Category: sightings

EVISCERATE: “disembowel (a person or animal); figurative: deprive (something) of its essential content” — New Oxford American Dictionary

Things just keep getting worse for embattled New Mexico Secretary of State Mary Herrera… The employees—and Democratic county clerks—eviscerate her. (The New Mexico Independent, September 2, 2010)

My friend, a Scottish newspaper chief…refuses to be mesmerised by the masters of the universe and shuns their occasional entreaties to bring his long spoon and sup with them. It leaves him free occasionally to eviscerate them with a clear conscience. (The Guardian, September 12, 2010)

When I see Deseret News executives frothing at the mouth about “innovation” as they eviscerate their own staff, I want to run to the nearest bathroom to throw up. (Salt Lake Tribune, September 16, 2010)

Did I predict this or what? I grant the many figurative uses of eviscerate a pass, overdone as they may be. But see where this carelessness has taken us? What a short and rocky walk it is from eviscerating statutes to eviscerating people.

I suppose eviscerating is such a strong action, no one could mistake its figurative use (on people) for its literal one. And yet, there’s something imprecise about it. Eviscerate means to gut an animal (note the root viscera), which gives rise to its secondary meaning — to gut a document, idea, what have you. If you denigrate, disparage or disrespect a person , are you ripping out their innards? Would it be as valid to say the aforementioned Scotsman exsanguinates, decapitates, or emasculates the objects of his scorn? Each of those butchering terms has a precise meaning, as does eviscerate, and that meaning does not encompass downsizing (as in the Salt Lake Tribune example).

I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll throw this in the imprecise-but-not-wholly-wrong pile along with decimate, annihilate and my personal favorite, liquidate. But if we’re going to be eviscerating New Mexico’s Secretary of State, can we at least check her organ donor card? The budget crisis could benefit from some haruspicy.

— Otto E. Mezzo

References: http://newmexicoindependent.com/62625/sos-is-mary-herreras-ship-sinking
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/sep/12/catholicism-christianity-pope-benedict
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/50253063-82/news-deseret-halstead-journalism.html.csp

REDUNDANT: “exceeding what is necessary or normal: superfluous” — Merriam-Webster Online

CNN.com | June 18, 2010: So now you’re abandoned and redundant, wondering whether it’s OK to go see the latest Pixar without a youngster in hand. Yes, it’s OK; you owe it to yourself.

Are you redundant if your children are grown? No, even if you’re the nanny. Redundant is perched on the precipice of sliding into lexicide, helped along by the British, for whom redundant is official-speak for no longer needed (read: unemployed). But that is not what redundant means. Something that is redundant is serving the same function as something else. Far from being useless, redundancies in safety precautions, risk management and data centers are very necessary. Redundancies in writing, on the other hand…

My search of CNN.com underscores how vital it is we use our words correctly and not scoff, as so many do, at shifts in meaning. Case in point — the only reason the word wasn’t more abused this past month was the prevalence of BP officials touting the redundancies they had in place. They probably thought redundancies were “useless” too, and shut them all down.

— Otto E. Mezzo

References: http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/06/17/toy.story.3.review/index.html?iref=allsearch

Repetitious and Redundant

CARELESS: “1. Taking insufficient care; negligent: a careless housekeeper; careless proofreading; 2. Marked by or resulting from lack of forethought or thoroughness: a careless mistake; 3. Showing a lack of consideration: a careless remark; 4. Unconcerned or indifferent; heedless: careless of the consequences.” — American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

Searching for stock music is agony enough. Getting the right mood, tempo, breaks and length is like lining up stars — an Olympic task if you’re not God. But describing music must be an even more daunting chore. One can’t use keywords such as “businessman,” “beach” and “yoga” like you can to describe stock photography. So writers for stock music libraries must get creative:

A bit wild, careless, spiteful and with a little bit of blues-rock feeling as well.

The supremely refreshing and relaxing sound of the stream is only accompanied by occasional distant birds, singing carelessly and taking absolutely no notice of you.

Careless, feelgood music.

Ooh! Cue vibraslap. Careless is not the same as carefree. Careless means negligent, sloppy — not something you want in music unless it’s your kid’s elementary school orchestra. Do not confuse it with happy-go-lucky or sans souci.

But wait! you say. Look at the fifth and six definitions in AHD4:

“5. Unstudied or effortless: danced with careless grace; 6. Exhibiting a disposition that is free from cares; cheerful: a careless grin; a careless wave of the hand.“

Aha! Lexicide loses again! Well, I give you that definition 6 seems to cross over into carefree territory. But I did a news search and found only correct uses across the board. So if you want to tell your clients you take a careless approach to account management, go ahead and be careless. Just don’t come running to me when you misplace those purchase orders.

— Otto E. Mezzo

Reference withheld to protect my stock music supplier from ridicule.

IN LIEU: “instead” — New Oxford American Dictionary

You can’t get any more succinct than that. I would have never thought in lieu, as “I accepted store credit in lieu of a refund,” would be in question. Then, on May 5, I receive this email:

And in lieu of today’s date, the baby’s name will be Juanita Margarita.

You see, a colleague had just given birth and another colleague thought, it being Cinco de Mayo, the baby should have a Spanish name and — oh, screw it. The point is: WHERE DID HE LEARN THAT IN LIEU OF MEANS IN HONOR OF?

The best explanation I can think of goes back to days in lieu or lieu days — work days that one takes off in lieu of a holiday or in lieu of compensation for overtime. So maybe because in lieu days are in recognition of hard work —no, you know, this is just out of control. Once FYI starts meaning “just in case,” anything goes! Black is white! Right is wrong! The expedient brown fox leveraged an overt trajectory per the dog! Free! I’m free of true meaning! Woo hoo! Ni! Ni!

Otto will be on sabbatical until further notice. Cards and prayers are appreciated. Thanks. — ed.

DISINTERESTED: “free of bias and self-interest; impartial” — The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

For our ultimate Glitterary Week article, I have dragged out disinterested, which some of you expressed an interest in. I thought it was well-known that disinterested means “impartial,” and that uninterested referred to someone who was blasé. Obviously that is not the case. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I present Exhibits A and B:

“The Lakers have either been disinterested or dysfunctional in the final six weeks of the season.” — “NBA Western Conference playoff preview,” The Washington Post, April 17, 2010

“The period ended with the disinterested Devils being booed loudly as they were headed to their third straight opening-round elimination.” — “Flyers beat Devils, 3-0, to take series,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 23, 2010

Lest you chalk those examples up to the Neanderthal language skills of sportswriters, please refer to Exhibit C:

“Both the cinematographer and Nolan are disinterested in digital cinematography and very much prefer to shoot on film. That’s the root of their disinterest in 3D… The appeal of IMAX and the disinterest in 3D both come from that love of shooting on film.” — “Dark Knight Cinematographer Wally Pfister Talks Batman 3 and 3D,” /Film, April 21, 2010

Egad. That’s three misuses of the same word in two paragraphs. What do you expect? It’s a blog.

Now, I would go on and on about how judges are disinterested while teenagers are uninterested, but I won’t, for two reasons: 1) would it matter? 2) even if it mattered, it wouldn’t matter. Misusers would just argue that being unenthusiastic is the same as having no stake (which is not true, anyhow. A defense lawyer might be uninterested in a case, but he is far from disinterested); and 3) the meaning has already begun its shift to legitimacy. AHD4 lists as its second definition “2. a. not interested; indifferent; b. having lost interest” Merriam-Webster Online lists “not interested” as its first definition. ADH4 and NOAD refuse to acknowledge the shift, with 88% of ADH4‘s Usage Panel disdaining it. But Random House and Merriam-Webster claim the “new” definition is not new at all, with M-W citing a letter Jack London wrote in 1914.

As for me, I’ll leave it up to you. After all, I’m disinterested in what you decide.

— Otto E. Mezzo

References: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/16/AR2010041604535.html?hpid=topnews
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/20100423_Flyers_beat_Devils__3-0__to_take_series.html
http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/04/21/dark-knight-cinematographer-wally-pfister-talks-batman-3-and-3d/
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disinterested
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/disinterested (Contains usage note from ADH4)
New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd edition (2005)

DUPLICITOUS: “deceitful: treacherous, duplicitous behavior” — New Oxford American Dictionary

A friend relates this tale:

I once had a …meeting with someone who used the word “duplicitous” about a million times, when she meant “duplicate.” I couldn’t figure out a nice way to say, “So, you hope the invitations aren’t sneaky and underhanded?”

Why be nice? This is the sort of grandiloquent puffery that keeps Lexicide in business. My goodness, there are so many English words that sound like other English words, yet don’t mean the same. Logically, why would you create two words with the same meaning but vary the spelling by a few letters? That doesn’t make sense at all!

No one uses ironic to refer to laundry pressing. Neither do the police refer to auspicious persons (Dogberry excepted). So everyone, please get real — and use the word you know is right, not the overblown one that’s wrong.

— Otto E. Mezzo

Sighting | http://www.gender.org.uk/conf/2002/profs22.htm

The ability of the nurse specialist to think divergently, mapping the process of integration is only acquired through regular supervision, as is learning how to balance a duplicity of roles…

Ideally there should be clear boundaries around duplicitous roles…

From a talk on nursing care for patients confused about their gender identity. The author obviously took confusion seriously, perhaps because one of her roles was scheming against the others.