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Editor and teacher Rob Kyff writes "The Word Guy," a collection of vocabulary trivia, language facts, and reader-submitted examples of bad grammar...
Read more about Rob Kyff.
Editor and teacher Rob Kyff writes "The Word Guy," a collection of vocabulary trivia, language facts, and reader-submitted examples of bad grammar...
Read more about Rob Kyff.
Palin Puts "Oooh" in GOP
Rob Kyff
Some random dispatches from the Word Front . . .
Palin's Patois -- Connoisseurs of regional English are salivating over Sarah Palin's classic Upper Midwest/Northern Plains dialect. Her flat "a" sounds ("marry" as "merry"), elongated "o" sounds ("Minne -- soooh -- ta") and Canadian inflections remind many people of the dialect used by characters in the movie "Fargo," dontcha know.
Meanwhile, pronunciation purists are looking askance at Palin's rendering of "Iraq" as "eye -- rack," insisting "there is no 'eye' in Iraq." But perhaps, as with George W. Bush's "nucular," this may simply be a way of poking a stick in the eye of eastern elites.
Olympicisms -- For some of us, the most fascinating event at this year's Olympics was the 100-meter noun dash -- the race to convert slowpoke nouns to sleek verbs. This year's winners are "medal" ("She'll probably medal in the 100"), "world record" ("Will he world record in the 400"?) and "final" ("She hopes to final in the 800").
It's the use of another verb -- "defend" -- by Olympics commentators that bothers Mark Friden of Star Lake, N.Y. He points out that, until recently, "to defend a gold medal" has meant to compete with other teams or individuals to retain first -- place status, e.g. "Guo Jingjing will defend her gold medal in springboard, won in Athens in 2004."
But, more and more, sportscasters are using "defend" to mean "successfully defend," as in "Guo Jingjing looked so strong in the preliminaries that she's likely to defend her Olympic gold medal." Mark asks, "Hadn't she been defending it ever since the competition in that event started in Beijing?"
Yup. As any trial lawyer will tell you, those who defend don't always do so successfully.
-- Stormy Weather -- "Our weather reporters never talk of rain or snow or fog," writes Esther Sluder of California. "It is always a 'rain event,' 'fog event,' etc. Is that expression unique to the San Joaquin Valley?"
Unfortunately, no, and now even TV commercials are picking it up, touting "sales events" instead of "sales."
Judi M. of Canton, Conn., is annoyed by the overuse of the phrase "pop -- up showers" by TV forecasters. "Why can't they just say 'showers'?" she asks. "I know it is most likely taken from computer pop -- ups, but enough is enough!"
Similarly, Oren Spiegler of Upper Saint Clair, Pa., wonders why newscasters describing hurricane flooding say water "overtopped" the levees, rather than "topped." In his view, "overtop" is over the top.
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Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045. To find out more about Rob Kyff and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
Copyright 2008 Creators Syndicate Inc.
This news arrived on: 09/10/2008
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Posted Comments:
09-29-2008 04:11
Chanan Velarde wrote:
Presidential Candidates
Im not too big on politics, but i just wonder if we should put petty difernces aside for the time being to achieve a greater good. This way i could care less who is the commander in chief as long as troops arent getting sent to war, fuel sources are expanded, economic hardships are overcome. Simple because we may have another "bigger issue" to face. Why not have Obama as chief and McCain as vice, Or vice versa. Maybe im just "Palin Crazy".
09-17-2008 22:57
Susan wrote:
comment posters
I am a little surprised at the quality of the comments made by readers of a vocabulary newsletter; especially the comment made by Paula Jackson's. Perhaps she should study sentence structure, grammar, spelling and punctuation, before she makes a public post again. Read the first four sentences(?). How embarassing.
09-13-2008 10:13
jackson.paula@att.net.com wrote:
Palin
I think that the Republicans want us to believe that the 2 year Govenor of Alaska. She is suppose to be the brains and Sen. McCain is suppose to be the bran. I am sure it is no secret. Is not much of one. Especially when he has to be reminded what country he is in. For the first time since I have been voting Republican. Which is 33years. I finally came to my sences that their the ones messing everything up. If Palin is not able to Govern her own household how in the world does she think that we want her in the Whitehouse. Or John McCain for that matter. When he can not remember something his favorite quote is "I was a P.O.W." . Enough with the excuses. Unfortunatly my father was one as well in WW II. He had his issues, but he never blamed his P.O.W. status for his short commings. By the way did anyone out there see the interview with Sen. John McCains Jailer. Who himself calls John McCain his PAL to this very day.
09-13-2008 09:15
Rob Kyff wrote:
Palin Puts "Oooh" in GOP
Our liberal Vocabulary commenter shows his politics again by only spoofing the GOP characters. Surely you could find something to comment about with Obama but no anly republicans mispronouce English. Kyff you are soooo tranparent and tendensious.
09-13-2008 06:08
Peter Lake wrote:
Pop-up showers
I believe "pop-up showers" is used to distinguish a shower which is not part of a frontal system. I ain't no meteorologist but I believe pop-up showers are formed from local conditions rather than from air masses, and I think the implication is that they're less predictable than frontally-formed storms. Check NOAA.
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