Our ever-growing sloppiness in oral language--the result of diminished reading of sophisticated texts?--has spread into mainstream media and public radio. Here are some recent examples of usages that are not quite right... or worse:
- “downfall” for “downside"
- "turn the other cheek" for "look the other way"
- "open a whole Pandora’s box" for "revealed something important"
- "insurmountably" for "unequivocally" or "egregiously"
- "that said" for "given that"
- "long tail" for "long term"
- "prima facie" for "ipso facto"
- "gratuitous" for "fortuitous"
I imagine this is highly contagious and that we'll be seeing more and more of it.
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If you don't know that *insurmountable* usually precedes "obstacle"...
And that whole long tail/long term thing.
Long tail has a very specific statistical and economic meaning.
It's all about the bell curve?
And I never ever could spell "GRATUITUOUS" because I never saw gratuity outside of hotels and the prices that you add.
Sometimes it is mentioned as a prelude to "violence" or "sex" in Catholic discussions of popular culture.
Also the Comic Books Code. [which I only found out about in this READER'S DIGEST book about developing efficient and effective reading habits - speed reading].
"Can of worms" is better than "Pandora's box".
[because people don't know Greek myths that well.
Pandora, of course, means ALL GODS - or gift from the gods more specifically].
[Because dora = gift].
Turning the other cheek is what you choose to do; look the other way can often be involuntary.
And I use "having said" where "given that" or "for a given value" or "that said" would do.
And isn't "that said" "idem"?
#DiminishedReadingOfSophisticatedText
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