One of my pet peeves is the misuse of words out of ignorance, or worse, from some intent to mislead.
I am not immune to this bumbling. When I am proofing something I have written, or mentally reviewing something I have said, and catch myself in an error, I unleash a severe tongue-lashing on myself. (The fly on my wall is greatly amused by these outbursts.) When someone else catches one of my errors, as in the day in an English professor caught my use of the word “recreation” instead of the word “procreation” (yes, I did and do know the difference)I blush and stammer. Stuff happens. But I am a mere amateur. When such mistakes arise from the mouths or pens of self-proclaimed professionals, I really start to bristle. When I detect that the misuse is intentional, for affect, I rant. And here we go.
“NEW EVIDENCE OF WORLD’S END” was a banner displayed on the television screen of the Sunday morning (11/27) news show on ABC. This banner remained on the screen during a story that reported the uncovering of another stone in the Mayan ruins in Mexico which supposedly contains some writing that may confirm the existence of a Mayan prophecy proclaiming the end of the world in December, 2012.
IF that stone actually contains writing to suggests the Mayans’ belief of a 2012 end (which I do not believe- more on that later) then we may have evidence of Mayan thinking some 1300 years ago. In this case, the ABC television banner might have read “Mayans prediction confirmed,” or some such silliness designed to induce hysteria.
I know that ABC was crying out for attention, but the writer of this banner simply demonstrated an embarrassing ignorance. We do not have evidence of world’s end because— wait for it— the world HAS NOT ENDED. And I can prove it! Just look at the dog crap on my front lawn. If we weren’t here anymore, you could not do that (and I would not have to.) So There!
As to the end of the world prophecy, I have read enough about the Mayan calendar to believe that the Mayans did not intend such a prediction. I choose to believe this because I cannot be proven wrong. If the world does end, no one will be left (not even those who spent gobbles of $$$ on a safe cave in Oklahoma) to point out my error. If the world does not end, I can stand up and say “I told you so! Nannee-nannee boo-boo!” (And I will.)
Poor word choice goes far beyond ABC’s error. We see and hear it every day. And few seem to understand why it matters.
When I was teaching freshman English at UW to help pay for my grad work, I criticized the word choice in a student essay. I did not name the student because I was standing in front of the class pointing out errors in the essays these charmers had turned in. However, one male happened to know which female had written this particular essay and rose to her defense (chivalry is not dead, just misplaced.) He said, “Get over it. You know what she meant.”
I tried to point out to this errant knight and his classmates that it is incumbent on the writer of non-fiction to say what he/she means, not on the reader to interpret what might be intended. I further pointed out that such was the whole point of the freshman English composition course in which he had the privilege to be sitting. He did not take my words to heart and he and I were not destined to become chum buddies. I do not know what happened to him; he might be working for ABC.
Why is word choice so important? Because poor word choice sometimes annoys people; more often, people are misled and may make poor choices based on what they have heard without analyzing the accuracy or truth of the speaker’s or writer’s words. This may carry serious consequences.
Consider this: Nary has a week gone by without some talking head, pundit or politician opining that this country is in a recession. These yappers have a certain amount of credibility among the masses simply because they are on TV or radio or in print and appear to have some position of authority or carry some exceptional knowledge. This has been going on since the last (severe) recession officially ended in the last calendar quarter of 2009. This pundit-speak is so prevalent that people actually believe it. The results of a McClatchy-Marist poll printed in the Sunday (11/27) Denver Post, show that 73 percent believe the U.S. economy is in a recession. This thinking saps the life out of any effort toward recovery. People act on what they believe.
(NOTE: The U.S. economy is NOT in a recession. It takes two quarters of negative growth to be considered a recession. U.S. growth has registered positive every quarter since Q4 of 2009.)
If the Denver Post concerned itself with accuracy, they would have printed such a note as I just did along with their THREE COLUMN poll results. They did not. Apparently they prefer ignorance and hysteria.
What’s my point? When you are speaking or writing, give some thought to word choice. Words have meanings! When listening to or reading the mass media, give some thought to what you have heard and seen and its possible accuracy before you believe or parrot such claims. When listening to a politician, well- maybe it is better if you just don’t.
Things are not as bad as sloppy writers and pundits or self-serving politicians would have us believe. The world is still here and there is no evidence to the contrary.
I am not immune to this bumbling. When I am proofing something I have written, or mentally reviewing something I have said, and catch myself in an error, I unleash a severe tongue-lashing on myself. (The fly on my wall is greatly amused by these outbursts.) When someone else catches one of my errors, as in the day in an English professor caught my use of the word “recreation” instead of the word “procreation” (yes, I did and do know the difference)I blush and stammer. Stuff happens. But I am a mere amateur. When such mistakes arise from the mouths or pens of self-proclaimed professionals, I really start to bristle. When I detect that the misuse is intentional, for affect, I rant. And here we go.
“NEW EVIDENCE OF WORLD’S END” was a banner displayed on the television screen of the Sunday morning (11/27) news show on ABC. This banner remained on the screen during a story that reported the uncovering of another stone in the Mayan ruins in Mexico which supposedly contains some writing that may confirm the existence of a Mayan prophecy proclaiming the end of the world in December, 2012.
IF that stone actually contains writing to suggests the Mayans’ belief of a 2012 end (which I do not believe- more on that later) then we may have evidence of Mayan thinking some 1300 years ago. In this case, the ABC television banner might have read “Mayans prediction confirmed,” or some such silliness designed to induce hysteria.
I know that ABC was crying out for attention, but the writer of this banner simply demonstrated an embarrassing ignorance. We do not have evidence of world’s end because— wait for it— the world HAS NOT ENDED. And I can prove it! Just look at the dog crap on my front lawn. If we weren’t here anymore, you could not do that (and I would not have to.) So There!
As to the end of the world prophecy, I have read enough about the Mayan calendar to believe that the Mayans did not intend such a prediction. I choose to believe this because I cannot be proven wrong. If the world does end, no one will be left (not even those who spent gobbles of $$$ on a safe cave in Oklahoma) to point out my error. If the world does not end, I can stand up and say “I told you so! Nannee-nannee boo-boo!” (And I will.)
Poor word choice goes far beyond ABC’s error. We see and hear it every day. And few seem to understand why it matters.
When I was teaching freshman English at UW to help pay for my grad work, I criticized the word choice in a student essay. I did not name the student because I was standing in front of the class pointing out errors in the essays these charmers had turned in. However, one male happened to know which female had written this particular essay and rose to her defense (chivalry is not dead, just misplaced.) He said, “Get over it. You know what she meant.”
I tried to point out to this errant knight and his classmates that it is incumbent on the writer of non-fiction to say what he/she means, not on the reader to interpret what might be intended. I further pointed out that such was the whole point of the freshman English composition course in which he had the privilege to be sitting. He did not take my words to heart and he and I were not destined to become chum buddies. I do not know what happened to him; he might be working for ABC.
Why is word choice so important? Because poor word choice sometimes annoys people; more often, people are misled and may make poor choices based on what they have heard without analyzing the accuracy or truth of the speaker’s or writer’s words. This may carry serious consequences.
Consider this: Nary has a week gone by without some talking head, pundit or politician opining that this country is in a recession. These yappers have a certain amount of credibility among the masses simply because they are on TV or radio or in print and appear to have some position of authority or carry some exceptional knowledge. This has been going on since the last (severe) recession officially ended in the last calendar quarter of 2009. This pundit-speak is so prevalent that people actually believe it. The results of a McClatchy-Marist poll printed in the Sunday (11/27) Denver Post, show that 73 percent believe the U.S. economy is in a recession. This thinking saps the life out of any effort toward recovery. People act on what they believe.
(NOTE: The U.S. economy is NOT in a recession. It takes two quarters of negative growth to be considered a recession. U.S. growth has registered positive every quarter since Q4 of 2009.)
If the Denver Post concerned itself with accuracy, they would have printed such a note as I just did along with their THREE COLUMN poll results. They did not. Apparently they prefer ignorance and hysteria.
What’s my point? When you are speaking or writing, give some thought to word choice. Words have meanings! When listening to or reading the mass media, give some thought to what you have heard and seen and its possible accuracy before you believe or parrot such claims. When listening to a politician, well- maybe it is better if you just don’t.
Things are not as bad as sloppy writers and pundits or self-serving politicians would have us believe. The world is still here and there is no evidence to the contrary.
