Archive for May, 2020
Meaning of Cognizant and Meaning of Prophylactic In my continuing quest to make note of words that have jumped to the forefront during this pandemic, I’ve identified two more offenders—cognizant and prophylactic. Don’t get me wrong; the words aren’t at fault, they’re fine words. I blame the people using them. The reporters, doctors, and analysts […]
Is Safe Haven Redundant? A lot has been written regarding “safe haven.” Some of it even by me in my grammar books. What draws the ire is the phrase’s built-in redundancy. But is safe haven redundant, and does it matter? Let’s look further. Is Safe Haven Redundant? The problem with words is that they’re subject […]
Is Currently Redundant? When is currently needed—almost never, and yet I hear it used frequently. Some of the worst misuse can be found on answering machines and voicemails. I’m currently away from my desk. Or even worse, I’m currently away from my desk “right now.” The business world is rife with the misuse. He’s currently working […]
Plethora—It’s Not What You May Think If you listen to people speak, you’re bound to hear the word plethora used sooner or later. And when you do, it will probably be used erroneously. Last year, I decided to do an informal self-conducted poll, and, in a thirty-day span, I heard the word used eleven times. […]
How to Use Incredible Credible and Incredible are closely related words, and each of them used to mean something specific. The meaning of each was easy to decipher because of the root word: crediblis and because of their close association. Credible believable, worthy of belief, capable of being believed Incredible Incredible means (at least for […]
Help Rhonda Roland Shearer Help Others I’ve been wasting my time in a futile attempt to convince the conspiracy theorists, anti-vaccinators, and maniacal trump supporters that this virus is real—and dangerous. Since that isn’t working, I thought I’d focus on something more positive—heroes of the coronavirus pandemic. I saw a story last night which mentioned […]
When to Use Mitigate You might recall I mentioned that during any time of crisis, the not-so-often-heard words come out of the woodwork. We discussed the prevalence of proximity or should I say the misuse of close proximity earlier, but it’s long past time to delve into when to use mitigate and mitigation. Nowadays it […]
Close Proximity During the past month, I have heard this phrase, or seen in writing, many times. It is often used to refer to the social distancing orders or protests of such orders. And I have heard it from TV analysts as well as seen it written hundreds of times in social media (Facebook, Twitter, […]
Many people say your sentences shouldn’t contain a split infinitive. In my early years of school, teachers drummed this rule into students’ heads—usually right after ensuring they wouldn’t end sentences with prepositions. Let’s first look at the issue of spit infinitives, and then we’ll show why it isn’t an issue. I realize I said I […]
Mike Landis
Giacomo Giammatteo
Mona Curington
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