Okay, I know that was a couple of kinda heavy posts. Michael accused me yesterday of over-analyzing a nice moment in my life. I don’t deny it, but this is what happens when a girl doesn’t get enough girl talk time and her husband’s been working 24 hours on some project for the last three days and she’s had to do all the child-rearing and cooking and what-not herself. Not that I’m complaining, I’m just sayin’ is all.
Some people let their hair down by going to the gym and punching a heavy bag for a while. Me, I’m not that kind of physical (and I’m not letting my hair down, either, ’cause it took forever to do it this morning, and it’s still not cooperating) so I’m thinking of punching around some words. Whaddya say, wanna play?
On my old blog, I used to have an occasional rant about misused words, punctuation, and expressions. Strangely, I was usually motivated to write these posts when I had noticed a particular mistake multiple times in a short period of time. Why would there suddenly be a rash of people misusing “decimate” or “poring“? Do these things spread like viruses or something?
Lately, I’ve noticed a spate of “peaked” people. As in “you have peaked my curiosity”. Which I suppose could have some meaning to it. But the word you really want, my dears, is “piqued”. That’s from the French “piquer”, which means “to prick”. Yes, you have pricked my curiosity. Doesn’t that sound so much more elegant? It has a certain je ne sais quoi, non?
Also? Why have I seen several instances of “I’ll make due” in the last few weeks? That’s just bizarre. Do you work at a library and are you setting due dates for books? If so, you should be clearer. Otherwise, you should do like the rest of us and make do.
Ah, I feel better already.
While I’m at it, may I just add that I shudder when I hear someone say “nuke-ular”. I mean, that’s just ugly, and spreading that kind of ugly should be illegal. Say it with me, George W., it’s two syllables, not three, and it goes “NEW-clear”.
There’s another word I hate, although technically there’s nothing wrong with it. The word is “utilize”. Ugh. And double-ugh.
I’m afraid this one is Strunk and White’s fault because I read The Elements of Style many years ago, and the authors rant — yes, rant! — about “-izing” words. They didn’t like the word “moisturize”, for example. Why moisturize your skin, they argue, when you can simply moisten it? Well, I’m afraid I don’t agree with them, but they might be forgiven, since the original version of the book was written in 1918. However, ever since I read that bit in their book, I shudder when I see or hear the word “utilize”. Why not replace it with the much more elegant “use”?
I remember getting into an argument about this with a classmate in university when we were working on a group project. I wanted eliminate “utilize” from our paper but she insisted on putting it in. Her argument was that her mother was an English major, and she uses the word. Ha! I just can’t imagine arguing with someone over this these days. (Instead, I’d just reach for a paper bag. And lose my lunch into it.)
Well, that was refreshing! Care to add some fisticuffs of your own?
