Word Wise

The Wednesday Word Wise Roundup

• Not too long ago – don’t ask why – I was trying to think of what that little indentation between one’s nose and one’s upper lip is called. Not only didn’t I know it’s name, I had no idea how to even start a search for it (Google “little indentation between one’s nose and one’s upper lip”?). Then I read about the Visual Dictionary Online at Lifehacker and within about six seconds learned it’s called a philtrum (“small cutaneous depression extending from the lower part of the nose to the upper lip”). The Visual Dictionary Online, from Merriam-Webster, is illustration-based and as Lifehacker points out, it can help you “find the name of a whatsit.” It's also a load of fun to surf through.

• I’ve been ranting and raving for years about the use and misuse of the word “unique,” and a few weeks ago The Wall Street Journal’s online Style & Substance column weighed in (happily, on my side, even if that wasn’t its intention). According to the Journal: “Talent Scouts For Cirque du Soleil Walk a Tightrope: Ms. Giasson’s Tiny Acrobat Just Might Be Too Unique,” said the headline, resurrecting the perennial conundrum of whether there are degrees of uniqueness. The short answer, as we said ominously in May, is “not on our watch.” Because unique uniquely means one of a kind, we should say such things are too rare or too unusual….Then there is the issue of “unique” users aka “unique” visitors, an imprecise but often quoted measurement of the number of individual visitors to Web sites. When we use the term, we should use quotation marks around unique to indicate it’s an industry term that uses unique in a unique way.

Once Again, Which Word When

Choosing words with precision is the hallmark of a good writer. Without precision, everything we write would be gobbledygook. In our profession especially, the words we choose aren't just saying something about us as individuals, but about the clients we represent. When we sound smart, they sound smart. To write "imply" when you mean "infer" or to "site" a reference is just plain embarrassing for everyone. Here are five sets of words I've noticed recently that seem to still confuse a lot of us. 1.     imply / infer Use “imply” when something is being suggested without being explicitly stated and “infer” when someone is trying to arrive at a conclusion based on evidence. “Fred Thompson implied that he would be the best president of the United States; because I watch “Law & Order” several times a day, you inferred that I would vote for him.” 2.     who’s / whose This is easy: When possessive, pronouns (like “who” and “her”) never take apostrophes. “Who’s” always means “who is,” as in “Who’s my baby?” or “who has,” as in “Who’s been sitting in my chair?” Use “whose” when referring to a possessor. “My dog, whose hair is long and thick, can’t wait for the first snow.” 3.     cite / site / sight A reference is cited, a place is a site, and a sight is a thing for sore eyes. “She cited ‘Chicago’ when she said, ‘I know a whoopee spot where the gin is cold but the piano’s hot . . .  and all that jazz.’” “The site chosen had a fabulous view.” As Mark Twain said, “There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist.” 4.     specially / especially Use the former when something is done for a specific reason, choose the latter when something means more than other things. “She especially likes potatoes, so I made the potato dauphinoise specially for her.” 5.     continual / continuous Something continual goes on – but with breaks; something continuous never stops. “His continuous talking gave me agita. Now  I continually avoid him.”

Double, Double Toil and Trouble

Double possessives (when something is possessed by more than one person) can be doubly vexing if you’re unaware of the rules. Just remember two simple things: Simple thing no. 1: When there’s more than one owner – Gilbert and Sullivan possess something in common – consider them a single unit with ’s after the last possessor’s name. Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta was a hit. Simple thing no. 2: If both Gilbert and Sullivan have their own hit operettas, each gets his own ’s. Gilbert’s and Sullivan’s operettas are hits.

Note: Double possessives also include constructions like “a paramour of my sister’s” – double because both “of” and the 's indicate possession. So you’d think that it would be wrong since only one thing is possessed. While it might be technically wrong (better, perhaps, to write “a paramour of my sister"?), it is how we speak and write naturally. It also can clear up confusion found in a phrase like “a picture of my brother” – is it a picture of my brother or a picture belonging to him? The double possessive makes it clear.

The Wednesday Word Wise Roundup

A few days ago I wrote about clichés and on Sunday, in The New York Times Books Review, Jon Meacham, the editor of Newsweek, reviewed Joseph Ellis' new book, American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic. He liked the book, though, he wrote, “Ellis’s voice is occasionally so informal that it can veer toward the cliché: Robert Livingston’s support for the Louisiana Purchase 'sealed the deal'; conflicts 'heated up”' a British expeditionary force is sent to crush the American rebellion 'in the bud.' The book would have been better if Ellis had chosen to crush phrases like that in the bud.”

I don’t know how I missed the hoopla, but about two weeks ago Webster New World College Dictionary announced its much-anticipated Word of the Year. In case you missed it, too, here it is: grass station. Yes, grass station. “Grass station, a pun on ‘gas station,’ refers to a theoretical fill-up spot in the not-too-distant future; it reflects America's growing love affair with hybrid cars and vegetable-based fuels (and words),” reported Boston Now. "It just tickled our funny bone," Mike Agnes, editor in chief of Webster dictionary, said of grass station. Really? Merely being slightly amusing is all it takes to become word of the year? Kind of depressing.

Pure as the Driven . . .

You know the end of the headline here, right? That’s because it’s a cliché – a metaphor or phrase characterized by its overuse. For the most part, using clichés is lazy, an easy out, a ready-made excuse not to take the time needed to think about what needs to be said in an original way. As William Safire put it, “Last, but not least, avoid clichés like the plague.” How do you know if a phrase is a cliché?  If you can automatically finish a phrase without hesitation, such as “pure as the driven. . . ” If a combination of words can’t really be altered without it sounding peculiar: “pearl in the rough” and “stick out like a sore index finger,” for instance. When it’s not possible to switch the order of words: “cons and pros,” “behind key and lock,” and “a game of mouse and cat,” for example. In our business there are a lot of clichés to watch out for. I’ve been keeping a list of those I’ve seen recently used in press releases, media alerts, and FAQs. the sky’s the limit with heart and soul crunch time going around in circles maintain the status quo uphill battle unwritten law par for the course come to a head last but not least pushing the envelope after all has been said and done all in a day’s work best-laid plans by leaps and bounds few and far between in the nick of time this day and age other things being equal make or break ahead of the pack sooner rather than later unsung hero a clean sweep a whole new ballgame So, pure as the driven snow, right? Well, yes, unless you’re Tallulah Bankhead, who referred to herself as “pure as the driven slush.” Now that's original.

Note: I've also noticed that when writers want to use a cliché (usually because they are too tired or time pressed or whatever to think of an original way to say something) but they also want the reader to know that they know it's a cliché they put it in quotation marks. I know I'm using a cliché, they're saying. You know I'm using a cliché You know I know. I know you know I know. You know I know you know I know. This all may be true in a Lucy and Ethel sort of way, yet that doesn't disguise the fact that using the cliché in the first place was a bad idea.

10 Things to Remember

Making the same teeny-tiny errors over and over and over and over again is a huge waste of time (for you, your editor and, if it gets that far, your reader). Here are 10 things to learn, learn well, and never forget: "ly" words do not take hyphens, so you are not a “highly-evolved person” but a “highly evolved person” in the same way that my friend Bruce always says, “Dan, you’re you and I’m me,” commas are commas and dashes are dashes. For reasons that elude me entirely, people want to use dashes in place of the last comma in a series, as in “Irish setters, English bulldogs – and French poodles.” (Seriously, what’s that about?) single entities (the names of companies, for instance) are single entities and are therefore referred to as “it,” not “they,” as in “On Thursday, Chrysler said that it planned to eliminate up to 11,000 more jobs.” “its” – sans apostrophe – is the possessive of the word “it,” while “it’s” – apostrophe in situ – is the contraction of “it is” except in charts and graphs, spell out the word “percent” and always use numerals, even when below 10; so it’s "4 percent," not "four percent" or "4%" or, heaven help me, "four %" prefixes themselves aren’t words, so when adding a prefix to a word you do not need to also add a hyphen unless the resulting word would confuse your readers; it’s "unheard," not "un-heard," "nonresistant," not "non-resistant," etc., but "pro-choice," for instance, and when mailing something a second time, "re-sent," instead of "resent," which means something else altogether don’t use a slash in place of the perfectly reasonable word “and” "i.e." means “in other words” and "e.g." means “for example” and both are always followed by a comma use a comma before “such as” and “including” when the words that follow are an aside (in other words, not necessary to the meaning of the sentence), as in “Arabella chose to take jewelry, including a fancy yellow European cut diamond and emerald ring, a pair of citrine and diamond earrings, and an antique diamond tiara from the collection of HRH Princess Maria Gabrielle of Savoia.”  know when to use “that” and when to use “which”: Imagine “by the way” following every “which.” "The 2008 campaign season, which [by the way] started too early, will be over Nov. 4, 2008." The “which” phrase adds a useful, but not necessary, piece of information. So, if “by the way” makes sense, use “which.” Remember, “commas, which cut out the fat, go with which, never with that!” (I didn’t make that up; wish I had.)