Word Wise

Which Word When, part III

historic, historical If something is memorable or famous, it’s historic – the sinking of the Titanic was historic, the passing of the recent health care bill in the U.S. was historic, the opening of the Khalifa Tower in Dubai was historic. But if something merely has something to do with the subject of history, or even if something is merely in the past, important or not, it’s historical. “All our great Presidents were leaders of thought at times when certain historic ideas in the life of the nation had to be clarified.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt The historical evidence of my dinner from last night includes the dishes in the sink this morning.  further, furthermore Further is a distance that can’t be measured. But furthermore means “moreover,” or as Webster’s II New College Dictionary says, “beyond what has already been stated.” “We are here and it is now. Further than that all human knowledge is moonshine.” – H.L. Mencken “Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and, furthermore, always carry a small snake.” – W. C. Fields percent, percentage Use percent only when a numeral is in front of it. Use percentage when no number is given. “I've learned it's always better to have a small percentage of a big success than 100 percent of nothing." – TV host Art Linkletter

"Web Site" No More

Subscribers to the AP Stylebook online know that its e-mail updates are usually about minor changes that impact 2.3 people, tops. Today, however, AP sent an update that's actually really important (well, important to those us nerdy enough to find these sorts of things important in the first place):   Responding to what it says was "reader input," what had been “Web site” – two words, uppercase W – is now “website” – one word, lowercase.   Personally, I'm going to miss the old style.

Which Word When, part II

peek, peak, and pique To peek is to take a brief and sometimes secretive glance at something. A peak is the highest point of something. Pique, however, is a bit more complicated. Most dictionaries consider its primary definition to be “vexation or resentment resulting from wounded pride,” but in our business we generally intend it to mean its secondary or even tertiary* definition – that is, “to arouse or evoke interest.” (And, of course, add an acute accent to the final e – piqué – and you’ve got a polo shirt.) Shane's interest was piqued after he took a peek at Jane’s plans to scale the highest peak in the Alps. lead and led A leader leads (present tense), a leader led (past tense), a leader has led (past participle). The mix-up of led and lead may be because the metal lead (Pb) is pronounced like led. Though Morris had led the tour previously, it was Boris who would lead it today. home and hone People always want to hone in on things, and while the vocabulary police won’t toss you into the clink for doing so, you’re better off homing in instead. Traditionally, hone means “to make perfect or complete,” as in “Peri honed her skills as a landscape architect,” while home means “to proceed or direct attention toward an objective,” as in “Harry is homing in on stardom.” One way to easily remember the difference between hone and home is to think about the homing pigeon or a homing device.   That said, according to the Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, “The few commentators who have noticed 'hone in' consider it to be a mistake for home in. It may have arisen from home in by the weakening of the em sound to en or may perhaps simply be due to the influence of hone. Though it seems to have established itself in American English . . . your use of it especially in writing is likely to be called a mistake.”    * Tertiary is a good word to know. It means ”coming third in place, order, degree or rank.”

Which Word When? Part I

bear and bare "Bear" and "bare" are often mixed up when people write that they can’t bear/bare another minute of something. To bear something is to carry it. To be bare means to be unclothed and unshod or, like "bare" wood, unfinished.  Arabella simply couldn’t bear another second of seeing Ambrose bare. classic and classical As a noun, a "classic" is an important – and perhaps even influential – example, while as an adjective "classic" implies adhering to a standard of excellence. Technically speaking, "classical" has a narrow definition, describing things from ancient Greece or Rome, things from analogous ancient periods like the Tang dynasty, and formal concert music of any period. Except by the picayune, today classical is used to describe things of authority and excellence. Among fashionistas, the Kelly Bag, from Hermès and named after Grace Kelly, is a classic example of chic, despite its not having any classical design references.   a while and awhile "A while" means “a period of time”; "awhile" means “for a time” (when "for" is included, you’d never write "for awhile" because in essence you’d be writing "for for a while"). Algernon stayed awhile, though he did nothing but sleep for a while. etc. and et al. An abbreviation of et alii (“and others”), "et al." refers to people; "etc.," an abbreviation of et cetera (“and other things”), refers to things only. Gwendolyn was joined by Jack, Gribsby, et al., all of whom brought along books, magazines, etc., for the cruise.

Here’s a reco for u

It used to be that we wrote actual letters. Then we started e-mailing, which naturally caused us to write less formally. And now we text and IM, which has encouraged us to write even more informally (some might not call it writing at all). You can argue that a lot has been lost in this evolution but I want to comment on just one thing that’s been lost: syllables.   I'm not talking about lol and other typical online conventions. But increasingly, in business correspondence – especially in e-mail – people are writing convo instead of conversation, reco instead of recommendation, bc instead of because, que instead of question, vm instead of voicemail, u instead of you, mtg instead of meeting, and on and on.   The issue here is severalfold.   First, despite there being fewer letters, half-baked abbreviations like this can make your words harder to understand. Not everyone is going to immediately get that vm means voicemail. It forces people to stop and start as they go, and that makes reading unpleasant.   Second, even when these things aren’t unintelligible, they’re actually sort of disrespectful. They imply that you don’t think it’s worth your time or effort to tap out those few extra letters. And really, how much time and effort does it take to type convo versus conversation? If you are actually too busy to type entire words, then you need to have a heart-to-heart with your manager. There’s a work/life balance problem that needs attention.   Third, with all due respect, it’s just sort of jerky and sophomoric. Writing e-mail to colleagues and clients and others with whom you do business is not the same as texting your friends or passing notes in chem lab.   Good writers take into account the form in which they are writing, the place in which they are writing, the circumstances under which they are writing, the person to whom they are writing, and the person on behalf of whom they may be writing. No one’s asking that we return to the Queen’s English, but it’s not too much to ask that we say what we mean and spell it out when we say it.