Archive for November, 2007
A headline in my local rag, the Los Angeles Times, said in reviewing a reprise of a 25-year-old movie that it was the director’s "biggest, and only, hit."
Ahem. To be biggest, something has to be in competition with at least two somethings else. If it’s competing just with one other movie, for instance, it can be a bigger hit, but to be the biggest, it needs at least two competitors.
So, if this director had only one hit movie, then that movie could not be either bigger or biggest, but just "his only big hit."
Okay, no one cares, but I thought I’d bring it up anyway as an example of abusing the English language without anyone’s noticing it except probably me.
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Body language and other nonverbal cues often (usually) communicate more than one’s spoken words. Unfortunately, it’s not so easy to strategize one’s bodily movements; they’re almost involuntary at times, and that’s why they’re so revelatory.
Anyway, watch body language guru Tonya Reiman give you some tips:
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I was having a hard time replying to the old "Ask Grammar Questions" postings because of some built-in limitations on my blogging software, so I’ve set up a forum instead.
If you have a question, please just go to the Grammar Questions Forum and type it in. I’ll check frequently and join in the answer brigade. Others can feel free to answer as well. However, please do so seriously and only if you have something valuable to add to the discussion. It’s not a chat or joke room.
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I got a good laugh on Monday when [tag]Billy Martin[/tag], the lawyer for now-jailed Atlanta Falcons quarterback [tag]Michael Vick[/tag], issued a statement saying that his client had “self-surrendered” to begin his undetermined-in-length prison term.
Martin’s statement went on to further praise Vick for his “self-surrender.”
Now, to surrender is something you do voluntarily anyway rather than (usually) facing some more horrendous consequences, such as being shot dead on the spot. Therefore, it is always an act of the “self.”
Taking Martin’s usage to my more unfamous and mundane self, since I pen this blog voluntarily without compensation and with no gun at my head, I must “self-write” it, and it is therefore “self-written.”
Did you just “self-read” that?
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Recently, I blogged about the difference between me and myself, the latter being unable to stand alone as a pronoun.
However, Yankee scion Steinbrenner Lite (prodigal son Hank) managed to screw it up in this quotation about negotiations with Alex Rodriguez:
"He [A-Rod] wanted to make sure myself [sic] and my brother knew that he was sincere and serious."
I guess Hank didn’t read my post this week about the uses of me and myself.
Of course, if you’re next in line to inherit the New York Yankees, it doesn’t realy matter how grammatical you are.
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