Tenseness Sought in Firm Times

Posted on March 8, 2020 by JMN
President Trump with Alex Azar, secretary of health and human services, on Monday. Credit…Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times.

But the president can still be reasonably held responsible for the urgency with which [etc.]… the speed at which [etc.]… the pressure brought to bear [etc.]… and the use of presidential rhetoric [etc.]….

Is it still necessary to point out that an infinitive phrase split by an adverb is not the best way?

Better to have written: “But the president can still reasonably be held responsible…

In tense times readers want a journalist firmly in control of his syntax.

(Quotation from Ross Douthat, “The Coronavirus Is Coming for Trump’s Presidency,” NYTimes, 3-7-20)

(c) 2020 JMN

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Pouncing on “Pounded”

Posted on March 8, 2020 by JMN
Erik Prince, the former head of Blackwater Worldwide and the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, has at times served as an informal adviser to Trump administration officials. Credit…Jeenah Moon/Reuters.

Many conservatives have gleefully pounded on Project Veritas’s disclosures, including one particularly influential voice: Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son.

The gist of this article is that Project Veritas works for conservatives against liberals. I surmise that the writers may have intended “pounced” instead of “pounded.” Gleefully pounding on an organization that benefits you seems odd. Gleefully pouncing on its disclosures would convey embracing them with enthusiasm, which the context invites.

… According to internal Project Veritas emails, where the language of the group’s leaders is marbled with spy jargon.

“Marbled” — like a Wagyu ribeye, with veins of fat! I might have written “peppered,” but “marbled” holds its own and is less predictable. I savor this appealingly novel turn of phrase.

(Quotations from Mark Mazzetti and Adam Goldman, “Erik Prince Recruits Ex-Spies to Help Infiltrate Liberal Groups,” NYTimes, 3-7-20)

(c) 2020 JMN

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Texas Exceeded Only By Itself

Posted on March 8, 2020 by JMN

Since the US brought back capital punishment in the 1970s, the county has sent 129 men and women to the death chamber, more than any entire state except the rest of Texas.

(“Why a Texas county had a radical rethink on crime,” http://www.bbc.co.uk)

It appears that Harris County has donated more persons to the Huntsville death chamber 70 miles north of Houston than any of the 49 other states — except for the rest of Texas itself. Whatever the sum pointed to by the curiously inverted citation, calculating it is a dismal exercise.

On the plus side, the article’s theme is how liberal forces in Houston have recently overcome, for the moment, red-state headwinds in order to improve the local justice system.

(c) 2020 JMN

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Such Ado About Something

Posted on March 6, 2020 by JMN

Two bits in this opinion piece by Shmuel Rosner have an off ring, one solecistic, the other non-colloquial.

But most Israeli voters would support such move. Most of them voted for parties that support such move.

“Such” here is an adjective expressing similarity. To modify a singular noun it wants “a/an”: “such a move.” Otherwise, the noun must be plural: “such moves.”

The citation is interesting in that the structure is repeated, which means it’s likely to be intentional (an influence from Hebrew, perhaps? — the author is Israeli), and not an editorial slip. I can’t speak for Hebrew, but both Spanish and French would admit the equivalent of “such move.”

We learned that to win against a political opponent one has to have a message more profound than “everyone but him.”

“Everyone but him” is not incorrect grammatically; however, most speakers would say, “Anyone but him.” They seem to mean the same thing, though usage favors the latter.

Nevertheless, I’m given pause. So in a thought experiment I stand before a classroom and pose a question to my students. Confronted with silence, which of these do I say encouragingly with interrogative intonation to solicit an answer: “Everyone?” “Anyone?” The first invites all, the second one. I’ll go with “anyone” and take it as evidence that they’re not interchangeable.

“The medium is the message.” I don’t know what McLuhan’s ricocheting aphorism meant to him, but it emboldens me to posit grammar as the “medium” of language, and to assert that much message is encoded there for any who care to look. What you convey is embedded somewhat in how you say it. If your message matters to you, say it well.

(Quotations are from Shmuel Rosner, “The Indefatigable, Unbeatable Benjamin Netanyahu,” NYTimes, 3-3-20)

(c) 2020 JMN

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Grammatic Breakdown

Posted on March 6, 2020 by JMN

It’s been a big week for what I refer to as “Hermit Tech.” Stock in technology companies that facilitate working from home have soared in a spiraling market otherwise anxious by an impending coronavirus pandemic. [This is where I stopped reading.]

(Charlie Warzel, “When Coronavirus Quarantine Is Class Warfare,” NYTimes, 3-5-20)

(c) 2020 JMN

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The Art of the Dig

Posted on March 6, 2020 by JMN

The first time age was a big issue in a presidential election was back in 1840. William Henry Harrison, the Whig candidate, was 67 and his opponents referred to him as “a living mass of ruined matter.”

(Gail Collins, “The Presidency Is an Old Boys’ Club,” NYTimes, 3-4-20)

“A living mass of ruined matter” is both quaint with restraint and boldly specific in a way that gives it color and power from its far remove, especially compared to today’s squalid trash talk.

I’ve reflected on the presumptive release furnished by curses and insults, and whether they are a legitimate outlet for horror, or else a vile indulgence best risen above by persons of character and taste. Can’t decide.

Is it a crown virus weighting my synapses? I’ve been possessed of the notion that we’re each a walking microbiome, and that the embodied spew and stew of some individuals may be degenerate and feculent beyond the average, “unpresidented” if you will. The awful phrase “sewage in a suit” hatches in my head.

What’s seductive about “sewage in a suit,” besides its stark unwontedness, is the sibilant “ooh”-nicity of alliteration that grabs even the vowel by its purpose.

But finally it is cruel — the “sewage in a suit” trope. Imputing to another God’s creature a preternatural fetor is, at bottom, lower than one wants to stoop, no matter the depravity that aches for it.

(c) 2020 JMN

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Queen’s English Profaned?

Posted on March 1, 2020 by JMN

“Voters of color will decide if Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden prevail.”

(Headline to an article by Steve Phillips at theguardian.com, 3-1-20)

There’s only the slightest chance that it should not be “prevails” instead of “prevail,” since the conjunction is “or,” not “and.” The headline writer has been lulled, no doubt through haste, into thinking that the two proper names in close sequence preceding the verb amount to a plural subject. The little words get no respect, to echo Rodney Dangerfield.

The slight chance I mention is in the event that the structure were subjunctive, not indicative. Subjunctive, implying conjecture and contrariness to fact (“If I were you,” etc.), is little marked in English, and most often crops up in high-flown or archaic, biblical-sounding rhetoric. I’ll conjure this example, sticking with the verb “prevail”:

“Yea, though Sanders prevail, yet if he be unbending he shall not prosper.”

Or something like that. Where I locate an analog of this syntax is in the verse from Job that says “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”

I apologize for the weaseling question mark in this post’s title. That profanation is much too common in today’s clickbait journalism. And that’s the name of that tune, to quote Tony Baretta.

(c) 2020 JMN

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Fake Is Free

Posted on March 1, 2020 by JMN
Dr Jonathan Quick: ‘It’s critical not to try to mislead the population.’ Photograph: Steven May/Alamy.

As my students often remind me, news tends to be behind paywalls, while fake news is free.

(Laura Spinney, “Epidemics expert Jonathan Quick: ‘The worst-case scenario for coronavirus is likely,’” theguardian.com, 3-1-20)

(c) 2020 JMN

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I’m Curious About Something

Posted on February 29, 2020 by JMN

The president makes decisions that affect our lives, our physical safety and that of the planet, and the durability of our democracy. It follows that we should know all that we can about that person’s intelligence, temperament, knowledge, curiosity, stability, judgment, curiosity and diplomatic skill.

(Elizabeth Drew, “Why a Shortened Primary Season May Prove Disastrous,” NYTimes, 2-27-20)

Let’s see… Now what was it?

(c) 2020 JMN

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Not a Paean to Peons

Posted on February 27, 2020 by JMN

For many traditional liberals, respect for difference is understood as a sacred duty. Consider, for example, Joe Biden’s warm words for his Republican colleagues, or the left’s many peons to the virtues of empathy.

(Tim Wu, “Quantifying Liberal ‘Suckerdom,’” NYTimes, 2-26-20)

(c) 2020 JMN

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