Even today — subjected as we are to the apotheosis of popular culture — using the English language respectfully helps us maintain a sense of ourselves and our values. To do otherwise, to disregard the ways of our words, is to forsake our humanity and, perhaps, even forfeit our future. A society is generally as lax as its language. And in a society of this sort, easiness and mediocrity are much esteemed.
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The greatest supporters of ebooks are authors, not traditional publishers. What does this tell us? Quite clearly, authors are finding it much easier to be published in ebook format than through traditional channels. Many of the new (previously unpublished) ebooks now available are by authors who have already been down the road of traditional publishing. As might be expected, they have encountered familiar barriers and obstacles. The greatest of these is in getting their work read at all.
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On Dimwitticisms: An Introduction
Robert Hartwell Fiske
Whereas a witticism is a clever remark or phrase — indeed, the height of expression — a "dimwitticism" is the converse; it is a commonplace remark or phrase. Dimwitticisms are worn-out words and phrases; they are expressions that dull our reason and dim our insight, formulas that we rely on when we are too lazy to express what we think or even to discover how we feel. The more we use them, the more we conform — in thought and feeling — to everyone else who uses them.
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Two Poems
Laura Cherry
The Light Through the Rain
The trip in the rain has cost you your shoes,
sloshing through puddles and dreaming of Hartford,
watching the sky blear like noontime in Norway.
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Grumbling About Grammar
Although few people can complain of another's grammatical mistakes with impunity, that is, without revealing their own, I am hopeful that "Grumbling About Grammar" will encourage us all to pay more heed to how the language is used — by ourselves as well as by others — while bettering our ability to speak and write it. The grammatical errors that I have assembled here come from publications like The New York Times, Wired, TV Guide, and Martha Stewart Living. Others come from websites like Salon.com and Winmag.com. And still others from TV newscasters, politicians, and businesspeople. These are the people we so often read and listen to — whether or not we care to. Woefully, it is not Edith Wharton or Henry James from whom we learn to speak and write the language; rather, it is these sometime purveyors of confused, misused, and abused language.
amount Misused for number. • But when all was said and done, I realized that despite the deceptive nickname, slow cookers really do cut the amount of hours you — as opposed to your appliance — need to spend cooking. USE number. [Cooking Light]
Amount is used with quantities or that which is not easily counted; number is used with that which is countable.
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Elegant English vs. Everyday English
We all know far too well how to write everyday English, but few of us know how to write elegant English — English that is expressed with music as well as meaning, style as well as substance. The point of this feature is not to suggest that people should try to emulate these examples of elegant English but to show that the language can be written with grace and polish — qualities that much contemporary writing is bereft of and could benefit from.
1. Everyday English: We hope and pray that this horrible war will soon end.
Elegant English: Fondly do we hope — fervently do we pray — that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. [Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address]
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Scarcely Used Words
Inadequate though they may be, words distinguish us from all other living things. Indeed, our worth is partly in our words. Effective use of language — clear writing and speaking — is a measure of our humanness. What's more, the more words we know and can correctly use, the broader will be our understanding of self, the keener our acquaintance with humankind.
arcanum (aar-KAY-nuhm) n. 1. a deep secret or mystery. 2. specialized knowledge that is inaccessible to the average person. 3. a secret remedy; an elixir.
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The Vocabula Review is a free journal about the state of the English language. We invite you to submit articles.
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