You Oughta Be Truthin'

I was amazed when I discovered (or rather was told) that there is no verb in the English language for telling the truth. Anybody want to take a shot at why?

The closest I have seen is a line in Nancy Sinatra's one-hit-wonder "These Boots Are Made For Walking":

You keep lying, when you oughta be truthin'
and you keep losin' when you oughta not bet.
You keep samin' when you oughta be changin'.
Now what's right is right, but you ain't been right yet.

I'll have to think about whether there is a single verb in English for staying the same.

Loose Lips, Sync Slips (or "Bout to Loose My Mind)"

Too often of late, I have been coming across this error as shown in the following quote about Hillary Clinton:

There is no reason to believe that the nomination is still not hers to loose.

This was not a typo because the follow-up sentence repeated the same error:

But she's clearly showing a capability to loose and lost the air of invincibility against which each of her fellow competitors have had to struggle.

A quick google will find "loose" being misused for "lose" even in headlines.

If this keeps up, umm-egos, I may loose my marbles.

What did that umm-ego mean?

This past Lord's Day I distinctly heard one of our umm-egos say something to the effect (is my credibility very high when I use the words "distinctly" and "something to the effect" in the same sentence?) that someone was equivocating when they tried to compare two things that this umm-ego thought could or should not be compared. Perhaps the word he was grasping for was "equating". I believe "to equivocate" means to hesitate between two positions or back off from a former position (but only tentatively). But I could be wrong. I am willing to express my lack of certainty. But perhaps* one of the umm-egos would like to come in here and defend himself or the other umm-ego, depending on which one comes forward first.



+"perhaps" is another of those words that appears to be falling out of favor.

The first to admit something.

When someone explains something about themselves (e.g. "I'm a hot-headed person..."), and they follow it up with the phrase "...and I'm the first to admit it", doesn't it stand to reason that they're the only one who's able to admit it?!? Another person can exclaim that so-and-so is a hot-head, but they're not necessarily admitting it for that person! They're merely telling, or gossiping, or informing. Only the one mentioning his/her personality traits can do the admitting.

I experienced this with a co-worker only recently, and his choice of words really had me thinking. I'm wondering what other turns of phrase seem to make little sense when scrutinized more thoroughly.

A Not So Tintinnabulatoryistical Endorsement

"Rudy Giuliani is, without question, an acceptable candidate"

That was broadcaster and former presidential candidate Pat Robertson's ringing endorsement of Mayor Guiliani for president.

The text of other endorsements made today:

Pat Boone said "Maxwell Coffee is on my list of 12 reasonably bland coffees"

Bill Cosby announced that "I find it tastes a little like rust, but I still would recommend Jello, if no other dessert is available"

Michael Jordan bellowed: "I can directly attribute the blisters on my feet to wearing Nikes, but nevertheless, they are in some cases better than sandals, so I say, just think about doing it."

During the writer's strike Jay Leno proclaimed at a press conference: "More heart patients eat Dorito's than any other chip"

UnAmerican

In the lunch room yesterday one of my colleagues corrected herself after using the word "Americans" to refer to well, some Americans. She then changed it to North American. There is something that borders (pardon the pun) on silliness about this whole thing.

First of all, the idea that using American is somehow inaccurate or elitist just plain ignores the facts. I am a citizen of the United States of America. No other country uses America in its official name that I am aware of. It is not Canada of America, Brazil of America or Mexico of America. Latin America is not a country.

Second, her correction was no correction at all. If citizens of the US were to start calling themselves North Americans, the Canadians could then object.

Third, do the people in Mexico really want to think of themselves as Americans when the Iranians or Saudis pile into their streets chanting "Death to America" or the Europeans march with their signs condemning those awful "Americans"? I think not.

Fourth, it is too late. If somebody wanted to start complaining about this they should have started hundreds of years ago.

Fifth, it is strange to see Americans self-flagellating over this when they rarely offer a reasonable alternative. USAer? United Stateser? USEse?

Sixth, if other Latin American countries want to use American, let them have at it. When I use "American" it is not done with any sort of exclusivity in attitude. I do mean citizens of the USA. But if others want to use it, who is going to stop them?

Seventh, This has been tried numerous times before and it has failed every time.

Good Pronunciation Leads to Literacy

Sloppy conventional pronunciations -- those that are "correct" -- have eroded mass literacy.

My children have a phonics program that includes these words in the 'silent L' section:
walk
talk
calm
palm
The former pair of these words could be pronounced with at least some of the L to aid in understanding; but, I am almost angry with the suggestion that calm and palm should be pronounced sans the "L" sound. Later in the same booklet, the program suggests that "often" has a silent "T". I don't think so!

But even conventional toughies could be rendered tame with a little care. /wens-day/ could be pronounced /wed'ns-day/ and both the etymology and the presence of the "nes" in the middle of the word could be more easily remembered. If we pronounced the word /marr-y-aj/ rather than /marr-ij/, it would be easier to teach its meaning, its spelling, and the function of the "-age" suffix to a verb.

If we enunciated more clearly in society generally --or at least at home and in schools -- would it not be easier to educate (ed-yu-cate rather than ej-a-cate) children in spelling and vocabulary?

A little extra (ek-stra not eggs-tra) effort in speaking could reap dividends in literacy.

Yer Kiddin'

Speaking of “yer”, I just came across the entries for “your” and “yourself” in Webster’s Pocket Dictionary. The pronunciations suggested were “yer” and “yer-self”. They are just kidding aren’t they? Is this word no longer supposed to rhyme with bore “bōr”? Or have I just lived plum too far from where they’s all fixin’ to go down “chonder”?
Of course, that isn’t to deny that different pronunciations of words are acceptable in different parts of the country. We all have accents and no one is exempt from having them. But the range of somewhat acceptable possibilities should not replace the standard.

Is Shakespeare really so great?

William Shakespeare is taught as the pinnacle of the Elizabethan era and as an unequalled master of our language. Is it so? Specifically, are his plays all they are cracked up to be?

In what ways is Shakespeare tops?

In what ways is Shakespeare merely prolific?

Is it pure laziness...?

Well, this may or may not be a momentous start for our Blog, my fellow umm-egos, but I thought it apt since I recently witnessed its use in a Vlog on YouTube. In this video, a young man, who, I hope, is playing a character that he has created, used the word ‘supposebly’ at least once.

Now, I have never officially investigated the proliferation of this misuse of the word ‘supposedly,’ but I think we might further delve into this magnification of its wrongfulness. How, linguistically, does this translate in our society? Is it laziness; does a bi-labial ‘b’ sound seem so much simpler than the (and I forget the actual term for where a ‘d’ is formed in the mouth) unaspirated ‘d’ sound?

I think that there’s this ‘slacker’ quality for some people who find certain linguistic feats to be too difficult (too much of a mouthful, so to speak), prompting them to seek an easier way around their message. I find it to be pure laziness, in other words.