wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

all in favor teaching gramar and usage. not so sure about formal lessons, espeically in early grades. gramar in the abstract can seem pretty dull to many folks. might be better to watch for and pounce on "teachable moments" and teach concepts in context of actual language use.

the use of the word "troop" to refer to a single soldier may be questionable, but it is not new.

i think this may be a case of a word having slightly different meanings in different contexts or cultures. a boy scout troop is a lot of boy scouts. in the military a troop is one soldier.

(derived from "trooper" perhaps?)

"troops" might be used as a generic term for individual persons in the military. Army personnel are soldiers. Marine Corp personnel are marines. Naval personnel are sailors. If you call a marine a soldier, he'll probably deck you.

One of my pet peeves is when sportscasters use the word "winningest." Where did they come up with this incorrect conjugation?

You want the best (worst?) evidence for the current atrocious use of English? Just read the majority of the comments to this website and at others like YouTube and Amazon; mis-spelled words, no punctuation, etc. I think it's just a juvenile showing off of the average person's disdain of appearing too intelligent. For example, in the case of avoiding mis-spelled words, all one has to do is refer to the computer's spell-checker; for some even that little effort is too much to ask.

I couldn't agree more with Ms. O'Connor's remarks about the lack of teaching grammar in schools. Must education be watered down, too?

Re; "guys" as including women: the pattern follows the original sense of "harlot" as fellow (drugstore cowboy" type.

Would you explain the meaning of 'nominal'?
I thought it meant ..in name only.
I've heard people quantifying a 'nominal amount of money'. This makes very little sense to me.
I have a nominal amount of respect for these people.

"Korea" in Korean is Hangook, pronounced "hahn-gook," and "Japan" in Japanese is Nihon, pronounced "nee-hohn." Where do Korea and Japan come from? Also, the first pronunciation in Webster's for Neanderthal is "nee-an-der-tol" (not "-thal"). How did we end up pronouncing it with "-thal"?

I have seen "doula" used to refer to a person who assists a family while a loved one is dying.

check out
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php

Re: lieutenant

This is a French-based word originally meaning place-holder. lieu - place, tenant - holding

My experience is that nearly any English word ending in "ant" is French-based. 'ant' at the end of a French verb makes it a (I believe) a gerund.

Just a quick note -- at least in ancient greek, doula is never translated as "servant," just "slave," according to a classicist friend.

MAVEN WORTHY OF QUOTHING

The French have their Academy

While we have our Ms. Grammery.

Prescriptive, descriptive, she won't be bound

Remaining true to what is sound.

No wonder I'm a googoo gonner

For pert Patricia T. O'Conner.

I hear the phrase "a small fraction" all the time. Isn't it redundant?

I had sent a question to Patricia's website regarding the, what I considered, redundancy in the common use of 'have' & 'got' in the same sentence. (i.e. I have got ...). She/they very kindly sent me thorough response part of which was the description below of the two words:

"The confusion arises because of the presence of "have," which in this case is not the simple verb meaning "possess," but an auxiliary verb with no meaning of its own. As a linguist would say, it has no content, only function."

I am not thick, but I still can't get my head around it. Please explain so I can sleep again.

One of the most misused expressions I've heard these days is, "The proof is in the pudding." This makes no sense unless one is referring, literally, to pudding. Of course, the expression should be, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating." This is a wonderful and meaningful expression when used correctly. Unfortunately, I do not remember the last time I've heard it expressed correctly.