Master for Webs

Posts Tagged ‘Word For The Wise’

Mason Locke Weems, who grew up to be Parson Weems, author of The Life and Memorable Actions of George Washington, was born on October 11 in 1759. In his book, that infamous clergyman taught generations of Americans that our first president could not tell a lie, but his own tale about young George chopping down a cherry tree was pure fiction. Our question is this: did Parson Weems let loose with a lie, produce a prevarication, formulate a fib, or father a falsehood? You decide. Read the rest of this entry »

In the first edition of William F. Stunk, Jr. and E.B. White’s classic guide The Elements of Style, the authors declared, “None takes the singular verb.” In the second edition, however, they changed their minds and said a plural verb was fine in instances “when none suggests more than one thing or person.” They illustrated their changed opinion with the wry observation, “None are as fallible as those who are sure they’re right.” So what did the third edition of Stunk and White have to say on the topic? Not a word.
You don’t have to be a usage commentator to be brought up short by the question of whether one should say none is or none are. Grammarian Sir Ernest Glowers felt the answer was clear. As he explained, “What could be more obvious than that none, which is even less than one, cannot possibly take a plural verb?” Unfortunately for Sir Ernest, the ancestors of none were never strictly singular, and none has been used with plural verbs for as long as English has existed. King Alfred the Great himself was using it with plural verbs more than a thousand years ago. Read the rest of this entry »

October 13th is the Feast Day of Edward the Confessor. We confess we don’t have too much to say about the English monarch whose 24 year reign ended shortly before William the Conqueror invaded England. Although history unflattering records Edward as an ineffectual ruler whose close ties to Normandy hurt his country, he is memorable for his piety. Read the rest of this entry »

A friend asked for the story behind the metaphoric Babel. The tale of that word seems straightforward enough, but things do get a bit confusing, so listen closely.

Our story begins with the biblical Tower of Babel. According to Genesis, the Babylonians wanted to make a name for them by building a city with a tower whose top would graze the heavens. But God disapproved and stopped construction by confusing the language of the workers so they could no longer understand each other. One ancient rendering of the name for the tower was labile (literally, “gate of God”). Read the rest of this entry »

Not only is October 15th the final day of National Pet Peeve Week, it is also designated National Grouch Day. Don’t complain to us; we’re only here to talk about some terms for folks who celebrate Pet Peeve Week all year long. Read the rest of this entry »

October 18, 1999 commemorates the 70th anniversary of Persons’ Day. It was on this day in 1929 that Canadian women were declared persons, no longer subject to the English common law that pronounced women “persons in matters of pains and penalties, but not persons in matters of rights and privileges.” Read the rest of this entry »

We heard from a fellow concerned about his potential misuse of the word all. With the encouragement of a colleague, our correspondent had already managed to excise the term alls (as in alls I’m doing is talking) from his speech. The fellow reported that he replaced what he called “a particularly poorly devised phrase” with the expression all that (as in all that I know is that I’m trying). Read the rest of this entry »

October is National Pasta Month. Folks eager to roll out their dough might want to first noodle around with this question: when do you call it pasta and when do you call it noodles?

Etymologists can’t dish up a lot of history about the word noodle. They do know that the English noodle, which first appeared in the late 1700s, is adapted from the German Nudel. They also know that there is no connection between the food paste noodle and the noodle that names your noggin. Although noodles can come in a variety of shapes and sizes, in the U.S., they most commonly appear shaped as ribbons. Read the rest of this entry »