Cato's Grammar Grumble

[jochanaan]

...Some websites are a trollery: does that count as a drollery?  0:)

No.  I have yet to encounter a droll troll.

[Karl Henning]

This is the last line of the article; so not only is it rather unfortunate in its poor (and unclear) expression, but it casts rather a pall on the entire article one has just read . . .

While her use of a personal e-mail account and server did not break the rules at the time, no other secretary of State has exclusively done so.

[Karl Henning]

If this be nitpicking, let us pick more such nits:

At the risk of nitpicking, however, I would argue that a "statistical tie" is not the equivalent of a "dead heat," the Times's headline notwithstanding.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/Politics-Voices/2015/0811/Bernie-Sanders-and-Hillary-Clinton-It-s-not-a-dead-heat-in-New-Hampshire

[Cato]

If this be nitpicking, let us pick more such nits:

"I think you know what I'm trying to say" : the guiding philosophy of today's journalism...and a good number of people in general! 

[Karl Henning]

"I think you know what I'm trying to say" : the guiding philosophy of today's journalism...and a good number of people in general! 

Makes me think of one of Twain's righteous outrages in "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses":

In addition to these large rules, there are some little ones. These require that the author shall:

12. Say what he is proposing to say, not merely come near it.

[jochanaan]

From C.S. Lewis: "Child, to say exactly what you mean, neither more nor less nor other: that's the art and joy of words." (Till We Have Faces)

I too tend to think that it's sheer laziness not to make your meaning clear, especially in newswriting.  But the old objectives of "who, what, where, when, why" seem to have been swallowed up in the need to spin everything, and in general sloppiness.

[North Star]

Not a grammar grumble, but a study of regional patterns of swearing preferences in the United States: Mapping the United Swears of America

[Karl Henning]

Dadgummit!

[jochanaan]

Dadgummit!

Here in downtown Denver that wouldn't even qualify as swearing.  You have to mention bodily discharges or fornication to draw any attention.

[Karl Henning]

I'd never meet the bar out West!

[jochanaan]

I'd never meet the bar out West!

Oh, you'd do fine outside the big cities.  I have to be very careful of my language when I visit my folks in rural Nebraska!

[Karl Henning]

In this second volume, The President's Own US Marine Band, records another way of fantastic and rare marches, all from the pen of "The March King" himself.

Way or wave, whatever.

[Karl Henning]

Voters of America: Get ahold of yourselves, please.

"ahold"? Really?

[Ken B]

"ahold"? Really?

Umm, Karl, that means get a grip on yourself. Which is what is meant. If you were trying to reserve yourself at the library, stop payment on yourself, put yourself in a half-Nelson, then you would be putting a hold on yourself.

[The Six]

Origin of AHOLD

probably from the phrase a hold
First Known Use: 1854

Those wacky 1800ers!

[Ken B]

Those wacky 1800ers!

Interesting. I found this site, which says 1610. I will google a bit to see if I can get ahold of an early citation.
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/a-hold-or-ahold?page=1

Update. Aseek and ye shall afind! Before 1600
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/ahold

[Karl Henning]

Umm, Karl, that means get a grip on yourself. Which is what is meant.

Sure.  I've heard the expression uncountable times, and I suppose I have visualized the spelling as "get a hold of yourself."  Was I wrong, then?

[Ken B]

Sure.  I've heard the expression uncountable times, and I suppose I have visualized the spelling as "get a hold of yourself."  Was I wrong, then?

No, I expect they are both in use. And logic is a dubious guide to such things. Flammable/inflammable anyone? But I don't think you register an official grumble here.

[Karl Henning]

No, I expect they are both in use.

Aye, and here I've learnt an interesting archaism.

[Cato]

Greetings Grammar Grumblers!

School has started, and of course our computer system did not work for over a week.  Plus, other projects, errands, duties, surprises, annoyances, and etc. etc. etc. have prevented from visiting for a few weeks.

Anyway...

Yesterday on the TV news during a report about an attack on a small college's campus:

"Students are telling a story that is terrifying, and even...scary!"   

Well, I suppose that made sense to ace and very blonde reporter Barbie Bubblebrain, but my wife and I both burped "What?!" when we heard it.

During a trip along Ohio's back roads to Lake Erie, we went past a farm that had a sign by the road.  The sign said the same thing on both sides:

"Genes for sale."

I told Mrs. Cato we should stop and buy some DNA sequences!   0:)