{"id":2073,"date":"2015-12-01T18:43:59","date_gmt":"2015-12-02T00:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=2073"},"modified":"2020-11-25T11:14:40","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T17:14:40","slug":"give-the-gift-of-pedantry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/definitions\/give-the-gift-of-pedantry\/","title":{"rendered":"Give the Gift of Pedantry"},"content":{"rendered":"

If there is a logophile<\/em>\u2014word lover\u2014on your holiday gift list, you can\u2019t go wrong with What in the Word?<\/em> by Charles Harrington Elster. Elster is a formidable scholar, but he has written a book that is fun to read, yet packed with information.<\/p>\n

Scattered throughout the book\u2019s seven chapters are astute quotations, \u201cfascinating facts,\u201d and \u201cbodacious brainteaser\u201d quizzes on grammar trivia. Numerous sidebars hold forth on topics that range from frivolous to esoteric. We learn, for instance, that \u201cthere are more synonyms for drunk<\/em> than for any other word in the language\u201d\u2014over 2,660 of them (including quilted<\/em>, upholstered<\/em>, and iced to the eyebrows<\/em>). And did you know that Noah Webster, who wrote the first American dictionary, was an insufferable prig; and Socrates was an \u201carrogant runt\u201d whose wife despised him?<\/p>\n

Each chapter has a brief introductory essay, followed by a series of questions and answers. The questions are from the author\u2019s readers and fans. This format could quickly become tedious, but the discussions are on topics every armchair linguist has wondered about, and the answers are crisp, informed, and entertaining.<\/p>\n

Chapter One deals with \u201cword histories, mysteries, hoaxes, and hype.\u201d A couple of examples: all decked out<\/em> does not come from sailing. It comes from dekken<\/em>, a Dutch word meaning \u201cto cover.\u201d Xmas<\/em> (as a stand-in for Christmas<\/em>), thought by some to be a modern monstrosity, has been around since the sixteenth century.<\/p>\n

Chapter Two covers bad usage that is gaining acceptance. The author\u2019s contempt for comprised of<\/em> (always incorrect) and \u2019til<\/em> (use till<\/em> instead) will warm every nitpicker\u2019s heart. In the chapter\u2019s intro, Elster discusses good and bad change: \u201cChange that springs from creativity, that is advanced by need, and that is reinforced by utility is unobjectionable. But change that results from ignorance, pomposity, eccentricity, a mania for fashion, or a desire for novelty is suspect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chapter Three offers a trove of esoteric words: The philtrum<\/em> is the groove that runs from the nose to the upper lip. A logophile<\/em> loves words, but a logolept<\/em> is obsessed with them. A librocubiculist<\/em> is one who likes to read in bed (the author made that word up\u2014he does that).<\/p>\n

Chapter Four deals with \u201cdistinctions, clarifications, niceties, and other little things\u201d that may help writers refine their style. Use a<\/em>, not an<\/em>, before historic<\/em>, heroic<\/em>, and other words that begin with an audible h<\/em>. Avoid in regards to<\/em> (make it in regard to<\/em>) and shun irregardless<\/em> (just say regardless<\/em>). Anyone who disagrees is a grobian<\/em> (\u201ca rude, clownish, blundering oaf\u201d).<\/p>\n

Chapter Five, on the spoken word, mainly addresses pronunciation. When we say homage<\/em> and flaccid<\/em>, we should pronounce them HAHM-ij and FLAK-sid, not oh-MAHZH and FLASS-id. We should also enunciate clearly and not say \u201cclaps\u201d instead of collapse<\/em>, \u201cyerp\u201d for Europe<\/em>, or \u201cjeet\u201d when we ask, \u201cDid you eat?\u201d<\/p>\n

Chapter Six covers Americanisms. Jim Crow<\/em> was originally a nineteenth century song-and-dance number. Thomas Jefferson made up the word belittle<\/em>. And who knew that glitch<\/em> is a Yiddish word? In this chapter the author claims\u2014apparently in all seriousness\u2014that the word ginormous<\/em> was invented by his daughters. (If so, Dad should be proud that ginormous<\/em> is listed in the 2014 edition of Webster\u2019s New World College Dictionary<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

The seventh and final chapter is a catch-all for information that \u201cjust didn\u2019t fit anywhere else.\u201d Here are some highlights:<\/p>\n

\u2022 The second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary<\/em> contains around 616,500 words. (Approximate number of words in the German language: 185,000.)<\/p>\n

\u2022 The average educated adult\u2019s vocabulary: twenty-five thousand to forty thousand words.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The word nth<\/em> is one of English\u2019s very few legitimate vowel-less words (two others: hmm<\/em> and psst<\/em>).<\/p>\n

\u2022 The word set<\/em> has more meanings (almost two hundred) than any other word in English.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are a few quiz questions from What in the Word?<\/em> by Charles Harrington Elster. Answers are at the bottom of the newsletter.<\/p>\n

1. We write P.S.<\/em> to add something at the end of a letter or an email. What does P.S.<\/em> stand for?<\/p>\n

2. Which is the correct spelling:
\nA) forceable
\nB) force-able
\nC) forcible
\nD) forcable<\/p>\n

3. Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Frost, Allen Ginsberg: Which poet wrote which famous first line?
\nA) \u201cSomething there is that doesn\u2019t love a wall\u201d
\nB) \u201cI saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness\u201d
\nC) \u201cIt was many and many a year ago\u201d<\/p>\n

4. What well-known proverbs are hiding in these pompous paraphrases:
\nA) Hubris antedates a gravity-impelled descent.
\nB) Abstention from speculatory undertaking precludes achievement.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answers<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. In Latin, postscriptum<\/em>; in English, postscript<\/em>.<\/p>\n

2. C) forcible<\/p>\n

3.
\nA) Frost, \u201cMending Wall\u201d
\nB) Ginsberg, \u201cHowl\u201d
\nC) Poe, \u201cAnnabel Lee\u201d<\/p>\n

4.
\nA) Pride comes before a fall.
\nB) Nothing ventured, nothing gained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If there is a logophile\u2014word lover\u2014on your holiday gift list, you can\u2019t go wrong with What in the Word? by Charles Harrington Elster. Elster is a formidable scholar, but he has written a book that is fun to read, yet packed with information. Scattered throughout the book\u2019s seven chapters are astute quotations, \u201cfascinating facts,\u201d and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12,49,37,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-definitions","category-effective-writing","category-pronunciation","category-spelling","category-vocabulary"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2073"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2073\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}