Conference thebay::joyoflex

Language on television ought to set an example for people to follow. It
bugs me when I hear things like "good" used in place of "well", or
"orientated" in place of "oriented".

Here's one from a sportscaster during the Washington/Chicago game yesterday.

    "The Redskins continue to march unrelentlessly into Bear territory."

I believe that sportscasters have a permit or license to utter such
phrases.  The license is on a par with James Bond's.

- dave

1985 ROSE PARADE, ANNOUNCER SAID "AND IN THAT VINTAGE CAR RIDES HIS HONER
THE MAYOR OF PASADENA, AND MRS. HIS HORNOR"

SORRY, HONER SHOULD BE HORNOR.

PAUL

re: .-1

(1) "rides" should be "ride"

(2) the comma should be deleted in front of "and"

Pat Sweeney

SORRY PAT

I WROTE IT THE WAY IT WAS SPOKEN

(1) IT WAS RIDES (REFERING TO HIS HORNOR)

(2) THE MRS. HIS HORNOR WAS TACKED ON AS AN AFTERTHOUGHT

(3) THERE WAS A LARGE ENOUGH PAUSE TO REQUIRE THE (,) BEFORE AND

SO PLEASE DON'T BE SO DAMN CRITICAL

PAUL

  The improper usage of well and good drives me crazy!  It is basically due to 
people's laziness in learning their own language.  Well is an adverb.  Good is 
an adjective.  If the idea is modifying an action, use well; if the idea is 
modifying a noun, use good.  A typical example is:  "How are you?" I ask. 
"Good." replies the other person.  "That is a matter of opinion," I state 
emphatically. 

  Looking back at all of this, I must restate the second sentence.  I did not
learn how to use well versus good and who versus whom until I was a senior in
high school.  In learning a second language, my French teacher would mutter
curses at our English teachers, because she said that it is impossible to teach
someone a foreign language when he or she can not speak his or her own.  Then
we would receive an English grammar lesson.

  How often do you read something that is practically illiterate, yet it was
authored by a college graduate?  I received a letter from a friend's sister,
who is a school teacher.  Her spelling was disgusting and her grammar was
horrendous.  Like the bumper sticker says, "If you think education is
expensive, try ignorance."  Unfortunately I believe that we already have tried
it.

re: 5 

Paul, I'm not being critical of you or your transcription.  I was merely
pointing out the additional errors in the utterance that the person on TV made.

re: 6 

George Will has said only a few dozen times that if a foreign power had imposed
the inferior educational performance on our children, we'd regard it as a act
of war. 

I don't have the answer. 

Pat Sweeney 

Re .3 and .5

'HIS HONER' and 'HIS HORNOR' should be 'His Honor'.  It's difficult to
see the fact that it is a title, and hence capitalized, when the whole
paragraph is in all capitals.  It is also more difficult to read (but that
is a matter of opinion, I admit).  

Re .6

When a word is used as a name for itself, it should be enclosed in single
quotation marks.  I'll not be so pedantic as to say that you shouldn't use
double quotation marks if you really like those better, but please use
something.  It is difficult to read text discussing words used as nouns
referring to themselves which are not distinguished from ordinarily used
words.  

		That was a good use of good.
		That was a good use of 'good.'
		Well and good are not interchangeable.
		'Well' and 'good' are not interchangeable.



Dave C.

Human Factors research has shown lower case text, with proper
capitalization and punctuation, to be far easier to read than
all upper case text.  It is, therefore, a matter of proper
analysis, not just opinion.

- chuck

re:.2

You mean they have a license to kill the English language?

--- jerry

	RE: .6 & others

	I imagine most of us are bothered by Americans who cannot,
	or will not, learn their own language.

	I taught a college class for a friend, using Greek and
	Hebrew as examples of how other languages indicate
	nominative, genitive, ablative, dative, and objective
	cases. All went well until one of the students indicated that
	he/she didn't know what case meant.

	I know people hate to hear this, but I simply can't stand to see
	words spelled incorrectly. Just the other day, in the cafeteria
	here in Littleton, I had to take the menu off the wall and
	correct some misspelled words.

re all caps being annoying: 

Also, there's no reason to shout. Many of us try to keep our offices quiet.

Dizzy Dean responded to complaints that he had said a base runner 'slud'
into third base by inquiring, "What did they want me to say? Slidded?"

Rob

Re: Capitals

Capitals seem to me like swear words, in this respect: if you use them
all the time you rob yourself of emphasis when you need it. RIGHT?

Re 35.6:

If something has been "authored", does that mean it was written by an
authority?

re:  14.

  No, it merely means that it was 'created' by someone feigning literacy.