a blog about ratiocinations out of thin air and elsewhere
STRUNKANDWHITEN IT! is named after William Strunk Jr and E.B. White, the authors of The Elements Of Style, arguably the single most important guide and reference book a writer in the English language can own.
Here are essays and articles on the use, misuse, and abuse of our lovely if baffling language in advertising, in newspapers, and on the internet. There are also pieces on spelling and grammar, and on constructing sentences and paragraphs.
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FROM TODAY’S SEATTLE TIMES (August 8, 2013, page A3) is a piece from The Washington Post addressing President Obama’s “snubbing” of Russian President Vladimir Putin over the granting of asylum to Edward Snowden, Mr. Putin is described as “shrewd but famously irascible … with a deep suspicion of U.S. READ MORE
IMPROPER-BUT-NO-LONGER-INCORRECT word usage alert: according to Merriam-Webster Online, the word decimal as an adjective means (in order) “numbered or proceeding by tens; or based on the number 10; especially expressed in or utilizing a decimal system especially with a decimal point; or subdivided into 10th or 100th units.” READ MORE
ALTERNATE YOUR LEFT LEG FORWARD after your right. It’s called walking. And that’s what alternate means: every other. If you have been buying compact discs over the past few decades—especially reissues of older albums—you have probably been over-exposed to the term ‘alternate take.’ If you read science fiction or fantasy, you have probably likewise noticed an increase in the number of ‘alternate reality’ stories. READ MORE
THIS IS NOT WHAT I INTEND my “Strunkandwhiten It!” category to be about, but it does qualify as a misuse of the language—although in this case, it may be intentional camouflage. I am often surprised by the way large, HUGELY successful corporations are treated and described in the financial sections of newspapers. READ MORE
“Boy, 4, accidentally shot self; suspect surrenders”
WHAT THE HUH?!? The headline above is from today’s Seattle Times (July 23, 2013). It appears in the upper right corner in a banner across the top of the front page. This terse line (six words and a number) tells us—what? That a boy shot and killed himself and then turned himself over to the police”
Let’s try again: The first five words tell us that a 4-year old boy shot himself, but accidentally. READ MORE
FROM TODAY’S SEATTLE TIMES (July 21, 2003) comes a piece titled “Israel OKs freeing some prisoners to restart talks” (page A4). Got that: Palestinian prisoners restart talks with Palestinian representatives. Now, prepositional phrases (like “to restart talks”) work best when they are placed as close as possible to the word that they are modifying. READ MORE
FROM TODAY’S SEATTLE TIMES (July 19, 2013) and a piece titled “Gun-rights group sues city over emails allegedly withheld” (page B1): an organization called Washington CeaseFire is described as “an anti-gun violence group.” Technically, this is correct: the hyphen is necessary to link “anti” with “gun.” READ MORE
I TOOK BERNI to her morning coffee at a nearby Starbucks she wakes up five days a week with that place’s caffeine and a book before going to work. On the way back home, I drove past a local chain restaurant. Their sign advertised the following:
Now, if English is your native language, your brain registers exactly what the sign-maker intended: that they are offering a lunch special for five dollars. READ MORE
I STARTED WRITING when I was in grade school. Recently, a classmate of my brother’s found a copy of a “newspaper” that Chester Street Elementary School published in 1964. In it was a one paragraph article by my brother followed by a three paragraph “article” by me. It summed up oh so briefly the Philadelphia Phillies’ phenomenal rookie, Richie Allen. READ MORE