The words we\u2019ll examine today highlight the rift between language purists and less-fussy people who just want to get their point across. You probably can guess which side we are on.<\/p>\n
Podium<\/strong>\u00a0 This word might not mean what you think it means. A podium is not a stand with a slanted top for notes or books\u2014that would be a lectern<\/em>. A podium<\/em> is a raised area that speakers, performers, or orchestra conductors stand on. People do not stand behind<\/em> a podium\u2014more likely they are standing on<\/em> a podium, behind a lectern.<\/p>\n Back in 1989 The Random House College Dictionary<\/em> got it right, defining podium<\/em> as a platform. But a mere ten years later, dictionaries had caved. The 1999 Webster\u2019s New World<\/em> says that podium<\/em> and lectern<\/em> are synonymous. The 2016 online American Heritage dictionary lists \u201cplatform\u201d first, but its second definition of podium<\/em> is \u201ca stand for holding the notes of a public speaker; a lectern.\u201d<\/p>\n The difference between a podium<\/em> and a lectern<\/em> is as clear-cut as the difference between a floor and a table. Shouldn\u2019t a dictionary resist muddling these words\u2019 meanings?<\/p>\n Fortuitous<\/strong>\u00a0 This is a chronically misunderstood word. Purists will not tolerate fortuitous<\/em> as a synonym for \u201clucky\u201d or \u201cfortunate.\u201d It simply means \u201cby chance.\u201d True, you could describe winning the lottery as fortuitous, but getting flattened by a runaway truck is also fortuitous.<\/p>\n So let\u2019s haul out the dictionaries again. This time the \u201989 Random House cops out, listing \u201clucky\u201d as the second definition of fortuitous<\/em>. That is disappointing, considering that just nine years earlier The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language<\/em> allowed only \u201chappening by accident or chance\u201d and warned that \u201cfortuitous<\/em> is often confused with fortunate<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Epitome<\/strong>\u00a0 Those who use it correctly know it means \u201ca perfect example.\u201d Those who misuse it think it means \u201can example of perfection.\u201d The epitome of<\/em> means \u201cthe essence of.\u201d But it does not mean \u201cthe best\u201d or \u201cthe pinnacle.\u201d Denzel Washington is the epitome of cool<\/em> means that the actor exemplifies coolness. Washington may well be one of the coolest men alive, but that is not what the sentence is saying.<\/p>\n We are pleased to report that even though epitome<\/em> has been widely misused for years, we have yet to find a dictionary that lists the incorrect meaning. Maybe it\u2019s because the distinction is so subtle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The words we\u2019ll examine today highlight the rift between language purists and less-fussy people who just want to get their point across. You probably can guess which side we are on. Podium\u00a0 This word might not mean what you think it means. A podium is not a stand with a slanted top for notes or […]<\/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":[10,12,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-definitions","category-effective-writing","category-vocabulary"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2133"}],"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=2133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2133\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}