‘Inchoate’? It’s not yet completed

If you don’t know the meaning of the word “inchoate,” you join many readers of The New York Times (NYT) who have looked up the word and many others in the NYT’s website built-in American Heritage dictionary. According to a feature published in The Daily Tribune (source not mentioned) “inchoate,” “profligacy,” “sui generis” and “austerity” topped the latest words published by The Times. The list is a yearly undertaking. Read more

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Elections

Dear Fellow Communicators,

As an observer of language, I came across a very instructive case study recently of how a revealing, off-the-cuff press statement of a presidential candidate, Sen. Benigno Aquino III, was fudged in translation and in paraphrase by certain media outlets that reported it. The concern of Jose Carillo’s English Forum being primarily the use and misuse of language, however, I would neither dwell on the political implications of that statement nor make any psychological inferences from it. My critique will simply focus on the blatant unfaithfulness of the translation from Tagalog to English by two media outlets, and on how another media outlet presented as direct quotes a heavily paraphrased and fudged English translation of Sen. Aquino’s actual statement in Tagalog. Read more

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Funny spelling bloopers

[Following are some very funny spelling bloopers caught in US local newspapers, publications and various emails - as reported in Clean Laffs. See if
you can catch the goofs.] Read more

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10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid

These days, we tend to communicate via the keyboard as much as we do verbally. Often, we’re in a hurry, quickly dashing off e-mails with typos, grammatical shortcuts (I’m being kind here), and that breezy, e.e. cummings, no-caps look. It’s expected. It’s no big deal. But other times, we try to invest a little care, avoiding mistakes so that there’s no confusion about what we’re saying and so that we look professional and reasonably bright.In general, we can slip up in a verbal conversation and get away with it. A colleague may be thinking, Did she just say “irregardless”?, but the words flow on, and our worst transgressions are carried away and with luck, forgotten. Read more

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Say it in many, many words

Here are the most common circumlocutions and their single-word equivalents: Read more

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Mixed metaphors, again!

Filipinos make mistakes mixing metaphors.
So do Americans!
Can you spot the errors?

English professors love to catch the errors students make
in their term papers, and they love nothing better than
to catch mixed metaphors. The “friends and survivors” of
Calvin College English department collected this list of
mixed metaphors and posted them on their web site: Read more

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Spot the wrong spelling

Following are some very funny spelling bloopers caught in local newspapers, publications and various emails. See if you can catch the errors. – From Laffaday Read more

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So, what to do? What to do?

Conflicting Proverbs

Actions speak louder than words.
The pen is mightier than the sword. Read more

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What? What?

“Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.” –Wendell Johnson

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Stubborn pinoys speaking engless …

One attends a meeting or seminar or a conference.
One doesn’t attend to a meeting or seminar …
… but a doctor attends to (treats) a patient.

One participates in a seminar or a conference.
One doesn’t participate to a seminar …
… but one goes to a seminar.

Action results in an outcome.
Action doesn’t result to an outcome.
… but action does lead to an outcome.

Let’s not mix up our prepositions.
… and I don’t have to make a proposition (proposal) out of that.

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