During a recent gubernatorial campaign, a reporter asked a local to comment on one of the candidates. The reply: \u201cI can\u2019t say too much good about him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Someone reading that might conclude the statement was negative, but anyone listening knew it was just the opposite. From the way he said it, the man clearly meant, \u201cThis guy\u2019s so terrific that I just can\u2019t say enough good things about him.\u201d<\/p>\n
When you write, you don\u2019t have vocal inflections, facial expressions, or hand gestures to help make your point. Besides words, all you have is punctuation, which reinforces your case if you\u2019re proficient or can sabotage it if you\u2019re not.<\/p>\n
So writers, perhaps more than speakers, have to be sure they say what they mean, because unlike most speech, writing stays around awhile. Those who write must be ever vigilant to avoid unintentional ambiguity, which in its milder forms merely makes people laugh. But accidental double meanings can turn a compliment into an outrage, a triumph into a debacle\u2014and on a really bad day, a mundane memo into a tragic misunderstanding.<\/p>\n
Despite its potential for disaster, ambiguity can be entertaining and fascinating, especially if we\u2019re not personally involved. Consider this headline from a newsletter I received in the mail: \u201cBay Cities Refuse to Again Recycle Christmas Trees.\u201d Those who don\u2019t know about the agency called Bay Cities Refuse would think there\u2019s no Christmas-tree recycling in Bay Area cities. That\u2019s the exact opposite of what Bay Cities Refuse intended.<\/p>\n
Someone asks you if it\u2019s true that a certain woman left a two-dollar tip after a two-hour lunch. You text back: \u201cShe\u2019s not that kind.\u201d You may want to reword that. You think you\u2019re defending her, saying she\u2019s not the sort of person who\u2019d ever do such a thing. But your correspondent thinks you mean she\u2019s not even that<\/em> generous\u2014she\u2019d probably leave even less.<\/p>\n Here are some ambiguous words to approach with care \u2026<\/p>\n Suspicious<\/strong>\u00a0 Is a suspicious<\/em> character suspicious of me, or am I suspicious of him?<\/p>\n Apparently<\/strong>\u00a0 This is one wishy-washy word. It means \u201cdefinitely\u201d\u2014except when it means \u201cmaybe.\u201d You\u2019re apparently disappointed<\/em> might mean \u201cI have no doubt you\u2019re disappointed.\u201d But it could just as easily express uncertainty: \u201cI think you\u2019re disappointed\u2014am I wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n All<\/strong>\u00a0 It can mean \u201ceverything\u201d or it can mean \u201cthe only thing.\u201d I heard a film critic say that a certain actor was \u201call that\u2019s wrong with this movie.\u201d Did he mean it\u2019s an excellent film, and the only thing wrong is the one performance? Or did he mean that the actor\u2019s bad showing exemplified what a mess the whole project turned out to be?<\/p>\n Miserable<\/strong>\u00a0 Maybe he\u2019s a miserable wretch\u2014a good man down on his luck and in a lot of pain. Or he could be a miserable swine\u2014meaning someone who makes us<\/em> miserable.<\/p>\n Determined<\/strong>\u00a0 You find sentences like this in police logs: \u201cThe man was determined to be DUI.\u201d Sure, it means that the police nabbed another drunk on Saturday night. But the first time I ran across it, I thought it meant that some guy really had his mind set on getting sloshed.<\/p>\n Let me close with a famous quotation attributed to American classical scholar Moses Hadas. Note how it relies on ambiguity for its wicked sting: \u201cThank you for sending me a copy of your book; I\u2019ll waste no time reading it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014Tom Stern<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" During a recent gubernatorial campaign, a reporter asked a local to comment on one of the candidates. The reply: \u201cI can\u2019t say too much good about him.\u201d Someone reading that might conclude the statement was negative, but anyone listening knew it was just the opposite. From the way he said it, the man clearly meant, […]<\/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":[24,10,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adjectives-adverbs","category-definitions","category-effective-writing"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372"}],"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=2372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}