My recent post on cost-effective and cost-efficient garnered a couple of emails from readers who suggested that I might not be aware that effective and efficient have different meanings. Despite the difference between the words effective and efficient when used alone, once the word cost is added to them to produce cost-effective and cost-efficient, the … Read more
The verb electrocute was coined in the late nineteenth century on the model of execute in the sense of “to inflict capital punishment upon.” Unlike execute, which has a legitimate Latin etymology, electrocute is a portmanteau word. H. W. Fowler (A Dictionary of Modern English Usage) held it in disdain: This word does not claim … Read more
From time to time, I receive emails from writers, asking me to critique attached poems or short stories. In the early days, I would send a polite reply, explaining that I hadn’t time to critique their work. Now I simply delete the email and attachments and get back to my own writing. The DWT Contact … Read more
Lately I have begun to notice speakers and writers using the word populace where I would expect to see the word population. For example: With a young and skilled workforce – 65% of Turkey’s 74 million populace is under the age of 34 – producing 500,000 graduates a year, Turkey is now classified as a … Read more
During the Pope’s visit to the United States, social media and television abounded with comments discussing what is and isn’t political. For example, a television anchor expressed surprise that anyone would categorize such things as “caring for the poor, protecting religious minorities and integrating refugees” as political: “I think we are in a weird place … Read more
The Latin expression mea culpa is used as an interjection and as a noun. mea culpa interjection: an exclamation acknowledging one’s guilt or responsibility for an error. For example: MOTHER: The garbage is overflowing! SON: Mea culpa! I’ll take it out right now. As a noun, a mea culpa is the acknowledgement of one’s guilt … Read more
I noticed this use of the verb relish on a cooking site: I was happy to find the recipe again at Sweet Little Bluebird so I could relish in my childhood memories. In current use, the verb relish is transitive. It takes an object. One might relish childhood memories, but one does not relish in … Read more
A random Web search suggests that people writing about families are not all on the same page when it comes to hyphenating terms for family relationships. For example: A step-sister is the daughter of a step-parent to whom one is not biologically related. I drew closer to my stepsister because I thought that we had something in common. This is … Read more
A reader has called my attention to a new use of the word porn: I would like to know, what do you think of the recent use of the word “porn” to mean anything pleasurable to view (i.e. “Earth Porn” or “Word Porn”)? I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on this. A Web search showed … Read more
A reader has posed a question about a mark he noticed in The New Yorker: In a recent copy of The New Yorker the word ‘reëlection’ appeared with an umlaut over the second ‘e’. I had not seen the umlaut used that way before. Is the umlaut making a comeback? Should it also be … Read more
A reader found himself puzzling over the grammatical number of the word semantics: I just had to rewrite a sentence: “The semantics are a problem” vs. “The semantics is a problem.” My dictionary demurs, explaining that the form of semantics is plural though the number is singular or plural, depending on the sense. No matter … Read more
A reader asks about the use of the word naivety: I recently read this in a copy of Nature: “They challenge the naivety of the idea that science, proceeding openly and aloof from its sociopolitical environment, reaches incontrovertible truths by unassailable reason.” I do not recall ever seeing that use before. Pronunciation note naive [nye-EEV] … Read more