Even when I think it’s unimportant….Even when I know I shouldn’t judge….I always end up focusing on a person’s choice of words and use of language in general.
Sometimes I read an essay where a person uses an interesting and pitch-perfect word, and then I see it show up again a few paragraphs later and it’s a let down. Or I have two oral conversations with someone and very quickly pick up on a favorite word or construction. Examples. One friend loves to talk about "policy cleavages" in politics, another uses the word "dynamic" as an all-purpose noun to describe almost anything, another uses "amusing" as his choice humor superlative. Nothing wrong with this — I just neurotically focus on it. I have my own go-to phrases and words such as the construction "so as to…".
Bryan Caplan today challenges conventional writing advice which says avoid the over-used phrases "of course" and "obviously." If it’s obvious, the advice goes, why do you need to say it?!
Why is it so hard to surrender these words? The main reasons: When you say "obviously," or "of course"…
1. …listeners know not to waste time looking for a complicated rationale behind your statement. What they see is what they get.
2. …listeners can identify your starting points. It may be obvious that X is true, and obvious that X–>Y, but if you just start with Y, people will be confused.
3. …listeners find out what you take for granted. If it’s different from what they take for granted, that’s news.
This is something I’ve thought about and notice very consciously when reading. In general, I dislike the phrases. I believe reason #3 above can be used condescendingly. People couch what is not an obvious point with the phrase "obviously" to indicate higher intelligence. Or people drop "of course" left and right because of their own intellectual insecurity — they don’t know what’s obvious or not, so they insist that all is obvious to them. Of course, hard and fast rules about writing should never be followed, and obviously there’s a time and place for everything.
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I feel less passionately than some about the semi-colon. I only know one proper way to use it (there are other ways). E.g.: "I wasn’t sure if I was going to like the book; however, I read it anyway because Joe recommended it." Semi-colon followed by "however" or some other transitional phrase. Otherwise, I never use semi-colons. Here’s Michael Kinsley from a long piece on semi-colons:
“The most common abuse of the semicolon, at least in journalism,” explains Kinsley, “is to imply a relationship between two statements without having to make clear what that relationship is. I suppose there are worse crimes in the world. (I don’t know if Osama bin Laden uses semicolons or not.) But Fred did have it right.”
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All this talk about phrases and semicolons distracts from a more pressing point: the world would be a much better place if a majority of people correctly used "it’s" and "its."
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I’m far from a perfect writer or grammar-follower. Part of why I blog about this stuff is being public about it forces me to a high standard, and also invites readers to point out corrections in my prose.
I can’t stand it when people use apostrophes with plurals.
It’s “1,000s”, not “1,000’s” dammit!
Hah! My pet peeve is when people say 1000s when they mean “thousands” rather than “one thousands”.
I also focus on others’ go-to words, and for some reason find them endearing and cute most of the time. For example, I have a friend for whose first languages are French and Hebrew, and he uses the word “whatsoever” instead of “whatever”. Always makes me smile. I guess it’s the familiarity I am developing with these people that also satisfies me.
One annoying thing I’ve noticed a lot in the Bay Area, and am (irritatingly) picking up myself: the leading “so”. It’s the California equivalent of the British use of “right” to start a sentence.
“People couch what is not an obvious point with the phrase “obviously” to indicate higher intelligence.”
Well put. I’ve come acorss that tribe often and am instantly tempted to ask “could you please elaborate?”
That’s when they begin to look like a tattered orifice. And then the schmucks earn their rite of passage!
At Crepes they had a “Thank’s” sign. Why is life so hard?!
i dont get it?
It’s also annoying to see people misuse “than” and “then”.
Sometimes people use these as a sort of verbal tic when they are, perhaps, lying.
Not that politicians lie, but I did write this about McCain back in January:
< href="http://www.sco.tt/scott_yates/2008/01/of-course-mccai.html" rel="nofollow">Of Course McCain is Lying
Kind of like “needless to say…”
If it’s needless to say, why are you saying it?
How about “your” instead of “you’re”? Burns my buttocks!
Sometimes “of course” and “obviously” are used to indicate that the author is aware of certain standard objections to what he/she has just said. There are better ways to do this, but I think this is a more innocuous variant than the attempt to persuade by applying it to a positive claim. For example:
“Obama could be a great leader. Of course [or Obviously], his issue positions and voting record are disturbingly liberal. But after eight years of Dubya, real leadership is probably more important than any particular policy prescription.”
I heart semi-colons. But they are used incorrectly all the time.
Here’s one: insure vs ensure. I think people find “insure” a more familiar word because of, well, “insurance.” The two have become almost interchangeable in the US because of the over-use of “insure”; consequently, I make a point of using “ensure” whenever possible.
And yes! The semi-colon does go outside the quotation marks.