Comments on: A Man is Not a Widow

By: Meg

Meg — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:06:48 +0000

I think that “Deja Vu all over again” is meant to be a joke, because deja vu is the feeling that something has repeated, and then you’re repeating yourself inside the phrase.

I can’t explain the in-post examples, though. Those are just silly.

By: Gary

Gary — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:24:16 +0000

Thanks for pointing this out. I hear widow used incorrectly occasionally, but I always have to stop myself from correcting the speaker.

Could you do a comment on using “orphan?” Recently an adult acquaintance said that she was an orphan now that her father had died. I sympathized with her but since she is in her fifties. I found the use odd. It is correct in that her parents are both gone, but still I think the word is more for children.

Thanks and I really like the blog.

By: Bill Salter

Bill Salter — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:55:21 +0000

“deja vu all over again”

I may be mistaken but I think that refers to a Yogi Berra statement. Berra was renowned for mangling the language but was beloved for his malapropisms– if that’s the correct term.

By: Deborah

Deborah — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:41:42 +0000

First Annual Fill-in-the-Blank (Conference, Seminar, Banquet, etc.)

I say it’s not annual until you’ve done it a second time. And I dislike numbering events anyway. Just a personal thing I suppose. Who care if it is the 39th Annual Berry Picking Party. Just call it the Berry Picking Party and get on with it.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 15:50:18 +0000

The other week, I heard a speaker address a large audience and announce that there were at least two “centurions” in attendance. Turning around and expecting to see two Roman commanders, I realized that the speaker was celebrating the attendance of two “centenarians” who were not and had never been officers in the Roman army. They would have needed to be much much older than one hundred years old!