> And then "a function of" (misused in 99.6% of all cases).
>And then--ooh, OUCH, I HATE this, don't get me started--the "in/on a
>[insert adj./adv] manner/way/basis" as an adverbial
>kind of construction ("in an angry manner" or "on a daily basis")
>instead of saving keystrokes ("angrily" or "daily"). And then, using
>"utilize" instead of "use"--WHY? HUH?!?
Lord, Steve. It's just stuff people say. I, myself (ol' laid back Fred)
never could understand why people got so cranked about compose and comprise
or like and as or the utilize thing. One generation's specificity and
precision is another generation's bag of gas. You know how many hits
Dickens took for "Our Mutual Friend" from 100 years of school marms? And
how little the "misue" of "mutual" meant to what Dickens was saying (or
trying to say)?
I think it's fun to do the William Safire or John Simon bit, but it's
nothing to get cardiac charged over. As the kids say, and not entirely
without justification, "you know what I mean, man." And we do.
Fred Kemp
f.kemp@ttu.edu