Culture
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Language Corner — May 30, 2012 11:00 AM
That’s that, part two
Keeping a reader on the right path
Last week we talked about the use of “that” after a verb of speech, like “said,” “acknowledged,” etc. This week, we’ll explain how “that” can signal where a sentence is heading.
Let’s start with this sentence:
“You'll be happy to know the man …”
Most readers will think that the sentence concerns the relationship between “you” and “the man,”...
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Critical Eye — May 23, 2012 06:50 AM
Nonfiction’s ‘meta’ moment
Reviewing an anthology of “writings about the writings”
Metawritings: Toward a Theory of Nonfiction | Edited by Jill Talbot | University Of Iowa Press | 242 pages, $39.95
The word “meta” has become an inescapable part of the pop culture zeitgeist. In early May, the Boston Globe published a column by Ben Zimmer about the word’s seeming omnipresence. Zimmer also appeared on NPR to discuss it, saying, “The...
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Language Corner — May 22, 2012 06:50 AM
That’s that, part one
A word used too often, or not enough
“President Obama said Wednesday he would go to Europe.”
Is Wednesday the day he is going to Europe? Or the day he announced his travel plans?
A little word can make that sentence clearer: “that.” But its placement can make a difference, too: “President Obama said that on Wednesday he would go to Europe” means he is leaving for Europe...
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Language Corner — May 16, 2012 06:50 AM
Logue jam
A catalog of dialogues
“Catalogue” can also be spelled “catalog.” “Dialogue” can also be spelled “dialog.” But “monologue” is rarely spelled “monolog.”
The Americans are at it again.
The combining form “logue” is French, descended from Latin, and it indicates an engagement of some sort, a discourse, if you will, between people or things. People browse “catalog(ue)s” to “discuss” what items to buy; a...
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Critical Eye — May 14, 2012 03:00 PM
What it takes to win the White House
A review of Samuel L. Popkin’s The Candidate
The Candidate: What It Takes to Win—And Hold—The White House | By Samuel L. Popkin | Oxford University Press | 350 pages, $27.95
Academic political science and Washington policymaking once had a close relationship: during the Franklin Roosevelt and Kennedy administrations, for example. No longer. As Karl Rove writes as a blurb on this book, most contemporary political science...
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Language Corner — May 9, 2012 12:00 PM
No fun
Noun? Verb? Yes. Adjective? Well ...
The journalism professor was not having much “fun” explaining things to her feature-writing students: “I know so fun is wrong but I can’t tell them why,” she wrote. “So happy is right, but so fun should have ‘much’ as the sandwich filling.”
If you ask practically anybody under 35 whether “so fun” is acceptable English, you will probably be told...
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Language Corner — May 1, 2012 10:49 AM
Organically Grown
The DNA of new words
Language evolves. New words and concepts show up and catch on—“app,” “smartphone,” “podcast”—or die from disuse or dysfunction—“Y2K,” “newsreel,” “rad.” And there’s even a word for how these concepts make their way from person to person: “meme.”
Rhyming with “cream,” the word “meme” was coined in 1976 by Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist, in his book The Selfish Gene. In...
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Language Corner — April 23, 2012 12:57 PM
Climate Change
Weathering a climax
An extension of a federal highway program passed the House recently, over the objections of some Democrats. “Even as they were approving the measure in an anti-climatic voice vote, Democrats sharply criticized Republicans for not accepting a two-year, $109 billion version of the transportation measure the Senate had approved on a bipartisan vote earlier this month,” one news report said.
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Critical Eye — April 19, 2012 02:14 PM
The Authentic Mexican Cookoff
Gustavo Arellano, Rick Bayless, and the media’s quest for purity in ethnic cuisine
Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America | By Gustavo Arellano | Scribner | 320 pages, $25.00
Recently popularized as a buzzword for genuineness, “authenticity” has a much longer history as a term used to commodify the “ethnic” and “exotic.” The use of the word is often imprecise, but usually has something to do with marketing a product as having...
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Language Corner — April 17, 2012 04:27 PM
Viva La Difference
Comparatively speaking
Am I “different than” you? Or “different from ” you? And does it matter?
“Different than is often considered inferior to different from,” Garner’s Modern American Usage says. We certainly don’t want to be inferior.
It’s because the word “different” implies a contrast, while the preposition “than” is used for making a comparison (Her piece of cake is bigger than...
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Behind the News — April 11, 2012 02:24 PM
Mike Wallace, Reluctant Newsman
A new biography of the late "60 Minutes" reporter reveals how he changed broadcasting while besting inner demons
Screenwriter and director Peter Rader’s first book, "Mike Wallace: A Life" was already slated for release on April 13 when Wallace died last weekend at age 93. Rader spoke to CJR about Wallace’s insecurities, the origins of his famed interview techniques, and the tragedy that spurred his journalism career. Rader’s answers have been condensed and edited.
Why did you select...
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Critical Eye — April 11, 2012 12:21 PM
Farm to Table
Tracie McMillan reports on the American way of eating
The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee’s, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table | By Tracie McMillan | Scribner | 336 pages, $25.00
Irritating. That’s the word that comes to mind when reflecting on Tracie McMillan’s The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee’s, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table.
Irritating because McMillan goes undercover in order...
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Language Corner — April 9, 2012 03:54 PM
Locution, Locution, Locution
Fewer words take up less real estate
The Internet offers writers unlimited space and so, for many, their writing expands expansively. Readers, however, have limited attention spans. So here are a few circumlocutions, or wordy phrases, that seem particularly ascendant. (Consider this a supplement to our earlier list.) Occasional use of them may be needed for clarity, but most of the time, it’s just inattentive or bloated...
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Language Corner — April 4, 2012 06:00 AM
Flat Out
Writers are "prone" to use the more familiar word
The gunman was “lying prone on his stomach.” He could have just been “prone,” and the writer could have saved four words for more drama.
“Prone” means lying flat, with your face toward the ground. If you’re face up, you’re “supine.” (One mnemonic: U are on your spine.) You don’t need to add “lying,” “on his back,” “on her stomach,”...
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Language Corner — April 2, 2012 01:29 PM
Not Just Desserts
How “junket” became a bad word
The good times were back on Wall Street, the news report said. Executives of a banking firm were staying at “some luxury digs in New Delhi.” But, the report added, “This is not a pure junket, to be sure.” The executives would also be conducting some business.
A columnist at another publication railed about local legislators’ decisions: “Let’s see, this...
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Critical Eye — March 29, 2012 11:52 AM
Taking Tea with Ayn Rand
Gary Weiss explores Objectivism’s influence on contemporary politics
Ayn Rand Nation: The Hidden Struggle for America’s Soul | By Gary Weiss | St Martin’s Press | 304 pages, $24.99
Ayn Rand, the GOP’s crotchety, misanthropic little immigrant grandmother, is hot again. Her books are selling well; her works are animating the ideas of certain Republican congressmen. Even Brad Pitt and Oliver Stone said they were interested in making...
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Language Corner — March 26, 2012 01:13 PM
Madison Square Gardening
Time to plant some “seeds”
It’s spring, and a young man’s fancy turns to … seeds.
“Seeding” is a way of creating a tournament “draw” that is not random. A random draw might pit the best players or teams too early, so that many of the following matches would be less exciting, since the top “seed” would be likely to dominate.
“Seeding” leads...
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Language Corner — March 19, 2012 03:03 PM
Beggars Can Be Choosers
Questioning the questions
Every so often it’s important to revisit an issue, to clarify or modify it, depending on the circumstances. It “begs the question” whether revisiting something is needed. After all, revisiting is important, because it allows revisiting, which is important. And if it’s not important, it “begs the question,” why ask about revisiting at all?
There. All three uses of “beg...
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Language Corner — March 12, 2012 11:59 AM
Jibe Talking
Confusion over jibe, jive, gibe, and gybe
“Alas, poore Yorick,” Shakespeare wrote. “Where be your gibes now?” Or, depending on your edition of Hamlet, perhaps he wrote “Where be your jibes now?”
But he most certainly did not write “Where be your jives now?”
Come with us as we gybe our way through four words that sound so similar that they often get mixed up. And...
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Critical Eye — March 7, 2012 03:29 PM
How Vladimir Putin Came to Power
Masha Gessen takes a hard look at the Russian president
The Man Without A Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin | by Masha Gessen | Riverhead | 304 pages, $27.95
In June 2005 Vladimir Putin hosted a group of American businessmen in St. Petersburg. He was attracted by a 124-diamond Super Bowl ring belonging to New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and asked to try it on. “I could...
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