EthicalDative

Despite being sequenced, there are still many questions that remain unanswered about the 1918 strain, such as where it originated *from*.

(Nicole Karlis, “The same flu virus that caused the 1918 pandemic is back this year,” Salon, 1-3-19)

That “from” adds a layer of fat to the origination. Never mind. These “thoughts on language” aren’t meant to be a dreary litany of gotchas.

But, hello, what’s this?

…The greatest burden of any influenza pandemic can be expected to *effect* those least privileged…

(Same article)

There’s an affectionate tut-tut here by the sardonic range rider, but pity the poor scribbler after all. Even Homer nodded. The stories snap, crackle and pop; the need to keyboard them in passable journalese and press “Send” is fiery; deadlines hound; the gig is transient; pay is laughable; and the market for correctitude is slack anyhow. Hats off and hearts out.

(c) 2018 JMN.

“I completely understand — it’s the two greatest players of all time,” Mouratoglou said of the attention. “But I’m really focused on the singles, because my goal is that she [Williams] wins the Australian Open.”

(Ben Rothenberg, “Serena Williams and Roger Federer Face Off for the First Time,” NYTimes, 1-1-19)

I would say “my goal is that she *win* the Australian Open.”

I’m content to publicize this further bit of evidence that the subjunctive mood is on the ropes in English. And why not? What problem does it solve? The speaker quoted, Patrick Mouratoglou, is Serena Williams’s coach. He’s French, and the French equivalent — “qu’elle gagne” — wouldn’t have distinctive present subjunctive marking either. Could that have influenced him to use the indicative in his English statement? To quote James Joyce, “Ask yourself the answer, I’m not giving you a short question.” I surmise that the past subjunctive form would rear its head if he said the French equivalent of “my goal *was* that she win (wins?) the Australian Open.” I forget, however, how to conjugate that particular form in French. Would it be “gagnasse”? I’ve dug myself down a French rabbit hole in pursuit of a fly speck of English trivia.

(c) 2018 JMN.

Time was that you had to be an experimental weirdo to ditch vowels. In “Finnegans Wake,” James Joyce used the word “disemvowelled” in a section that includes this exchange of crystal-clear dialogue:

— Nnn ttt wrd?

— Dmn ttt thg.

Before we are all Joyce — God bless him — I would suggest that we take a deep breath, a mndfl one even, and consider the culling of our five (maybe six) friends. After all, there are words that can hardly do without them: muumuu, audio and oboe, just to queue up a few. One cannot text someone “b” and expect them to know one is referring to an oboe.

(John Williams, “Where Have All the Vowels Gone?” NYTimes, 12-29-18)

[I’m dmnd if I can winkle out what the “Nnn ttt” part of Joyce’s “crystal-clear dialogue” signifies.]

(c) 2018 JMN.

The Airprox board said this, combined with a lack of visual warning, had resulted in “a significant and largely unmitigated safety risk” and recommended that RAF Air Command uses a system to receive notification of commercial drone operations.

(BBC News, “Suffolk farm drone in near-miss with Tornado jet,” 12-24-18)

In the above text I would write (and say) “use” instead of “uses,” substituting subjunctive mood for indicative mood. The verb in question is in a subordinate noun clause depending on a main verb “recommended.” It’s a case of an “influencing” statement. The subjunctive helps convey that the action in the subordinate clause is theoretical and not factual. I wonder if other English speakers feel as strongly as I do that subjunctive must be enforced in this sort of utterance.

(c) 2018 JMN