blow out another candle?<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
Many times I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve made the observation that continues to puzzle me: When we detect widespread usage of terms like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153conflate,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153myriad,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153convoluted\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153is comprised of,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d are these part of a phenomenon in which terms go viral, as if some rock star or politician suddenly began using and thus popularizing these words?<\/p>\n
Or, have they been around forever, since \u00e2\u20ac\u0153oh-2\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and are just becoming noticed? A number of readers, including Jessie Farrington, have mentioned that quite suddenly they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard seemingly new words used repeatedly, and sometimes misused.<\/p>\n
An expression discussed by a Rob Kyff, an online columnist who calls himself \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Word Guy,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d deals with people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s failure to attach a verb to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153as far as.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Let me explain:<\/p>\n
People will say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153As far as my health, I visit my doctor regularly,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153As far as math, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even balance my checkbook.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Now as accustomed as I am to the apparent linguistic laziness in such constructions, my ears continue to expect a verb, such as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153is concerned\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153goes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rare, especially with teen-speak, to hear the full expression, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153As far as math is concerned (or goes), I struggle with simple addition.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The connecting phrase too often fails to complete the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153as far as\u00e2\u20ac\u009d sequence.<\/p>\n
I wonder whether the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153as far as\u00e2\u20ac\u009d issue stems from the times when people would say something like, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153As for me, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t plan to vote.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d That sentence doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t require a verb complement. Could that be one of the reasons \u00e2\u20ac\u0153as far as\u00e2\u20ac\u009d fails to get the closure it deserves?<\/p>\n
As for me, as far as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m concerned, this language cop doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know the answer and would welcome readers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 input.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At what point will the term \u00e2\u20ac\u0153turn of the century\u00e2\u20ac\u009d refer to this century instead of last? To me the expression corresponds to the era when my dad, born in 1903, came around. But we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been into the 21st century for 11 years, and technically, the few years past ought to be the real turn […]<\/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":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=793"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":794,"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793\/revisions\/794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}