10.31.08

Un-Dowdedly

Posted in English origins, Greek sources, Xtreme Etymological Stasis, language change, myths and misconceptions, persnickitors, redundancy, word history, word misuse at 7:45 am by Bill Brohaugh

A moment of appreciation for someone who has navigated tricky linguistic waters—using correctly and with piquant contrast some words easily confused because of sound:

The Republicans’ attempt to make the case that Barack Obama is hoity-toity and they’re hoi polloi has fallen under the sheer weight of the stunning numbers

That’s Maureen Dowd. Hoi polloi from the Greek literally means “the many.” Hoity-toity, a duplicative (think flimflam, dillydally, etc.) means, to put it informally, “all uppity and stuff.” And Dowd gets them both right.

Hoi polloi is often misused to mean the phrase’s very opposite—”the elite”—likely because of comparison or confusion with the similar-sounding hoity-toity. In an odd way, hoity-toity has experienced a similar reversal, though in the opposite direction. Hoity-toity, meaning “putting on airs” in a mocking sense, results from the verb hoit, which means, roughly, “to act the hoyden”—to be rude and boorish. Which is an accusation that the hoity-toity might be prone to assign to the hoi polloi.

(And if you persnickitors are going to grouse that “the hoi polloi” is redundant, bring it on. I’m ready for you.)

08.27.08

Stamina R Us

Posted in Latin sources, Xtreme Etymological Stasis, grammar, language change, myths and misconceptions, persnickitors at 6:59 am by Bill Brohaugh

When arguing with a language persnickitor who insists that the word data is always plural, mental stamina are required.

Hold on, Mr. Brohaugh, I hear some data-R-us prescriptivist saying. You should say, “stamina is required.” The word is singular.

That’s what I thought until I stumbled across a fascinating post in the Languagehat blog archives (which the “Stupid Grammar Rules II: Data Are” post at the Motivated Grammar blog pointed to). Languagehat explains that stamina is technically plural, and then concludes:

Heretofore, when encountering people who insist that data should take a plural verb, I have said “I presume, then, you feel the same about agenda“; I will now add stamina to my arsenal.

My own heretofore has rarely taken such a logical route. I like to confuse such insistent people, with a response more like “So, then, why don’t you insist on a plural verb for minutia, which is the plural of minutium?” I love the moment of quiet, the eyes darting back and forth. It’s a test of mettle—or mental stamins, maybe. The response is going to be a) silence; b) “I do use plural verbs with minutia“; c) “You’re full of shit.”

Answer a) speaks to the confusion caused by such Latin words as datum/data, stadium/stadia, graffito/graffiti, and balonum/baloney (well, maybe not the last pair). Answer b) speaks to the “depth” of their knowledge of Latin words, because . . . Answer c) is correct. Minutia is indeed singular, and minutium exists only in my mind as a contender for being the singular of baloney.