The archaeopteryx flaps back into your life

Communication World, May-June, 2005 by Alden Wood

Glabella means "the smooth area between the eyebrows just above the nose." Use discretion, though; it would be chancy at best to greet a young woman with "Girl, I dig your glabella."

"A dinosaur bird that lived 147 million years ago had a brain similar to a modern eagle or parrot and was equipped to fly, scientists said yesterday."

That was the lead in a Reuters story that appeared last August. Paronomasia being one of my weaknesses, I prefer "dinosoar," but the real flaw lies in the absence of possession. My rewrite goes so: "... had a brain similar to a modern eagle's or parrot's [brain].... " The creature's imposing name (archaeopteryx) notwithstanding, however, fossils suggest it was about the size of a blue jay.

The closing paragraph of a recent Boston Globe editorial declared, "Now it's time for [Harvard University President Lawrence[ Summers to step off of his tongue and modernize the debate."

Globe editorial page editor Renee Loth might holler, "Get me rewrite!" Whoever first cracks open the Associated Press Stylebook will discover the entry for off of: "The of is unnecessary: He fell off the bed. Not: He fell off of the bed." And whoever first said "You can always tell a Harvard man, but you can't tell him much" should give Summers Loth's phone number.

William Safire's "On Language" column in The New York Times, 19 December 2004, brought up an unusual definition for a common expression. In an earlier article, Satire had used the expression "strait and narrow," thus setting off a debate among copy editors and other linguists. Shouldn't it have been straight? Strait does indeed mean "narrow," of course, and the modern spelling, Satire confirmed, is straight. But, he explained, "when used in the phrase with 'narrow,' the phrase's meaning is 'a morally upright, ethically unwavering and law-abiding way of life, sometimes derogated as merely "conventional."'"

The joy of lex(icons)

While poking through American Heritage IV, I saw a photo of a smiling young woman captioned "glabella." It was not her name--no cap--so I looked left and learned another exceptionally cool word. It means--and you've got one, in all likelihood "the smooth area between the eyebrows just above the nose." The plural is glabellae; the adjective, glabellar.

Use discretion, though; it would be chancy at best to greet a young woman with "Girl, I dig your glabella."

A local newscaster recently declared, "The cardinal said today the resignation of the pope 'has to be free and willful'...." Surely the man with the red hat either misspoke or, more likely, was misquoted. Find willful (or wilful) in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition, and you'll read:

"1: obstinately and often perversely self-willed 2: done deliberately, intentional "

The news dude no doubt was seeking voluntary or perhaps willing.

A Wall Street Journal feature on 17 November 2004 told readers that "the muscular 54-year-old shimmied up a training pole in less than 10 seconds." Tricky territory here. Shimmy, born in 1837, means a chemise, or (short for shimmy-shake) a jazz dance characterized by a shaking of the body from the shoulders down; it can also identify an abnormal vibration, especially in the front end of an automobile. It is essential for the writer to avoid confusion with shinny, which the WSJ writer did. To shinny, says MWC11, is "to move oneself up or down something vertical (as a pole) esp. by alternately hugging it with the arms or hands and the legs."

On 18 February, a WSJ headline writer jotted down "Making Sure the Kids Are Alright," thereby contravening the admonition on page 9 of The Wall Street Journal Guide to Business Style and Usage, by Paul Martin: "all right (adv.) Don't use alright. Hyphenate only if used colloquially as an adjective: He is an all-right guy."

A local columnist gushed about how someone had posted "a fulsome testimonial from [celebrity] on his web site." Beware fulsome, excoriated in both the WSJ and AP stylebooks as meaning "revolting, disgusting and excessive. Do not use it to mean lavish, profuse."

Go, and do thou likewise.

Alden Wood, professor emeritus at Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, writes and lectures on language usage. He is a retired insurance industry vice president of advertising and public relations. His e-mail address is WoodonWords@aol.com.