After
thumbing through The Dimwit’s
Dictionary: Third Edition by Robert
Hartwell Fiske, a copy I bought at the great indie bookstore, McNally Jackson,
I conclude that the author may be a snarky, even mean-spirited language
policeman who delivers a terrific look at what’s overused, abused, and
misunderstood about the English language.
The linguistics curmudgeon hits it on the head when he says this:
“Whereas
a witticism is a clever remark or phrase – indeed, the height of expression –
“dimwitticism” is the converse; it is a commonplace remark or phrase. Dimwitticisms are worn-out words and phrases;
they are expressions that dull our reason and dim our insight, formulas that we
rely on when we are too lazy to express what we think or even to discover how
we feel. The more we use them, the more
we conform – in thought and feeling – to everyone else who uses them.
“The Dimwit’s Dictionary is a compilation
of thousands of dimwitticisms (clichés, colloquialisms, idioms, slang, and the
like) that people speak and write endlessly."
The
book is mostly filled with idioms that are still used today, even though he
derides their usage. He offers
substitute words or phrases that could be used in place of the tried and true.
He
also shows us how our society has developed in how one speaks. He notes that “Everyday English is marked by
an ignorance of both the structure of sentences (grammar) and the meanings of
words (usage).” All too often people
pollute our ears when they say things such as this:
·
He
did good last night (should be “well”)
·
It’s
like déjà vu all over again {delete “like”)
·
I
shouldn’t have did it (use “done”)
·
I
gots a lot of thinking to do (use “have” or “got”)
He
easily spots and assaults our many abuses of language, especially when it comes
to the speaking and writing of what he calls “uneducated English.”
He
breaks down our linguistic transgressions into several areas, including these:
Grammatical Gimmicks
Examples:
Whatever
This, that, and the other thing
You had to be there
He
notes: “These are devices that we resort
to whenever we are unable to adequately explain our thoughts or feelings. Grammatical gimmicks attest to just how dull
and dimwitted we have become."
Ineffectual Phrases
Examples: It has come to my attention that
The fact of the matter is
The thing about it is
He
notes: “How a person speaks often reveals how he thinks. And how he thinks determines how he
behaves. A person who speaks ineffectually
may think ineffectually, and a person who thinks ineffectually may behave
ineffectually – perhaps badly.
Ineffectual phrases add only to our being ineffectual people.”
Morbid Metaphors
Examples: Get all their ducks in a row
Singing from the same hymn
sheet
Go down the drain
The jury is still out on
that
He
notes: “We rely on metaphors not because
we feel they make our speech and writing more vivid and inviting but because we
fail to learn how to express ourselves otherwise, we know not the words.
“In
truth, the more of these metaphors that we use, the less effective is our
speech and writing. Neither interesting
nor persuasive, their expression fatigues us where we hoped it would inform us,
annoys us where we believed it would amuse us, and benumbs us where we hoped it
would inspire us.”
He
goes on to complain about overworked words such as amazing, really, ongoing,
basically, and awesome saying: “Words,
when overworked, diminish the meaning of all that they are used to describe. Our thoughts and feelings both are enfeebled
by these tired terms.”
He
goes on to admonish the uttering of popular prescriptions – actions speak
louder than words or a picture is worth a thousand words. He says: “Dull-witted speakers and writers
depend on prescriptions like these to guide them through life…popular
prescriptions endure not for their sincerity but for their simplicity. We embrace them because they make all they
profess to explain and all they profess to prescribe seem plain and
uncomplicated.”
He
certainly is good at complaining but he makes many good points and doesn’t shy
from giving specific examples of floored speech and then substituting suggested
words, terms and phrases. But isn’t
there a place for some of the very things he vomits over? Isn’t there a reason
why some of these phrases have survived for centuries?
Sometimes
we need clichés and idioms to precisely explain a situation. Sure, we could tackle the expression of a
feeling, thought or moment in a creative, alternative way, but maybe it’s
unnecessary to do so. There are times
when we simply need to convey something and these old phrases like “in the
wrong place at the wrong time” summarize things perfectly.
But
Fiske believes the world is self-destructing and he is not necessarily wrong
but perhaps there’s a solution that allows us to balance things and to
transition from these idioms but not completely abandon all of them quickly.
Still,
he concludes with this:
“Life
is measured by its meaning and a good deal of that meaning is inherent in the
words we use. If so, many of our words
are superfluous – and thus do not signify – so much of our life is,
ineluctably, meaningless. In the end, we
are no more superfluous than are the words we use…
“Soon,
it is clear, we will be a society unable to distinguish one word from another,
sense from nonsense, truth from falsehood, good from evil. We will soon utter only mono- and disyllabic
words, be entertained only by what pleases our peers, and adore whatever is
easy or effortless. Unfamiliar wording
and original phrasing will soon sound incoherent or cacophonic to us, while
well-known inanities like have a nice day,
what goes around comes around and hope for the best but expect the worst
will serve as our mantras, our maxims, or mottoes.”
Recent Posts
What Does It Really Take To Hit A Best-Seller List?
Employing a real book strategy
Good book publicity is a marathon, not a sprint
How should writers and book publishers work their network?
Authors don’t need to panic when speaking to the media
Best Author PR Strategy: Cover The Basics
Can you sell at least 10 copies of your book every day for a year?
10 Ways To Effectively Approach Book Publicity
Can you market your book for five
minutes a day?
Does Your Subject Line Stink?
Should authors Use Twitter or Facebook?
Do You Promote Your Book Outrageously?
Your 2017 Complete Author Book Marketing
& PR Toolkit
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.