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Pam Nelson: The Grammar Guide

 

Archive for November 2006

Number of comments in parentheses

29: Expressive Yiddish

Sometimes we copy editors question writers’ use of foreign or slang words and phrases. That is not because we don’t like the words; we just wonder if these words will confuse readers or if the words are being used the right way. We want to be sure that the meaning is clear and accurate. I thought of this today as I read the morning paper and came across kibitzers in this story about a UNC-CH fraternity taking copies of the Daily Tar Heel. Here is the line from the story: The paper printed replacements by the afternoon as kibitzers[.....]

28: I’ll have dessert, please

A reader asks about just deserts and just desserts. Maybe it’s the time of year: We feel justified in having dessert during the holidays. In fact, the phrase is just deserts. It comes from the French word that became deserve in English. To get one’s just deserts means to get what one deserves, good or bad. Mostly, however, it means to get the punishment that’s coming for bad behavior. To paraphrase an old saying, just deserts are best served cold. The Mavens’ Word of the Day explains just deserts and the etymology of desserts. This article was originally posted[.....]

26: Homonym troubles

A reader wrote to point out a mistake in this sentence: Most locals might know the 54-year-old Italian artist as a cake decorator who creates photo-like images with a palate knife and icing. The writer confused “palate,” which can refer to taste, and “palette,” the flat piece that artists use to hold and mix paints. A palette knife is a tool artists use in painting and mixing paints. The story was about a man who was a baker as well as an artist. Maybe that’s why the writer confused the words. The reader correctly notes that editors should have[.....]

21: How to possess the day

A conscientious writer asks about punctuating this expression: Three nights’ accommodations or Three nights accommodations It might seem odd to have nights possess accommodations, but we do use an apostrophe in expressions of time and worth: three weeks’ vacation, my two cents’ worth. You can chalk this one up to idiom. It’s just the way we do it in English. Here are two links to help: The late Professor Charles Darling’s Guide to Grammar and Writing and Diane Sandford’s Wisdom from the Grammar Goddess. If you have grammar geek tendencies (you lovely people!), you can read a Wikipedia article[.....]

16: Fetch me a thesaurus

A reader called today (somehow she ended up with me) to object to our writers’ use of the word fetch. She wondered why we would use such an old-fashioned word. To her, the word smacks of colloquialism. I was not really prepared to defend fetch, so I grabbed my desk dictionary, which mentioned nothing about the word being colloquial. I think the reader thought I was just another Southerner defending our honor, but the truth is that I just didn’t have a good argument for or against fetch. [More:] Here is the passage from today’s paper that apparently prompted[.....]

14: Dis the season

Writers and editors have a love-hate relationship with holiday cliches. We rail against them and rely on them. They come back every year like a Charlie Brown TV special. Like green bean casserole. Like Santa dolls that dance to “Jingle Bell Rock.” Like markdowns at the discount store. A funny flurry of e-mail messages flew among The N&O news staff Tuesday about stories, captions and headlines that allude to “Yes, Virginia,” “’tis the season” or the “Grinch.” [More:] John McIntyre of the Baltimore Sun has written about the cliches that he and his staff excise in copy at this[.....]

12: Talking like Shakespeare

Allusions to Shakespeare abound in newspapers. The quotes are familiar to many readers, and the Bard knew how to turn a phrase. But we sometimes misuse Shakespeare. Last week in a graphic the front of the North Raleigh News we asked, “Where for art thou, Clay?” (For a PDF version of the graphic, click here.)It was a playful reference to Clay Aiken’s keeping the location of his North Raleigh house a secret. The allusion was to a line in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”: “Wherefore art thou, Romeo?” But many people would fault that allusion, and not just because it[.....]

5: Neither financier …

A colleague spotted this badly spelled banner ad: I always remind myself of some exceptions to the “i before e” rule with this sentence: Neither financier seized either weird species of leisure. I don’t know what constitutes a “weird species of leisure.” Maybe the Geek Squad guys can tell us. This article was originally posted by the Raleigh News & Observer, a subsidiary of The McClatchy Co.; is posted here to provide continuity; and is copyright © 2011 The News & Observer Publishing Company, which reserves the right to remove this post.

1: Fast or steep

A reader, Barbara McDonald, wrote a few days ago about the confusion of “precipitous” and “precipitate.” Here is what she had to say (emphasis added): I have many pet grammar and usage peeves, but one in particular is escalating out of sight… precipitously, one might say. Then, again, one could argue that this entire confusion has been precipitated by the media glomming on to fad words. I have heard in recent months — on NPR and elsewhere — dozens of misuses of those two words: precipitous and precipitate. Usually the misuse happens when precipitously is used mistakenly for precipitately,[.....]