Xem mẫu
- internecine 191
of the phrase “according to Mr. John- tence from the biography could be
son,” it tends to apply only to the “word rewritten this way:
preferred” phrase. And the clause about
photographs is almost a non sequitur.)
The prosecutor’s arguments did not
So the story was revised for a later edi-
foreshadow his future philosophy.
tion:
There seemed to be nothing in the
controversy about. . . .
“Vandalism” was the word pre-
ferred by Martin D. Franks, executive
director of the committee, to describe The latter quotation from the book is
last night’s incident, according to unwieldy and obscure, somehow tying
Mark Johnson, the campaign com- professional memberships to the cliché
mittee’s press secretary. . . . about success and tacking on a quota-
What he described as “sensitive tion with still another idea. A rescue at-
files” were still safely under lock and tempt would be futile.
key, he said.
INTERNECINE. Internecine (pro-
The revised story (saying nothing about
nounced inter-NIECE-sin, among other
photographs) is an improvement. (But
ways) is a useful adjective in the sense of
“What he described as” is unnecessary,
mutually destructive. It comes from the
inasmuch as “sensitive files” is in quota-
Latin internecinus, meaning murderous.
tion marks and the sentence ends with
A word so derived should be expected to
“he said.”)
bear the concept of deadliness. Indeed
The passages below are from a biog-
internecine originally meant character-
raphy. Nothing but thorough recasting
ized by bloodshed or slaughter.
of the sentences could help them.
It came to mean deadly to both adver-
saries in an armed conflict. This is a use-
In terms of the prosecutor’s future
ful interpretation, for no other single
philosophy, there seemed not to be
word expresses the idea.
one word in the controversy about the
Still later, it was given another twist.
freedom of the press provided under
Evidently assuming that the first six let-
the First Amendment.
ters came from internal, some began ap-
plying internecine to internal conflicts,
In terms of professional memberships,
e.g., “America’s internecine struggle of
moreover, nothing succeeded like suc-
the 1860s.”
cess, as Black himself noted in an in-
Now we often find the element of
terview published after his death—“I
deadliness, the essence of internecine,
was trying a lot of cases against cor-
slighted or forgotten altogether and the
porations, jury cases, and I found out
word serving merely as a synonym for
that all the corporation lawyers were
internal in connection with verbal, polit-
in the Klan. . . .”
ical, or other harmless disagreements
within a group.
Sticking an “in terms of” into a sentence
In a TV forum, a newspaper publisher
is no replacement for clear thinking. No
was discussing South Africa’s leadership:
one can be expected to speak in terms of
a future philosophy or otherwise foresee
the future. (Besides, there cannot be one Botha and his successor, de Klerk, are
word about press freedom; it takes at apparently having internecine war-
least two words.) The first sample sen- fare.
- 192 interrogative sentence
They were not actually shooting at each into. (“Put the dishes in [or “into”] the
other; they simply disagreed on policy. cupboard.”) But idiom dictates the com-
This is from a prominent newspaper: panionship of the verb place and in.
(“Place the dishes in [not “into”] the
The prospect of a Warner defection in cupboard.”)
two years could shatter the party Into can also mean against (“The
unity . . . and throw Republicans into truck crashed into a utility pole”), to a
an internecine war. certain form or condition (“The vase
broke into little pieces” / “Matter can
No weapons would be discharged in the change into energy”), to an occupation
so-called war, only words. (“She is going into real estate”), or
To adapt that distinctive and powerful toward (“We must look into the fu-
adjective to such unexceptional uses is ture”).
like resorting to a pistol to dispatch a
cockroach. 2. IN TO and INTO
When in, serving as an adverb, comes
Interrogative sentence. See (-)EVER; in contact with the preposition to, a
Punctuation, 9. writer may erroneously unite them. The
resulting “into” can grossly distort the
INTO. 1. IN and INTO. 2. IN TO meaning.
and INTO. 3. Slang use. Such a mistake could cause alarm.
“The ship came in to the pier” simply
1. IN and INTO means that it docked. “The ship came
The preposition in indicates position, into the pier” means that it crashed.
location, or condition. Among its vari- The mistake could cause just mirth.
ous senses, it means inside; within the “A man wanted as an army deserter for
area or confines of (the house, the city, fifteen years turned himself into the sher-
the deal, etc.). iff’s office last night.” Unless the reporter
The preposition into indicates mo- was describing a magical transforma-
tion, direction, or change in condition. It tion, the in and the to should have been
often means to the interior of (a place); separate.
from the outside to the inside of (the
place). 3. Slang use
“The children are jumping into the “Fred is in sales” indicates that selling
pond” clearly indicates their movement is his occupation. “Fred is going into
from the banks to the water. “The chil- sales” indicates that he intends to enter
dren are jumping in the pond” is less that occupation. The era of “flower chil-
clear; they may have already been in the dren” and “Do your own thing”
water when they started jumping. brought the use of into in the sense of a
“We walked into the house” clearly continuing participation in a vocation or
indicates that we entered the house. “We avocation. One would say “I’m into
walked in the house” is less clear; we painting,” instead of “I do painting” or
may have already been in the house simply “I paint.”
when we decided to tour the place. The term persisted, and a daily paper
Some contexts in which into is right said a designer of science exhibits was
allow in as an option. “They let him into “so into tornadoes” that his contribu-
[or “in”] the country.” / “Throw the peel tion to a testimonial dinner was a choco-
into [or “in”] the trash can.” late tornado. “Into” was a columnist’s
The verb put goes with either in or slangy substitute for absorbed in, con-
- inundate, inundated 193
cerned with, enthralled by, interested in, tionary’s usage panel approved of the
or taken by. Prepositions are not nor- popular use of the verb. On the liberal
mally modified, yet “so” was forced to side, Roy H. Copperud called such use
modify “into.” “well established . . . despite carping by
some pedants.”
INTRA- and INTER- prefixes. See These are excerpts from a book by the
Confusing pairs. editors of a news magazine:
Intransitive and transitive verbs. What made Gorbachev a truly in-
See Verbs, 1. triguing Man of the Year was that . . .
so little was known about him. . . .
INTRIGUE, INTRIGUING. Did This reassuring rhetoric was in-
the writer of this headline (ten years after triguingly . . . similar to what liberal
the Watergate scandal) intend to convey Western strategists had accepted as
a double meaning? “Why Nixon Is Still conventional wisdom for decades. . . .
Intriguing.” But Gorbachev’s choice [of a con-
Intriguing can mean plotting intrigue. stituency] was intriguing. . . . Eco-
Intrigue as a noun means secret or un- nomic stagnation and political torpor
derhanded scheme or scheming. It can [under Brezhnev] seemed to hatch
also denote a secret love affair (one thing corruption and intrigue in the highest
that Nixon was not accused of). The places.
verb intrigue, in its most settled mean-
ings, means (intransitively) to engage in Following the contestable use of intrigu-
intrigue and (transitively) to plot, to ing twice and intriguingly (adverb), fi-
cheat, or to achieve or get through in- nally intrigue is used strictly in the last
trigue. The present participle is intrigu- quoted sentence.
ing.
INUNDATE, INUNDATED.
Commonly the verb intrigue (transi-
tive) is used as a synonym for enchant, While television cameras focused on a
excite, fascinate, interest, make curious, huge fire in southern California, a re-
mystify, puzzle, or perplex; intriguing as porter called attention to some houses
an adjective meaning enchanting, excit- “just about to be inundated by the
ing, fascinating, etc. Such use is not ac- flames.” Not burned, consumed, or de-
cepted by all. stroyed, but “inundated.” His choice of
H. W. Fowler pooh-poohed it as a verb could hardly have been further
Gallicism (it came from the French tran- from the mark. To inundate is to flood,
sitive verb for puzzle, intriguer) “confus- to cover with water in the manner of an
ing the sense of a good English word.” overflowing river. Drought and water
His reviser, Sir Ernest Gowers, wrote shortage had contributed to the fire dis-
that a reason for its popularity was that aster.
it could convey the meanings of two Inundated can equal deluged, flooded,
words at once; he cited puzzle and fasci- or swamped. Used figuratively, any of
nate. “But,” he went on, “it is still true those words is drenched with metaphor.
that intrigue is often used in place of a When the moderator of a forum said,
simpler and better word. . . .” “At this point in time, the American
Theodore Bernstein found the verb people are completely inundated with
turned into “a fuzzy, all-purpose word” polls,” he overdid it. Scratch “com-
in place of various precise words. Just 52 pletely.” (See also “AT THIS POINT IN
percent of The American Heritage Dic- TIME.”)
- 194 inversions
IRONY, IRONIC, IRONICALLY.
The pronunciation is IN-nun-date(d)
or, less often, in-NUN-date(d). 1. Contrast essential. 2. SARCASM,
SATIRE.
Inversions. See Backward writing.
1. Contrast essential
INVERTED COMMAS. See Punc- Upon reporting that a maritime colli-
tuation, 10. sion had cost a company a vessel, a
newscaster told the television audience:
INVITE and INVITATION. When
a boy in a situation comedy said, “I got a Ironically it’s the same company
special invite [pronounced IN-vite] that lost a boat in a collision ten years
tonight to a dance at Hamilton High,” ago.
he was perfectly in character. The word
is most informal though. Its use was There was nothing ironic (adjective)
questionable when a broadcaster on a about it. The two incidents were parallel.
specialized news program boasted of an Contrast is the essence of irony (noun).
“exclusive invite” to a TV wedding. Ironically (adverb) would have been an
A courteous request for a person to appropriate word if, for example, the
attend an event or to participate in an maritime company had been known for
activity is an invitation. So is a note used ads promoting safety afloat but then
in extending it. To extend an invitation is caused a collision.
to invite (someone), pronounced in- Irony can be a noteworthy incon-
VITE. gruity of events, a glaring contrast be-
tween what one could have reasonably
INVOKE. See EVOKE and INVOKE. expected and what actually happens.
Irony is also a literary style, a rhetorical
figure, or a humorous device. The con-
Iran. A factual error mars this passage,
trast then is between the apparent mean-
from a newspaper:
ing of words that are written or spoken
and a far different meaning beneath the
The [Persian Gulf] crisis has shaken
surface.
the Mideast regional power balance.
Egypt has moved to the forefront, and
Syria and Iran have moved toward the 2. SARCASM, SATIRE
Arab mainstream. Sarcasm is similar to irony in the con-
trast between literal meaning and in-
tended meaning, but sarcasm implies
Iran is not “Arab.” Its official and pre-
overt ridicule or taunting; irony is milder
dominant language is not Arabic but
and subtler. Related words are sarcastic
Farsi, which uses the Arabic alphabet
(adjective) and sarcastically (adverb).
plus four additional letters. Formerly
“This is a fine time to be telling me!” is a
Persia, this sizable southwest Asian
sarcastic remark.
country has its own culture and tradi-
Satire (noun) is a literary or dramatic
tions. It does share the Muslim religion
style using irony to attack or ridicule
with the Arab countries, like Egypt and
something held to be wrong or foolish.
Syria, although Iranians mostly belong
Related words are satirical (adjective)
to the Shiah sect whereas the Sunni pre-
and satirically (adverb). A writer of clas-
dominates in most Arab countries. Iran
sic satire was Jonathan Swift, best
is pronounced either ih-RAN or, more
known for Gulliver’s Travels.
authentically, ee-RON.
- italic(s) 195
“IRREGARDLESS.” See REGARD- words in manuscripts that they want to
LESS. be italic. Thus this is a sample becomes
this is a sample.
IS, AM, ARE (etc.). See BE, AM, IS Among other functions, italics indi-
(etc., cross-reference). cate that a word is not playing its usual
role, that of contributing to meaning,
IS and ARE. See Verbs, 3. but is being considered as a word. For
instance, this book discusses me and I. It
-ISE ending. See -IZE ending, 2. deals also with and and but.
Names of books, dramatic works,
IS IS. Many a speaker follows is with works of art, publications, and genera
an echo of the word, as though he has and species go in italics: Moby-Dick by
forgotten that he just uttered it. Melville; The Glass Menagerie by
A double is can be deliberate. “What- Williams; Leonardo’s Mona Lisa;
ever is, is right” appears in the works of Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro;
Dryden and Pope and is also attributed an article in Time; the lion, Felis leo. (See
to the Greek philosopher Democritus. also Punctuation, 10.)
Dryden wrote also, “Whatever is, is in Italics serve also to distinguish foreign
its causes just.” The poet Ella Wheeler words or phrases that are not also con-
Wilcox wrote that “whatever is—is sidered part of English, such as semper
best.” This is a translation from Hegel: fidelis and et tu, Brute!; introduce new
“Everything that is, is reasonable.” A terms: “Automatic speech recognition
more recent example is President Clin- (ASR) is developing . . .”; and enumerate
ton’s reply to a question in testimony, “It points, principles, or questions that an
depends upon what the meaning of the author wishes to stress.
word is is.” Italics call attention to a particular
Usually, however, as the following word or phrase. It may be one that
quotations from television suggest, the would be emphasized if the sentence
echoed word is not the product of were spoken:
thought. A member of Congress: “The
fact is is that there’s nothing there” (in “When I use a word,” Humpty
an investigation of the president). An as- Dumpty said, in rather a scornful
tronomer: “The problem is is that we’ve tone, “it means just what I choose it
got an enormous amount of work to get to mean—neither more nor less.”
done right now.” An appraiser: “The
good news is is it’s worth three to five The highlighted word may be one that is
thousand dollars.” A writer and TV pan- not usually emphasized, as in this exam-
elist: “The fact of the matter is is that he ple from a book on economics:
[the president] is in deep trouble.” Each
second “is” was superfluous. The discovery that man needs stimu-
lation as well as comfort is not new.
ISRAELI. See JEW, JEWISH. After all, the ancient Romans clam-
ored for bread and circuses.
Italic(s). Italic type, or italics, is a form
of printing type or lettering, used for em- It may be an unexpected word: “Are the
phasis and special purposes. The letters wages of sin wealth?” Or two words
slant to the right (and use fewer serifs may be contrasted: “If he will not do it,
than roman, the common book type). she will.”
Writers and editors underline those Italics are effective when used in mod-
- 196 it, anticipatroy
eration. A few writers overdo them, itali- “. . . They shouldn’t have the right to
cizing passages here and there in efforts decide the future of the lion or risk it’s
to gain readers’ attention. extinction.”
The word italic (adjective and noun)
is so named because it first appeared in . . . Shareholders may now treat a
an Italian book (an edition of Virgil portion of the distributions paid by
printed in Venice in 1501). The word the Fund as interest income from obli-
italics (noun) is often construed as plu- gations of the United States and it’s
ral, sometimes as singular. possessions. . . .
Styles of italic go with the various ro-
man styles. When a word in an italic pas- The example below (from an ad in a
sage needs emphasis, it may be printed in trade magazine) shows the opposite er-
roman. Another device for emphasis is ror: the omission of a necessary apostro-
the heavy form of type known as bold- phe. “Its” should be it’s.
face. Italics and boldface are sometimes
combined in boldface italics. Ask any talent agent or A&R person.
They’ll tell you that, without the right
IT, anticipatory. See Expletives. production values, its hard to make
great music stand out in a world of
“IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING.” mediocrity.
See OF COURSE, 3.
(Another mistake is the use of a plural
IT IS I (HE, SHE) and IT’S ME pronoun, “They,” with a singular an-
(HIM, HER). See Pronouns, 10D. tecedent. See OR; Pronouns, 2. What
about “mediocrity”?)
IT IS I (YOU) WHO. See WHO, 3. See also Punctuation, 1B.
IT, ITS, neuter pronoun. See Pro- ITSELF. See Pronouns, 3, 4.
nouns, 2B.
“IT STANDS TO REASON.” See
ITS and IT’S. Its, the possessive, as in REASON, 3.
“The cat licked its paws,” has no apos-
I WHO. See WHO, 3.
trophe.
It should not be confused with it’s, the
-IZE ending. 1. Excessive use. 2. -ISE.
contraction. Like every contraction, this
does have an apostrophe. It’s is usually a
contraction of it is, as in “It’s a good 1. Excessive use
day”; sometimes a contraction of it has, The practice of using the suffix -ize to
as in “It’s been a long time.” make verbs goes back to the Middle
An apostrophe was erroneously in- Ages. Both nouns and adjectives are
serted in each of the four passages that turned into verbs by tacking on the suf-
follow (from newspapers and a notice to fix.
shareholders). “It’s” should be its. Hundreds of legitimate words have
-ize. At some time, most of us empha-
“It would be more racism showing size, memorize, recognize, and sympa-
it’s ugly head again.” thize. Finance leads many to amortize,
equalize, itemize, and minimize. Some
We would also like to applaud the people professionally criticize, organize,
cafe for it’s non-smoking policy. specialize, and theorize. Miscreants bur-
- -ize ending 197
glarize, scandalize, terrorize, and victim- “Prioritize” is no fist-pounding verb.
ize. Substances energize, fertilize, neu- Among stronger choices would have
tralize, and vaporize. been make our top priority (if that is
Nevertheless, the practice has long what he meant), emphasize, and stress.
been overdone. H. L. Mencken wrote in A local legislative body argued in sup-
The American Language: port of a ballot measure:
I reach into my collection at random
By allowing less than prevailing wage
and draw forth such monstrosities as
standards . . . the City can maximize
to backwardize, to fordize, to belgium-
scarce job training funds.
ize, to respectablize, to scenarioize, to
moronize, to customize, to featurize,
Did “maximize” exceed extend, pro-
to expertize, to powerize, to sanitize,
long, spread, or stretch in clarity or just
to manhattanize and to colonize; I
in pomposity?
suppose I could dredge up at least a
Clarity may not have been uppermost
hundred more.
in the mind of a business executive on a
Colonize is accepted now as a standard news telecast as he tried to justify a gov-
word. Customize, featurize, sanitize, and ernment subsidy for his prosperous cor-
manhattanize have reached acceptance poration:
at least as jargon. Mencken later, in the
first supplement to his work, listed forty When they [U.S. officials] want an in-
more that had been coined “in recent dustry to succeed, they incentivize it.
years.” By then, he had learned that -ize
words dated to the Middle Ages, and he A physician sought to tell a huge TV
no longer called them “monstrosities.” audience that some health plans were
But we can be glad that few of them sur- harming patients’ health; that holding
vive. Those on his list that have been down doctor costs, à la merchandising,
generally accepted (excluding trade was replacing the practice of ethical
names) are glamorize and publicize; two medicine. What he said was:
others, finalize and moistureize (now
without the first e), have reached the sta- We are being commoditized and our
tus of jargon. patients are being commoditized.
Many seem attracted to -ize because it
appears impressive, official, or technical. Perhaps unaware of the verb meta-
But it is often weak and unnecessary, and morphose—to transform (something) or
the multiplication of -ize verbs adds be transformed, as by magic or meta-
monotony to the language. morphosis—a journalist said a politician
“Finalize,” for instance, serves more who changed jobs had “metamorpho-
often as a bureaucratic and pretentious sized.”
synonym for complete, finish, or end See also FACT- words, 2 (end).
than as a necessary verb. “Moisturize”
essentially says dampen or keep moist, 2. -ISE
although it can imply the use of a com- In Britain the American -ize, the origi-
mercial product. nal British spelling, usually is spelled -ise
A candidate for district attorney said (after the modern French practice of
in an election statement: changing the Greek -izo to -iser). For in-
stance, the American realize is spelled re-
We must prioritize the prosecution of alise. The Oxford English Dictionary
violent, repeat offenders. finds no good reason for -ise, “in opposi-
- 198 -ize ending
tion to that which is at once etymologi- compromise, demise, despise, devise, en-
cal and phonetic.” terprise, excise, exercise, improvise, re-
Some verbs (not part of the Greek tra- vise, supervise, surmise, surprise, and
dition) always end in ise though possess- televise. Advertise and merchandise are
ing the ize sound. Among them are infrequently spelled advertize and mer-
advise, apprise, arise, chastise, comprise, chandize.
- J
JELL-O. As a brand of gelatin dessert, We don’t endorse anti-Semitism of
Jell-O is a trademark and should not be any kind, and we’re not happy about
used in lower case, the way a manual of some of Jackson’s racial slurs and in-
English for newcomers uses it: “Wait- sensitivity toward Jews.
ress: You have your choice of pudding,
ice cream, or jello.” In the first sample, the objectionable
If that particular brand is meant, use word is “race.” (A good substitute
capital J, hyphen, and capital O. Other- would have been people.) In the second
wise gelatin (or gelatine) is likely to de- sample, the word “racial” should have
scribe the jellied dessert, salad, or mold been scrapped.
in mind. A cold dish of meat, fish, veg- When there are African Jews, Chinese
etables, or fruit in gelatin is an aspic. Jews, and Jews of just about every race,
it makes no sense to refer to Judaism in
JEW, JEWISH. Jew denotes either a racial terms. Contrary to Hitler’s doc-
descendant of the Hebrews or one who trine, there is no Jewish race.
adheres to the Judaic religion, whether The point made in the book about the
through birth or conversion. The name separateness of Israeli and Jewish is
comes from the Hebrew yehudi, origi- valid. It is incorrect to speak of the Is-
nally a member of the tribe of Judah. raelis as “the Jews,” the way some ad-
Two critiques, in a reference book versaries of Israel have done. Only
and an editorial, bear criticism them- about 30 percent of the world’s 14 mil-
selves. Each contains an unacceptable lion Jews live in Israel, and about 18
word. percent of the Israelis—that is, the citi-
An author objected to careless use of zens of the State of Israel—are non-
the terms Jew and Jewish in connection Jews, mostly Moslems.
with Israel: Jew is a noun only (e.g., “Jesus was a
Jew”). The related adjective is Jewish
Although that nation is closely identi- (“a Jewish temple” / “a Jewish
fied with the Jewish race and religion, woman”). Using “Jew” in its place is
the expressions Israeli and Jewish are derogatory.
not interchangeable. Hebrew is the name of a language
and an ancient people. It is not “in mod-
An “Editorial Board” expressed ern usage interchangeable with Jew,”
reservations about a presidential candi- contrary to a dictionary’s statement.
date that it was endorsing: See also YIDDISH.
jew, jewish 199
- 200 jobless
JOBLESS. The average newspaper ed- look like mistakes and stop the reader
itor is unlikely to put unemployment momentarily.
compensation in a headline when he can Because two words often go together,
save space with “jobless pay,” even the writer may think they are wedded.
though “jobless” misses the mark in that The phrase damn yankee has been so
phrase. An unemployed person can be common in the South that some people
called jobless; it is not the “pay” that have thought it is a single word.
lacks a job. Joblessness is comparable to Printed works can be inconsistent in
unemployment, but the press does not their choices of words to unite. This is
use the former often; it saves only one from an autobiography: “We were intro-
letter. duced to the great military thinkers and
“Jobless” has branched out from the their ideas—Mahan on sea power,
headlines into the bodies of news stories Douhet on airpower. . . .”
and into newscasting. A news agency re- Another author practices ortho-
ported: graphic discrimination by writing, in a
book of reminiscences, “Blackamericans
Blue-chip stocks fell in subdued are different from white Americans.”
trading Tuesday as investors stood on Phrases that have been published in
the sidelines waiting for Friday’s key fused form include these thirty-five: ad
jobless numbers for September. writers, auto maker, best seller, break
even, business folk, cab driver, care
A TV newscaster announced a “jump in givers, catch phrases, child care, com-
jobless claims.” Another reported that mon sense, decision making, dining
“the number filing jobless claims room, down payment, drug war, face
dropped. . . .” Still another: “California’s down, front lines, full text, fund raising,
jobless rate has also dropped slightly.” good will, hard cover, home care, house
So far the word has not entered the cleaning, job seeker, market share, news
vernacular. A laid-off worker is likely to writers, night watchman, park land,
say, “I got my unemployment [not “job- phone book, round trip, trap doors,
less”] check today.” word games, word play, work force,
working women, work station.
Joining of words. Some writers feel The innumerable “-person” and
compelled to join pairs of words that are “-people” monstrosities can be added to
perfectly comprehensible when left sepa- the list. See PEOPLE as a suffix; PER-
rate. The result can be misleading. A SON.
newspaper item said an ex-president had Sometimes hyphenated adjectives like
thanked “the secret serviceman credited cold-blooded; head-on; hour-long,
with saving his life after an assassination month-long, etc.; long-time; short-lived;
attempt. . . .” Although an intelligence small-town; and worn-out are divested
agent in the armed services could possi- of their hyphens and jammed together. A
bly be described as a “secret service- restaurant announces “HOMESTYLE
man,” the recipient of the thanks was a COOKING” on its sign and “Home
Secret Service man. Style Cooking” on its menus. The adjec-
Usually the reader is unlikely to be ac- tive is home-style. A headline, “Barry
tually misled by unwieldy fusions, such Goldwater Is Dead at 89; Conservatives’
as “Assemblymember” for Assembly Standardbearer,” omitted the hyphen in
member, “autoworkers” for auto work- the noun standard-bearer. (See also
ers, or “eightmillion” for eight million. Punctuation, 4D.)
More likely such behemoths will just The combining of moderately sized
- jurist 201
JUDICIAL and JUDICIOUS. See
words to build giant words may be
proper in the German language. Any ad- Confusing pairs.
vantage of imposing such a system on
JURIST. A jurist is one who is well
English, other than the saving of a
minute amount of space, fails to come to versed in the law. He may be a judge, a
mind. lawyer, a legal scholar or writer, or none
In many instances the first word is not of the above. The popular press gener-
emphasized, so sound is no rationale for ally misunderstands.
joining the words. Each of these nine
. . . The incident raised questions
phrases gives somewhat more emphasis
about whether K—— had violated a
to the second word; joining the two
judge’s rule that says a jurist “should
words obscures that fact: best seller,
not lend the prestige of his office to
common sense, down payment, front
advance the private interests of oth-
lines, full text, good will, night watch-
ers.”
man, round trip, and trap doors. In each
of the nine hyphenated adjectives, both
The rule applied to a judge; it said noth-
syllables get emphasis.
ing about a “jurist.” Evidently the re-
It is true that a long-range trend to-
porter, thinking it was a synonym for
ward the solidification of phrases and
judge, used “jurist” to avoid repeating
hyphenated compounds has been ob-
“judge.”
served. That any need exists to hasten
In another newspaper, a columnist ap-
the process has not been shown.
peared to do the same thing:
Consult the entries below for notable
examples of wrongly joined phrases.
. . . The Senator, himself a former ju-
Some of the phrases are supposed to be-
rist, wondered out loud if Judge Bork
come single words at times; others are
was really a true conservative. . . .
not.
If the senator is a “former” jurist, he
must have forgotten what he knew
ALL RIGHT
about law.
ANY
Here is a similar example but with a
A WHILE and AWHILE
little puzzle: who is the “jurist”?
BACK(-) prefix and pairs
CHECK OUT and CHECK-OUT
Neither California nor U.S. judicial
EVERY DAY and EVERYDAY
rules of misconduct appear to apply
EVERY ONE and EVERYONE
to a questionable $1 million legal fee
HOLD
awarded lawyer E—— W—— by a
INTO, 2
San Francisco judge before the jurist’s
LAY OFF and LAYOFF
appointment to the federal bench.
LOT
NEVER MIND
Either man could be a “jurist.” The con-
ON, 3 (end)
text verifies that the judge was the one.
PICK UP and PICKUP
There is nothing wrong with “the judge’s
ROUND UP and ROUNDUP
appointment.” If the writer found the
RUN AWAY and RUNAWAY
prospect of repeating a word too dread-
SET UP and SETUP
ful, he could have written “the latter’s
appointment.” A reappearance of “the
JOKE, JOKINGLY. See jurist’s,” six paragraphs later, could eas-
QUIP,
ily have been avoided:
QUIPPED.
- 202 juvenile language
. . . The time limit to investigate a The examples above come from gen-
matter of alleged impropriety for a sit- eral newspapers. One might think that
ting judge is six years prior to the start the staff of a newspaper for the legal
of the jurist’s current term. profession would know better than to
run anything like “Review Calendar
Replace “the jurist’s” with his. (And Forces Jurist to Do Double Duty” (head-
make those “judicial rules of miscon- line) and “the assignment has passed to
duct” the Code of Judicial Conduct.) several jurists” (text underneath). The
Another story indirectly quoted a article was about a judge. So why not
judge on the reinterpretation of princi- say judge?
ples by “successive generations of ju-
Juvenile language. See ALSO, 1;
rors.” The writer probably knew the
difference between judges and jurors, COOL; MOM, MAMA, MA; NEAT;
members of juries, but mixed up his j- STOMACH; WEIRD; WHEN, WHERE
words. in definitions.
- K
KIND OF. 1. Combined with plural. of the amalgam of kind of and plural:
2. Improperly used with A or AN. 3. “This is still common colloquially,
Properly used with A or AN. 4. Replac- though considered grammatically incor-
ing RATHER or SOMEWHAT. 5. Used rect.” The Random House Dictionary,
“vulgarly.” pointing out the objections to that form,
offers the historical explanation that
1. Combined with plural kind once was an unchanged plural
Kind (noun), meaning class, sort, or noun like sheep and that the s-plural de-
variety, is singular. To qualify it with a veloped later.
plural word is not generally accepted as The usage panel of The American
correct. An example, “These kind of Heritage Dictionary rejected “Those
birds live . . .” instead of Birds of this kind of buildings seem old-fashioned”
kind live or This kind of bird lives. (90 percent) and “that kind of buildings
Kind itself may be made plural, in seem” (75 percent) for formal writing
representing more than one class or vari- but approved “What kind of books are
ety: Many kinds of fruit grow / All kinds these?” (76 percent). A question begin-
of tools are sold. In these examples, fruit ning with what or which is a more ac-
is regarded as an abstract category; tools ceptable deviation.
are regarded as concrete items. Although the second edition of Web-
The grammarian H. W. Fowler for- ster’s Dictionary said kind of was used
gave irregular uses of kind of just “in with a plural “incorrectly,” Webster’s
hasty talk.” Confusion is common, even Third accepts the disputed forms with-
in more careful use. A U.S. president out qualification or mention of any ob-
spoke publicly of “those kind of tests,” jections.
instead of tests of that kind. What is said about the singularity of
To use a word like all, many, some, kind of goes for class of, sort of, and
these, or those with kind and a plural type of. See TYPE.
noun and verb used to be generally ac- See also THEM and THOSE.
ceptable. Wyclif wrote: “. . . Alle kynd
of fishis gedrynge” (gathering); Shake- 2. Improperly used with A or AN
speare: “These kind of knaves I know” Another source of criticism is the in-
and “To some kind of men . . .”; and trusion of a or an in “That kind of a
Flatman: “Such kind of Pamphlets work song” or “this kind of an apple,” where
wonders with the credulous Multitude.” kind means variety, class, or the like.
The Oxford English Dictionary says The indefinite article does not belong
kind of 203
- 204 kiss of death
there, inasmuch as song or apple stands The same is done to the of in sort of,
for a category (of which kind is a subdi- producing “sorta” and so on.
vision), not just one specimen. (But see
KISS OF DEATH. See WHICH.
also 3.) These follow the acceptable
form: “She likes that kind of plant.” /
KNOT. When a mariner speaks of a
“This is my kind of meal.” / “It’s a rare
kind of stone.” ship’s going, say, forty knots, he is indi-
The same principle holds for class of, cating speed, not distance. A knot is one
sort of, and type of. “A gnu is a type of nautical mile per hour.
antelope.” Television narrators said, over films of
ships, “The cruising speed is fifty knots
3. Properly used with A or AN per hour” and “The Starship will do
Kind of in another sense may go with twenty knots an hour on the open
a. Being a kind of or a sort of critic, poet, ocean.” With knots, “per hour” or “an
vagabond, or something else can be the hour” is superfluous. A phrase like “fifty
same as being something of a critic etc. It nautical miles per hour” would be ac-
often implies that the person possesses ceptable—at least for landlubbers.
the characteristics of the specified class A nautical mile, also known as a geo-
to a certain extent but not fully. “She’s a graphical, sea, or air mile, is used by
kind of butterfly.” / “George is a sort of ships and aircraft. It equals one minute
expert.” of a great circle of the earth, about 6,076
The same goes for kind of a (or an) or feet, or about 1.15 statute miles. A
sort of a (or an). “My boss is kind of a statute mile, also known as a land mile,
tyrant.” / “They say Fred is sort of an is the ordinary mile, about 5,280 feet.
animal at home.”
KODAK. Kodak is a trademark, origi-
Either way, a second indefinite arti-
cle—“a kind of a” or “a kind of an”—is nally the name of a popular camera, now
redundant. (It does appear in old writ- more often associated with camera films
ing: “. . . my master is a kind of a and photocopying machines.
knave,” Shakespeare; and “I thought Old dictionaries contain two words
myself a kind of a monarch,” Defoe.) derived from the camera’s name: the
verb kodak, to take a snapshot, and the
4. Replacing RATHER or SOMEWHAT noun, kodaker, one who takes snap-
Kind of is used colloquially (as an ad- shots. H. L. Mencken called them, along
verb) to mean rather, somewhat, in a with kodak fiend, “familiar derivatives.”
way, or to some extent: “We were kind All are now obsolete. He repeatedly used
of surprised by the news.” / “The Kodak and other trade names in lower
weather is kind of brisk today” / “I kind case, but they should be capitalized.
of miss her.” George Eastman coined the name of
Sort of is used similarly. Neither is the camera he invented, registering it in
suitable for careful writing. 1888. He said the name was arbitrary. It
has not been tied to Kodiak island or the
5. Used “vulgarly” Kodiak bear. The K probably came from
The of in kind of is “vulgarly” slurred his mother’s maiden name, Kilbourn.
(the Oxford’s label). The result may be
KUDOS. This noun originated as
spelled “kind o’ ” / “kind a’ ” / “kinda” /
“kinder,” or otherwise. Dickens put Greek for glory and fame. It can convey
“Theer’s been kiender a blessing fell that meaning or a shallower sense: credit
upon us” in a character’s mouth. or acclaim for a particular act or achieve-
- kudos 205
ment. Its life as an English word began as The second edition of the Random
British university slang, and when used House Dictionary granted the misbegot-
casually to signify a transitory compli- ten “kudo” the status of an entry, lead-
ment, it retains a sophomoric air. ing a reviewer to ask whether one
An editorial said that a competing pa- instance of pathos would now be a
per, impressed by the mayor’s housing “patho.”
policy, had given him a compliment— The first syllable of kudos is empha-
“perhaps the first such unadulterated sized and pronounced CUE or COO;
kudo” since he took office. “Kudo” is the second syllable is pronounced doss
not a legitimate word. The editorial or dose.
writer probably thought of kudos as plu- Let no one confuse that word with
ral. It is singular. A movie reviewer on kudu (KOO-doo), an African antelope,
television similarly erred when he said, or its plural, kudus (KOO-dooz).
“The greatest kudos go to Martin Lan-
dau.” It goes to him.
- L
LAID and LAIN. See LAY and LIE. ally left in the traditional order (Mao
Tse-tung), but names of Japanese are
LAMA and LLAMA. See Homo- usually reversed (Akira Kurosawa).
phones. Most immigrants to the United States
adopt its customary order of names.
LARCENY. See CRIME, MISDE-
LATIN(-)AMERICAN. 1. LATIN
MEANOR, and FELONY; Crimes (vari-
ous felonies), 3. AMERICA and SPANISH AMERICA.
2. LATINO, HISPANIC, SPANISH,
LAST (in a series). See LATTER. MEXICAN, and CHICANO.
LAST NAME and SURNAME. In 1. LATIN AMERICA and SPANISH
a newspaper article with a Budapest AMERICA
dateline, a sentence said: A columnist criticized the U.S. inva-
sion of Haiti for, among other reasons,
A Hungarian named Laszlo, who its lack of approval by “Spanish-
declined to give his last name, earns speaking” countries of the Western
10,000 forints a month in his govern- Hemisphere. “So much for ‘Latin Amer-
ment job as a repairman. . . . ican’ support,” he remarked.
What do Spanish speakers have to do
Laszlo is his last name. What we do not with Haiti? The Haitians speak French.
know is his surname, or family name. In Latin America is by no means syn-
Hungary a citizen’s surname comes first; onymous with Spanish America. The
his given name comes last. If that fact former includes those countries of the
surprises some people who know some- Western Hemisphere south of the United
thing about Hungary, it is because writ- States where Spanish, Portuguese, or
ers in English switch the names around. French is the official language. The latter
For instance, the composer known as excludes Brazil, where Portuguese is
Béla Bartók was really Bartók Béla. The spoken, and French possessions as well
practice is so pervasive, it may be futile as Haiti. Neither term should be applied
to try to change it. Just do not call his to the countries of Belize and Guyana,
surname his “last name.” where English is the official language,
In China and Japan too the surname and Suriname, where Dutch is the offi-
comes first, then the given name. In En- cial language.
glish writing, names of Chinese are usu- A person from Latin America is a
206 laid and lain
- latter 207
Latin American, with no hyphen. Used parable term for the first of the two is the
as an adjective, as in Latin-American former.
country, the term takes a hyphen. Latter is used correctly as a compara-
tive adjective in this way: After two
2. LATINO, HISPANIC, SPANISH, choices have been offered, one might say,
MEXICAN, and CHICANO “The latter choice is more practical.” Or,
Latin(-)American used to be colloqui- if one has been asked to choose between
ally shortened to Latin. This has given two paragraphs: “I prefer the latter para-
way to a use of the Spanish word latino, graph.”
capitalized. In Spanish it primarily The word is used incorrectly to refer
means of the Latin language (adjective) to the last of three or more things. Fur-
or a scholar in the Latin language thermore, its use can have other draw-
(noun). It is often used in the United backs.
States to mean a person here with any An article enumerates six local politi-
ethnic tie to Latin America. It is used cal meetings that took place in one night
also as an (attributive) adjective, “this and adds: “It was the latter event that
country’s Latino population,” an un- drew the most political luminaries.”
Spanish form. (Spanish would say la Last, not “latter,” would be grammati-
población latina.) cally correct; so would last-mentioned or
Another popular term, older and last of those events. But any of the terms
somewhat more formal, is Hispanic. As could slow down readers by sending
an adjective, it has long meant Spanish, them back to find out what it pertains to.
in the sense of pertaining to or originat- Although the writer did not need to re-
ing in Spain. In the popular use of His- peat the thirty words used to describe
panic, the adjective includes Spanish the particular event, he could have made
America and the word serves also as a a capsule reference to it: “The birthday
noun, meaning a person with ties to ei- dinner drew the most political luminar-
ther place. ies.”
A Spanish person is one from Spain The “latter” device, aimed at verbal
and nowhere else, although a Spanish- economy, sometimes brings verbosity.
speaking person may be from anywhere This passage is from a book on comput-
else. It is incorrect to use the adjective ing:
“Spanish” in lieu of Mexican, although
such use has sometimes been quietly en- If you’re looking for an inexpensive
couraged by Americans of Mexican ori- printer, your best bet is an HP
gin as a response to discrimination. In DeskJet, which is small, light, and
recent decades they have more promi- whisper quiet. The latter attribute
nently used Chicano to describe them- may not seem very important un-
selves (from an elision and dialectal less, like me, you once had your
pronunciation of Mexicano, meaning nerves . . . shattered daily by the jack-
Mexican); however, some Mexican- hammer clanking of a dot matrix or
Americans object to the term. daisy wheel printer.
LATTER. 1. As adjective. 2. As pro- Last instead of “latter attribute” would
noun. 3. With number. be correct but still roundabout. If the au-
thor had replaced “latter attribute” with
1. As adjective quietness, he would have been correct,
The latter refers to the second of two saved a word, and avoided a conspicu-
things or persons mentioned. The com- ous circumlocution.
- 208 latter
This passage is from an article in a fi- If there are three principles, the third is
nancial newspaper: not “the latter” but the third, or the last
or the last of those or something similar.
The quarry gang was the macho
Among the items kept there are the
crew. They never wore shirts, vied for
diary of Nazi propaganda chief
the deepest tans, walked with a dis-
Joseph Goebels, an X-ray of Adolph
tinctive “strut,” and clinched their
Hitler’s skull and the first edition of
belts unbelievably tight to accentuate
Pravda, the newspaper of the Soviet
a “Scarlett-O’Hara”-type waistline.
Communist Party.
(This latter habit the camp physician
The latter is so rare that even Soviet
believed to be at least partially re-
officials don’t have an original; they
sponsible for the four cases of appen-
had to photocopy the Hoover Institu-
dicitis during the year I spent at
tion’s edition.
Henryville.)
Change “latter” to last or last of those
Changing “latter” to last would improve or—best of all—newspaper. (Two names
the third sentence but not completely fix are misspelled: Goebbels and Adolf. And
it. A “habit” is a noun, whereas the pre- “edition” at the end should be copy.)
vious sentence enumerated a series of Latter is commonly used—or mis-
verbs. Better: “The camp physician be- used—to avoid repeating something.
lieved the belt-tightening habit to Many journalists are averse to repeti-
be. . . .” tion. But repetition is not necessarily
Latter can also mean later, in time or bad. There is nothing wrong with re-
sequence. It should not pertain to an ear- peating a word or short phrase to be
lier event. There should never be any clear or grammatical.
doubt what latter refers to. See FOR-
MER. D’Amato owns [?] the Republican,
Conservative and Right to Life lines,
and the latter got more than 130,000
2. As pronoun
votes in the 1978 gubernatorial elec-
The latter may be used without a
tion, displacing the Liberals as the
noun; so may the former. An illustration
fourth strongest party in the state.
of correct usage (though bad poetry):
“Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a
Replacing the erroneous “latter” with
pail of water. The former fell down and
last-named or the like would correct the
broke his crown, and the latter came
error. A better solution is to turn the sen-
tumbling after.”
tence into two sentences. End the first
Latter denotes the second of two
with “lines.” Start the second: “The
things. It should not be used in the man-
Right to Life Party got. . . .”
ner of the following passages.
The writer of the next sample seems
baffled by grammar as she switches
In ensuing weeks, Mr. Momper chaotically between the comparative and
won from the environmentalists an the superlative in a book on calligraphy:
agreement on three basic principles—
the presence of the allies, legal ties to It [vermilion] is obtainable in sev-
West Germany and the government’s eral shades—in vermilion, scarlet ver-
monopoly on the legal use of force. milion, orange vermilion and Chinese
The latter was a singularly West vermilion; this latter, being the deepest
Berlin issue. shade, is considered the more reliable.
- lay off and layoff 209
Change “latter” to last and “more” to MONY; Twins; UNLESS and UNTIL;
most. VENUE; Verbs, 1C; WARRANT;
WITH PREJUDICE and WITHOUT
3. With number PREJUDICE.
Use of the latter implies the existence
LAY and LIE. You lay your pen
of the former, in the same category. If
you speak of the latter choice, you are down. You lie in bed.
implicitly distinguishing it from the for- The verb lay is transitive. (That is, it
mer choice. Similarly, if you speak of the transmits the action from subject to ob-
latter three (days, games, etc.), there ject; and the object is essential for the
must be the former three. verb to have full meaning.)
This passage, from a news article, The verb lie is intransitive. (It does not
contains an illogicality: transmit the action. Just the subject par-
ticipates in the action.)
. . . He [President Bush] would permit Thus a U.S. president spoke ungram-
abortion only in cases in which a con- matically when he declared that “a new
tinued pregnancy would threaten the world of freedom lays before us.” It lies
life of the mother, or when a preg- before us. A manual said incorrectly that
nancy results from rape or incest. But envelopes “should lay flat.” They should
he has also said that he opposes the lie flat. A newspaper columnist was
use of federal funds in the latter two wrong to write, “I was laying on my
cases. back. . . .” She was lying on her back.
Lying was needed also in radio and TV
“The latter two cases” would be proper reports of a truck “laying there on its
if one could speak of “the former two side” and a crime victim “laying in the
cases,” but only three categories are street.”
mentioned altogether. The writer would There are a few exceptions to the rule
have done well to grit his teeth and re- that lay is a transitive verb. A hen can lay
peat three words: “in rape or incest and a sailor can lay aft, for example. But
cases.” lie is always intransitive.
The past tense of lay is laid; the par-
LAUDABLE and LAUDATORY. ticiples are laid (never “lain”) and lay-
See Confusing pairs. ing. Examples: I laid my pen down
yesterday. I have (or had) laid it down
Law, courts, legal terms. See AC- often. I am laying it down now.
CUSED, ALLEGED (etc.); ATTORNEY Lie becomes lay, lain (never “laid”),
and LAWYER; CHIEF JUSTICE; CIR- and lying. Examples: I lay down last
CUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE; Confus- evening. I have (or had) lain on the bed
ing pairs (judicial, prosecute); CRIME, occasionally. I am lying on it now.
MISDEMEANOR, and FELONY; “He lied down,” a radio host said in-
Crimes (various felonies); EVIDENCE correctly. He lay down. Lied is the past
and PROOF; EXECUTE; Guilt and in- tense of lie (verb) in another sense: to tell
nocence; “HIGH COURT”; JURIST; a lie, a falsehood.
LIGATION and LITIGATION; Num-
LAY OFF and LAYOFF. “. . . Man-
bers, 9; PAROLE and PROBATION;
Pronouns, 2A; PURSUIT of HAPPI- agement still planned to layoff Teamster
NESS; Quotation problems; REGULA- delivery drivers”; so said an article (by
TION, STATUTE, and LAW; Reversal two writers quoting “sources” quoting a
of meaning; REVERT; RULE, RULING; union representative quoting a manage-
SAID; TESTAMENT and TESTI- ment negotiator). It was in error: man-
- 210 lead (noun)
agement would not “layoff” anyone. Pretty soon people would be toss-
The correct verb is lay off, two words. ing their oat bran in the trash and
Layoff as a single word is a noun only, chewing on No. 2 pencils.
for example: “The layoff of workers will
At a time when warnings about lead and
start next week.” The verb (transitive)
health are common, the first sentence
has two words: “The company will lay
leads us to thoughts of the metal. Only
off workers starting next week” or
when we read to the last word of the sec-
“Workers will start being laid off next
ond sentence do we realize that the
week.”
writer had a different “lead” in mind.
To lay off someone is to suspend or
(Among shortcomings is an inconsis-
discharge him from employment for an
tency in mood. Either change “come . . .
impersonal economic reason.
claims . . . is” to came, claimed, and was
To discharge, dismiss, or fire an em-
[subjunctive], or change “would” to will
ployee is to stop employing him, usually
[indicative]. See Mood; Subjunctive. By
for cause, such as performance on the
the way, why would people necessarily
job. In that sense, fire is an informal
pick the No. 2 pencils? I prefer the No.
verb, probably originating in a humor-
1.)
ous analogy with discharge; both also
See also LEAD (verb) and LED.
mean to shoot a gun.
A layoff used to occur typically during LEAD (verb) and LED. An other-
a slow period for an industry or at a wise tightly written novel contains this
troubled time for a particular company, sentence: “Pierce Bascomb lead the way
and it was often temporary. Now its only up a slight hill and then down another.”
reason may be to save money, and it is Bascomb “led the way.”
usually permanent. The past tense of the common verb
When not describing lingerie, pink lead—pronounced LEED and meaning
slip is a colloquial term for a notice of to direct, go first, or be the head of—is
layoff, dating from the 1920s. led and only led, pronounced LED. The
See also LET GO. same goes for the past participle: She has
led the cause for years. He had led the
LEAD (noun). While the television
army to defeat.
screen depicted a group of miners at
An article in a legal newspaper quotes
work, an announcer remarked that for a
a lawyer as telling the Supreme Court
century “Idaho has been producing lead
that “jurors could be mislead by the
for pencils or whatever else lead is used
anti-sympathy instruction.” Evidently a
for.” He thereby publicly announced his
thought of lead, the metal, pronounced
ignorance of the difference between a
LED, misled the writer.
pencil’s graphite, a form of carbon that is
There is an uncommon verb lead, pro-
colloquially called “lead,” and the real
nounced LED and meaning to put lead
lead, a metal used in alloys, bullets, pip-
in or on; or, in traditional printing, to
ing, printing type, and so on. Both are
create spaces by placing lead strips be-
elemental substances and both are pro-
tween lines of type. Its past tense and
nounced LED, but the similarity ends
past participle is leaded.
there.
See also Homophones; LEAD (noun).
A writer for a metropolitan newspa-
per also confused the two:
LEAP, LEAPED, LEAPT. A music
critic, reviewing a symphonic perfor-
What if they come out with a study
mance of a Bartók piece, wrote that “the
that claims the best way to fight
middle Elegy lept into prominence.” Al-
cholesterol is to pump more lead in
though it may be pronounced LEPT, the
your diet?
nguon tai.lieu . vn