We’ve created a monster.
Submissions continue to roll in from people who can’t wait to get a pet language peeve off their chest.
As we sort through these, though, we might be well-advised to keep this matter in perspective.
Recently I was a guest on WCPN (90.3-FM), the NPR station in Cleveland. One of the other guests was John McWhorter, a noted linguist and author whose books include Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care.
To him, that degradation is a double-edged sword. A loosening of proper language makes the society “less elitist,” he says, because people aren’t instantly judged by their command of the language — or lack thereof.
The flip side, though, is that it also makes us “less reflective.” If we don’t structure our language with care, especially the written language, we lose the ability to convey nuances and complex thoughts.
But, as McWhoter noted, if language never changed at all, you and I would be speaking in the style of Beowulf.
In which case … shoot me in the head.
Missing word
Let me join in the fun. My pet peeve is, “I seen it,” and variations thereof. What ever happened to the word “saw”?
Nancy Phelps
Randolph
Nancy: It looked in the mirror and saw “was.” See the next item.
Found word
What ever happened to subjunctive mood and the prepositional phrase? “I wish I was dead.” “If I was you, I’d ask for a raise.” “I graduated college.”
Dick Jacoby
Stow
Dick: Good point. The correct usage, of course, is, “I were graduated college.”
Home schooling
Why do we say, “I’m going to church,” but we don’t say, “I’m going to home”?
Bob Reymann
Akron
Bob: I’m not sure, but readers frequently tell me I should be sent “to a home.”
Health matters
My suggestion is the correction of the use of the word “healthy.” Being healthy is a state of being in good health. Foods are not healthy; they assist in keeping a person in good health. Therefore, “healthy recipes,” “healthy exercise,” etc., are misnomers. The correct word is “healthful.”
Elinor Brown
Rittman
Elinor: I personally think it’s unhealthy to use the words “et cetera.” But if you ever say them aloud, please do so correctly. If you don’t, you’ll have to answer to the next reader.
Silver tongue
Marv Strach of Silver Lake hates when people pronounce “et cetera” as “ECK cetera.”
I’ll add a couple of my own pronunciation peeves:
“Nuclear” is “NUKE-lee-er,” not “NUKE-you-ler.
And coupon is “COO-pon,” not “CUE-pon.”
Walk this way
It is “walk the talk” and not “walk the walk” or “talk the talk.”
“Walk the talk” is an AA slogan for getting people to act on their verbalizations (aka put your money where your mouth is).
David Culp
Akron
David: If it were simply “talk the talk,” life would be a lot easier, eh?
Half a recipe
An Akron letter writer who prefers anonymity offered several contributions, among them a peeve I share:
A “cement” walkway or patio is in fact “concrete.” Cement is only one ingredient in concrete.
No, he won’t
Bob Dove of Cuyahoga Falls hates when people say, “If you will,” attempting to sound sophisticated.
Empty words
A fellow who left a message but not a last name chastised “the media” for saying “oh” when they should be saying “zero.”
If you ask me, somebody who lumps all the media together and then won’t leave his name deserves a score of zero.
Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com.