Just some more miscellaneous complaints about how people abuse the English language. I’ll avoid ones I’ve already written about, and hopefully the items here aren’t the ones you usually see. To vary things a bit, I’ll include some alleged corrections which I disagree with.
“Free reign.” The term “free rein” means lack of restriction, letting someone do what they want. If it’s applied to a government official or agency running wild, “free reign” could make sense, but in general it’s wrong.
“LOL.” Laughing out loud is appropriate when something is funny or ridiculous, but too many people on the Internet stick it onto everything they say. For some, it’s a cheap way to score a point. Some people seem to think it softens what they say. It doesn’t.
“Illegal” as a noun. People do illegal things. There is no such thing, at least in the United States, as a person whose existence is illegal.
“Begging the question.” I’m losing this battle, but I’ll keep fighting it. Begging the question is the fallacy of assuming the point which is to be proven. Example: “The Bible is true because it says so in the Bible.” People often use it to mean something like “leading to the question.” Granted, expressions shift in meaning, but “begging the question” as a term for a fallacy conveys a precise, useful meaning that shouldn’t be watered down.
“Ad hominem.” While we’re on the subject of logical fallacies, here’s another one whose name is often misused. An ad hominem argument attacks the person making a statement rather than its facts or reasoning. We often see it used for insults in general. An ad hominem argument doesn’t have to be insulting; an example of an ad hominem argument could be “X isn’t European and has never been to Europe, therefore his statement about Europe is wrong.” (Technically, this item is about abusing the Latin language.)
(more…)
There are 520 employees of Penguin Random House who think it should take a partisan position in what books it publishes. Hopefully the publisher will tell them it doesn’t take their orders. They want the publisher to drop Amy Coney Barrett’s upcoming book, which as far as I can tell doesn’t have an announced title yet.
Update: Good news! The publisher has effectively told that bunch to go to Hell.
It reminds me of some Amazon employees lying on the ground a few months ago and demanding that it not carry some books. Do some people get jobs in publishing and distribution because they dream of controlling what people can read?
(more…)
The direct inspiration for this article was a piece (by a friend I won’t name) that complained about a “quantum increase” in something. The idea of a “quantum increase” or “quantum leap” is that at a sub-microscopic level, changes in the state of particles are discrete, not continuous. A particle’s energy goes from one level to another without going through intermediate levels. In other words, a quantum leap is the smallest amount of change possible. A lot of writers must think it means something else.
That’s just one of many scientific terms that get mangled in popular writing. Let’s look at a few more.
(more…)
How did this become the leading blog on boycotting the Chengdu Worldcon? I don’t know, but here are two new items for the list of reasons to stay away.
In Manchester, UK, employees of the Chinese Consulate assaulted protesters on the street. They dragged a man into the consulate and beat him, as well as grabbing posters from the protesters. The UK government has done nothing. The Chinese version is that the consulate staff was defending itself against a barrage of hurt feelings, and that they were trying to hold the man back as he crawled into the consulate, dragging their hands with his hair.
(more…)
The more technical an issue is, the easier it is to report it incorrectly. Today I noticed a widely retweeted claim that Parler had sent the email addresses of all its users in a message related to Kayne West’s acquisition of the service. Here it is:
(more…)
Sergei Lukianenko, one of the guests of honor at the 2023 Worldcon in Chengdu, has called the Ukrainians “fascists” and applauded Russia’s attacks on populated areas in Kyiv.
The 2022 WSFS meeting condemned Chengdu’s choice of Lukianenko as a GoH. As far as I know, Chengdu hasn’t responded, nor has Ben Yalow. If I’ve missed anything, please let me know.
The convention’s shills tell you, “So what if China has no free speech? Just go there, shut up, listen to the GoH speech, and come back.”
By now there should be a huge movement in fandom to boycott the Chengdu Worldcon. Why isn’t there?
A change in PayPal’s policies has blown up in its face. PayPal claimed the right to debit accounts $2,500 for “misinformation.” It would be the sole judge of what constitutes misinformation. In the face of widespread user fury, PayPal backed down, claiming “the language was never intended to be inserted into our policy.” Even with the removal of that language, it still has language financially penalizing some forms of expression.
People often disagree on facts. Some people make claims which others say are false. Non-fiction writers are in the business of asserting facts, and sometimes they claim that what’s “common knowledge” is wrong. Many writers get paid through PayPal, and sometimes it’s the only option the customer offers. If PayPal decides your article is wrong, it could take away a large fraction of a month’s income.
(more…)
Computers are everywhere, yet writers of scripts for movies and TV constantly get them wrong. Ludicrously wrong. Good written fiction, especially science fiction, does better, but writers of all kinds need to be careful. You can depart from the real world if you like, but you have to know what you’re doing. Make sure the reader knows it’s intentional.
Here are six ways writers can mess up. Not all of them are completely impossible, but if you use any of them, you at least need to make the scenario plausible.
(more…)
The word “Fascism,” as it’s too often abused in political discourse, has come to mean nothing more precise than “bad.” There are clearer words for governments that exercise improper power, such as “authoritarian” and “totalitarian.” Fascism is supposed to denote a certain kind of authoritarian system. Writers need to exercise precision when using the word, rather than tossing it around as a general insult.
In its original sense, the word comes from the Fascist Party of Italy and refers to Italy’s government under Benito Mussolini before and during World War II. It’s used more broadly to indicate governments that follow policies similar to Fascist Italy or people who (allegedly) support those policies. Just what are those policies?
The best place to start is with Mussolini’s own words. The History Guide provides some key writings by Mussolini. The page is in English; my Italian isn’t up to any serious reading. Near the beginning we find the most important point:
(more…)