You can imagine my alarm when a friend said in a group “we were robbed.” As she told the story that started, “…we got home and…” Well, I couldn’t stop myself, that was burglary not robbery. Someone else in the group explained.1 Robbery means there was a threat to your person. Words matter. Sure, we all get them mixed up, but, I cringed when people are dismissive and say, it’s the same thing.
This week, the headlines were, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s daughter, Zahara, joins Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. No, no no. You pledge a sorority. Pledge. You are invited to pledge, there is a process that include an application, going on line, a vote over a number of weeks and if you succeed, then you become a member. You join a bookclub, you pledge Greek. Pledge and join, not the same thing. While the headline was kind of wrong, I do appreciate how the media cleverly sidestepped a missing word. The famous daughter, in her introduction said “My name is Zahara Marley Jolie.” There was no Pitt. Let’s move on to politics and the recent Republican debate.
This is a tricky one of pop culture phrase not quite right but used with passion to defend a child. Nikki Haley chastised Vivek Ramaswamy with “<a href="http://<iframe title="New York Times Video – Embed Player" width="480" height="321" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="true" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" id="nyt_video_player" src="https://www.nytimes.com/video/players/offsite/index.html?videoId=100000009173113">leave my daughter out of your voice.” The phrase is “keep <insert object here> out of your mouth,” e.g.2 Will Smith retort at the 2022 Oscars “Keep my wife’s name out of your mouth.” In my humble opinion, it’s an awkward phrase at best and better conveyed as, do not talk about <insert object here.> What was conveyed well? When Vivek kept talking, amidst boos and she said “You’re just scum.” Good word choice.
This Thanksgiving week, consider words. What does thanks and thanksgiving mean to you?
1Burglary involves entering a home or another building illegally, whether or not something is stolen, while robbery involves taking property from a person through threats or fear of harm.
2i.e. and e.g. are abbreviations for Latin terms. While similar, they are not interchangeable. I.e. stands for id est or ‘that is’ — and is used to clarify the statement before it. E.g. means exempli gratia or ‘for example.’ It’s used to introduce examples and illustrate a statement.
Balancing on Unstable Surfaces 