At this time of year I frequently see lists of words and expressions that “should be banned.” One popular list this year includes “double down”, “fiscal cliff” and “kick the can down the road”. As overused as these expressions are, they don’t really bother me. “Spoiler alert” is a rather useful warning; I hate to have a surprise ruined. And I find myself unapologetically using the word “superfood” from time to time. As for “boneless wings,” I don’t think I’ve ever heard of them, and I had no idea what “YOLO” meant until I googled it just now.
What does annoy me is hearing certain words being misused over and over again by intelligent, educated people. I blame the media. The 24 hour a day cable news stations are responsible for spreading some of the most egregious vocabulary misuses. Major network news programs are also guilty of this trend as is, I’m afraid, NPR. In almost every case the speaker is attempting to sound more erudite by replacing a perfectly serviceable but common word with a fancier but incorrect one, thereby augmenting his credibility. Unsuspecting listeners who don’t know the difference then incorporate these errors into their own speech.
Eventually, with enough misuse, the definition of a word will change to reflect the new usage. Some people are very quick to adopt these updated meanings, and consider a word to be correct when it begins to be used a new way. I am not one of these people. I still cling to the belief that “due to” requires an antecedent and that “however” is a post-positive, so I am hardly likely to embrace change when it comes to vocabulary. Here are a few of my pet peeves, with definitions and usage notes from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language- Fifth Edition.
“Comprise” - to contain or be composed of.
[Usage note from A.H.D.- The traditional rule states that the whole comprises the parts and the parts compose the whole. Even though careful writers often maintain this distinction, “comprise” is increasingly used in place of “compose, especially in the passive. Our survey shows that opposition to this rule is abating.”] (Good grief! If "comprise" goes, what will be next?)
They give as examples the more correct, “The union comprises 50 states," and the increasingly common but less correct, “The union is comprised of 50 states.”
Unfortunately the word “comprise” is almost never used by someone who understands it, but there are delightful exceptions. This morning I was watching The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie on TCM, and heard Miss Jean tell her class that “Franco’s army comprises all the best elements of Spain.” Of course anything sounds good when uttered by the Dowager Countess.
“Decimate” - to destroy or kill a large part of (a group of people or organisms)
[Usage note from A.H.D.- Decimate originally referred to the killing of every tenth person, a punishment used in the Roman army for mutinous legions. Today this meaning is commonly extended to the killing of any large proportion of a population. (examples are given) However (sic), the Panel is less accepting of usages that extend the meaning to include large scale destruction other than killing, as in “The supply of fresh produce was decimated by the nuclear accident at Chernobyl.”]
Here is a good rule for use of the word “decimate.” If you are tempted to modify it with the adverb "totally," then you have missed the essential meaning of the word and should probably go with the verb “devastate” instead. And even then you should totally leave out the superfluous modifier.
“Literally” - in a literal manner, i.e. conforming or limited to the strictest, non-figurative or most obvious meaning of a word or words
[Usage note from A.H.D.- For more than 100 years critics have remarked on the incoherence of using the word "literally" in a way that suggests the exact opposite of its primary sense of “in a manner that accords with the literal sense of the words.” In 1926 for example, H.W. Fowler deplored the example, “The 300,000 unionists will literally be thrown to the wolves.”]
The A.H.D. goes on describe how the word “literally” has been used, incorrectly, to intensify an expression or figure of speech. When correctly used, “literally” makes it clear that an actual fact has been stated, not just a figure of speech. For example the remark, “It’s freezing in here!” usually means, “I’m a little chilly; I think I’ll put on a sweater.” On the other hand, if the power has been off for a week in the middle of January, pipes have burst, and there are icicles hanging from the light fixtures, one might say, “It’s literally freezing in here!”
Misuse of the word "literally" can produce some hilarious images. I remember watching a documentary on National Geographic about the crash of Air France 447 and the subsequent investigation. According to a lawyer involved in the case, “many of our families were literally on tenterhooks” waiting to learn what had happened. I made a mental note never to fly Air France. And then there was the time my Mom was driving my brother, Neil, and his friend to one of their after-school activities. Mom was probably not that interested in the boys' conversation, but when the friend exclaimed, “I literally screwed myself!”- that got her attention. Always a stickler for good grammar, she patiently explained to him why this was not possible.
