Would someone kindly inform me which sponsor of WNYC-FM uses the word "verdant"?
I am delivering a talk at the DNNY this Sunday about "Defining, Holding, and Realizing a Vision for Our Planet" and I believe just using this word enlivens belief in the possibility...I would appreciate anyone responding.
Thank you,
Carol

Most people I know say avenyoo, without knowing it's actually a-veh-nyoo,
the same nyoo as is "new" which most New Yorkers say as noo. Go figure!

On the pronunciation of Carnegie: the Piitsburgh accent on the second syllable ('nay') is precisely the pronunciation in Carnegie's native Scotland.

The follow-up question about Pittsburgh use of 'you-ins": this is also almost certainly Scots in origin. In Lowland Scotland still today,
"yous yins" = "you ones",
while "ous yins" = us ones = we.
In Pittsburgh, yous-yins becomes you-ins.
Purely surmising, Scots Appalachians probably explain the linguisric parallel.

My first grade teacher used to berate anyone who left the R out when pronouncing February. I've included it ever since.

Why the use of the word Verdant on the sponsor message on WNYC? I mean, come on! No One knows it I think- Its totally old and odd. Verdant: hilly and fertile? Making the world more
1. (of countryside) Green with grass or other rich vegetation.
2. Of the bright green color of lush grass.
Make the world more Green or Sustainable, protect nature- but disuse Verdant in the process, what do you think?

I moved to NYC from the DC area in 1980, & I notice that a lot of New Yorkers say "BroadWAY" (& weekEND). It's a regional variation, like so many others. I don't understand why anyone would complain about it!

On the other hand, I completely agree w/the comments complaining about the mispronunciations in WNYC's underwriting announcements. Many of these are the old "emPHAsis on the wrong sylLAble" problem, like "Fra DiaVOlo" instead of "Fra DiAHvolo." Others are serious phrasing errors: 1 of the announcers describes "Inception" as dealing w/"a world between dreams, & reality," as if that world were between different dreams, & the movie also dealt w/reality (the other announcer phrases it correctly, so it's clear that it's a world that's between dreams on the 1 hand & reality on the other). Even worse, though, was the pronunciation of "For Colored Girls..." as if it were "Four Colored Girls..."! Whew--I guess I really needed to get that off my chest! Is there any chance WNYC could get someone to review these announcements for pronunciation & phrasing (what linguists call "stress & juncture")?

Yes I think people get a little frantic about correctness at times! I really don't like being at a dinner party where this kind of thing stops the conversation - or at least causes a pause. It's like sticks in the bum sometimes.

Pittsbughers do not say YENZ guys but Younz guys

Cat out of the bag has to do with disclosing a secret. See:

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/let-the-cat-out-of-the-bag.html

Those guys seem right. Has to do with substituting a cat for a piglet in a bag, or poke. If you discover that you have a cat instead of a piget, the "cat has been let out of the bag"

i thought "let the cat out of the cat" was basically from a switch-a-roo (there's a another phrase for you) that salesmen would pull in medieval people buying pigs. they would swap in a cat so it wasn't until they got back home that they realized it was a cat. letting it out of the bag

2 snobs exhausting me with tedious rule following hooey.

Charles Gehring. Archivist who mentioned "XXX"

He'd make a great guest.

"The New Netherland Project, the source of Shorto’s primary documents for The Island at the Center of the World, is a joint venture of the New York State Library, based in Albany, and the Holland Society, based in New York City. Its primary objective is to complete the transcription, translation, and publication of all Dutch documents in New York repositories relating to the seventeenth-century colony of New Netherland. Most of the work of translation has been carried out during the course of a 20-year period by local scholar Charles Gehring, director of the New Netherland Project"

http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/shorto_russell.html

Frankly, Patricia, anybody who still says "whipper snapper" NEEDS to be called ma'am.

Seriously, what *should* someone who is younger than you call you? Miss?

"EXCUSE ME":
If one were to pronounce it fully, with the "ex" in the beginning, it is often taken sarcastically, sardonically, ironically..... (Bump ionto someone, "ex-CUSE me...")
Nowadays it is polite to simply say " 'scuse me" after bumping into someone.

We do use "yins" in Pennsylvania and "hell-yins."

XXX is the city coat of arms for Amsterdam. I think it dates back to the 16th century and is from St. Andrew's crosses.

YES, Pittsburghers say YINZ. Everybody knows that!!

... and JAG-off, and a million other Pittsburghese terms.

"Taliaferro" was also pronounced "Toliver" when I attended classes at Taliaferro Hall at the University of Maryland. Perhaps this pronunciation is a Southern thing.

Did anyone notice John Stewart's guest, oil man T. Boone Pickens, last week on Comedy Central's Daily Show saying "I'm not Ned in the first reader," as a way of expressing that he wasn't naive? It slipped by so quickly, Stewart didn't even seem to notice it, although I'm sure many in the audience were baffled.

My grandfather, who was born in rural Arkansas in 1918 used this expression all the time! He explained that Ned was a foolish character from an elementary school reading manual that everyone who went to school would have known.

Is this expression purely regional? Clearly, it's a good example of an expression that's on the way out, almost completely gone, in fact.

Ok here it is .. if you want to drown a cat.. like if you were a farmer and wanted to rid the barn of some of the unwanted young guests.
It would be necessary to put it in a bag.. as cats are very good swimmers. This is a traditional way of drowning cats.. at least in England.. I grew up near farms..

If you let the cat out of the bag all hell breaks loose..

Pat's explanation about the fancy hubcaps is wrong. Wire spoke wheels were used for racing and sports/sporty cars through the 60's because they allowed air flow to cool the breaks better than the mostly solid wheels used in sedans ("sedan" for a passenger car is another true anachronism--as in sedan chairs). The sports connotation has stuck even though racing wheels now have three or four hollow pillars between the rim and hub.

"Cat out of the bag"
The phrase more likely refers to the practice of putting a live cat in a leather bottle and setting it swinging as a target for marksmen. For example, Shakespeare, in Much Ado About Nothing, writes: "Hang me in a bottle like a cat, and shoot at me." This was discussed in The Times in January 2007

So, based on what you just said on the air about there not being a future tense, it's okay that NBC News anchors keep saying "we're back in a moment" - I've always thought that we are here now. We will be back in a moment.

-Roger

I tend to accept that "record", when used to describe a CD, is correct because it refers to a recording of any kind. We've just grown to attach it to vinyl.

Could you recommend any good reading on the study of history through language? I'm interested in the clues that language gives us to the ways cultures have mixed over the millenia, whether it's the influx of Latin-based words at the time of the Norman conquest, to the links between "royal" and "raj".

You'd say "Fahv" - don't pronounce the "re" part.

john bohner?

So, based on what you just said on the air about there not being a future tense, it's okay that NBC News anchors keep saying "we're back in a moment" - I've always thought that we are here now. We will be back in a moment.

-Roger

hey! the word RECORD comes from the word RECORDING. nothing wrong with calling a CD or mp3 a RECORD!

just like the way we use the measurement 'horsepower.'

Phrases.org.uk seems to be pretty good.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/let-the-cat-out-of-the-bag.html

Don't let a cat out of the bag, means "disclose a secret." So they think it has to do with substituting a cat for a piglet in a bag at market. If you discover you have a cat instead of a piglet, the secret has disclosed.

Thank you for addressing the "feel bad" vs. "feel badly" (incorrect) issue. (We don't say "feel happily" do we?
re: cat out of the bag
There are two commonly heard suggested origins of this phrase. One relates to the fraud of substituting a cat for a piglet at markets. If you let the cat out of the bag you disclosed the trick - and avoided buying a pig in a poke (bag). This form of trickery is long alluded to in the language and 'pigs in a poke' are recorded as early as 1530.

The other theory is that the 'cat' referred to is the cat o' nine tails, which was used to flog ill-disciplined sailors. Again, this has sufficient historical record to be at least possible

Hello. 'Beg the question' means 'to assume the truth of the very point raised in a question' (Dictionary.com), as in a fallacy at a debate.

A lot of people in broadcasting misuse that (Diane Sawyer, I believe, also did this) to mean "(a situation) demands that this question be raised."

I find it an error that should not be perpetuated. Is this use of the phrase acceptable?

2. Also, William Safire wrote about 'centered around' being incorrect where the proper expression should be 'revolves around.' But I see 'centered around' being used more and more. Is this OK?

3. By the way, I recall in school that 'Wednesday' being pronounced 'wens-di' rather than 'wens-day.' Is my memory failing me?

Thank you!

Adding to the list of surviving tech terminology: "turning-off" the light from when that was how they were "switched-off". "Records" have also been referred to as "albums" from the 78 rpm and Edison era.

Can the Word Maven offer any guidance on the correct use of "were" vs. "was." As in: If I were going to go on a vacation now I'd..." Or should it be was? Thanks.

Car.

Thoreau, in his book on Cape Cod, wrote about cars---must have been horse-drawn vehicles.

Letting the cat out of the bag refers to trying to sell a cat (in a bag) as a pig. "Letting the cat out of the bag" reveals the intended fraud. Also why one shouldn't buy a pig in a poke.

Oops, I left the "s" off "anyways" in my comment! Kind of undercut my point there....

The woman who does the Underwriters' announcements emphasizes the last syllable in concerto and Manhattan. She says con-chair-TOE and man-ha-TIN. Also says PEE-uh-nist. Every dictionary shows pee-ANN-ist as the preferred pronunication.

why "standing ON line rather than "standing IN line (which makes sense)...?

XXX for obscenities dates back to Dutch New York. I heard a talk by an archivist from Albany, a wonderful man who helped Russell Shorto with his book about Dutch New York.

It was in transcripts of legal proceedings first, I think, and was taken up by the English.

I'm sure you've gone over this before, but could you please go over the difference between "like" and "as"? And give a few examples. I keep running into what strikes me as incorrect use of "like" in comparisons.

I was raised in Mississippi and was taught to say "No sir", "Yes ma'am", etc. I still do it, because I feel that it is polite and it is just a natural part of my speech. I've lived in NYC for 11 years, and many people tell me that it is rude, people are offended. Please let me know what is the most polite way of addressing your elders, clients, etc.

Thank you!
Boo

I can understand the use of expressions like "anyway" or "it's a ways from here" as colloquialisms, but I never heard anyone but Bloomberg actually use "ways" by itself as a singular. It bugs the hell out of me, probably because he seems to think he's right about everything & won't accept any questioning of his decisions. This wasn't the main reason I opposed his having a 3rd term, but I was afraid if he was reelected he'd have all the "ONE WAY" signs changed to read "ONE WAYS"!

why "standing ON line rather than "standing IN line (which makes sense)...?

Would Ms P please comment on the use of qualifiers with the word "unique."

where does "by heart" come from as in "I know it by heart"?

I'm originally from the UK where we say "I COULDN'T care less...." about whatever it may be, and it drives me nuts to hear Americans say "I COULD care less..."about something, because it's actually saying the opposite of what they mean!
How has that come about?

Yes, LESS vs. FEWER really gets under my skin, every time I hear someone say LESS WORDS when they mean FEWER. Ugh!

And often (quiet T), people who are from Pittsburgh (myself included) pronounced Carnegie car-NEH-gie. But after 26 years of living in NY I've started pronouncing it CAR-neh-gie.

... and to Judy - Actually, pronouncing the T in often is an overcompensation (trying to sound more educated).

One of the phrases used all the time by news reporters that bothers me most is when they refer to someone as missing. They say "so and so WENT missing." How can someone "go" missing?

Love to know how this got started and why it's been adopted for use.

Please comment.

Thanks,

go to hospital or go to the hospital?

do americans use the word "queue"?

"All right" versus "alright"

please discuss.

I believe All right is correct, and here's why:

all right means "all is right"
all ready means "all is ready"
already means "having happened before"
so WHAT THE HECK DOES ALRIGHT MEAN?

I suspect the person who asked whether it should be badly vs. bad, may have been asking whether it should be " I feel bad about having let the cat out of the bag" vs. "I feel badly about having let the cat out of the bag." ( I suspect the latter is the correct usage.)

Would Ms P please comment on the use of qualifiers with the word "unique."

My younger sister used to say "amn't" for am not in the early 1960s. Interesting to hear the contraction is simply obsolete. Her approach when we were children was to claim that even if it wasn't a word, it SHOULD be. Therefore, she would use it.

correct pronounciation of "divisive"
??

Origin
There are two commonly heard suggested origins of this phrase. One relates to the fraud of substituting a cat for a piglet at markets. If you let the cat out of the bag you disclosed the trick - and avoided buying a pig in a poke (bag). This form of trickery is long alluded to in the language and 'pigs in a poke' are recorded as early as 1530.

The other theory is that the 'cat' referred to is the cat o' nine tails, which was used to flog ill-disciplined sailors. Again, this has sufficient historical record to be at least possible. The cat o' nine tails was widely used and was referred to in print many years prior to the first use of 'let the cat out of the bag'. The 'nine tails' part of the name derives from the three strands of cord that the rope lashes were made from. Each of the cords were in turn made from three strands of string. When unbraided a piece of rope separated into nine strings. The 'cat' part no doubt alluded to the scratches that the knotted ends of the lash made on the victim's back, like those from a cat's claws.

Tell us about the McDonald's ad phrase: "I'm luvin' it."

I think it's obnoxious, but is it as incorrect as it sounds?

I listen with much difficulty to television and radio news because the anchors and reporters seem to have little grasp of grammar, sentence structure and vocabulary. How do they get degrees in communication when theirs is so awful?

I had never heard "where are you at?" until I came to the US in 2004.

Is that a correct use of 'at'?

What in the world are we to do about the proliferation of "actually." Actually, it is driving me crazy.

My 5 year old son uses the word "forlost" instead of "forgot."

I also her "devolve" to mean "de-evolve" or "break down." Do you know when did this shift from the standard meaning occurred?

People often use the singular incorrectly as in
"There's three blind mice"

On Carnegie:

In Pittsburgh, the Scottish pronunciation is still used! They ought to know with all the Carnegie-named institutions.

A professor I know pronounces "adequate" like this: "a-de-kit." Any precedent for that?

I've heard a lot of people add a "t" to across, as in "acrosst" but I can't stitch these folks together through any shared regional accent. Do you have any idea where this comes from?

What about what seems to very common grammar at present where someone will say "Him and me went to the movies" instead of "He and I ..." Is this form becoming accepted common English?

My husband, from Long Island, says "Eighth Avenyoo," whereas I (a Michigander), pronounce it "Avenoo." Is this a regionalism or are we just strange speakers?

Why are social security and medicare refereed to as entitlements -- where other expenditures of the federal government are not. DOD spending, Health care for retired federal workers???

I notice people dropping "-ly" from adverbs. As in, "I am real mad", as opposed to "I am really mad".
Is it just me that is noticing this?

Cat out of the bag is a British Naval term. The cat was the cat o' nine tails. The bag was the baize bag it was stored in. The results were less than salubrious.

Letting the cat out of the bag - I believe comes from medieval days when merchants would sell pigs, but rather hide a cat in the bag instead of the actual pig... love the show! Martina

In France, they say "quoi" like we say "you know"

I never noticed this in Canada, but that doesn't mean it doesn't also happen there.

Please comment on: the seemingly popular and accepted usage of "Me and...", instead of "....and I," and, the use of "bunch," when "many" or a more specific word would be more in keeping with the speaker's otherwise, very articulate choice of words.

Thank you.

In the A&E "Biography" of Andrew Carnegie it was mentioned that the family said car-NEG-ee, though many say CAR-nuh-gee.

Similar to the Van Wyck family who've always said Van Wike, which has become Van Wick by those who haven't heard it said correctly,

The NYTimes magazine had an article about coffee last weekend.

In it is a sentence that starts "when store runs out..." meaning "when supply runs out."

I'm trying to figure out if they meant "when a store" runs out or if they are just being a little innovative with "store." Any clue?

My father, a college professor, often uses the word dis-e-regardless as a joke. My sister was alarmed when she used the word without thinking about it in a paper during her college years and got points taken off! She figured if Dad used it, it must be correct!

Who does the editing of the sponsorship readers on WNYC?

Within the last 2 months I have heard

Dee R tag nun's

and

Archie Pell AH go

Sorry but 'often' with the 't' pronounced is correct and not even close to the ignorance of saying nowhereS, anywhereS, somewhereS, FEBuARY without the R ... comes from never learning the language properly. English is often spoken best by those who came from abroad and studied it. Bloomberg for all his money sounds like a street kid.

Wondering about why prepositions cannot finish a sentence.... Sometimes I don't see a way around it.

Also, would love to know how Ms. O'Connor unlearned saying "you know"

So often I hear people using the present for the future as in, where are you today? Today I'm home all day.

While on the subject of pronunciation of every syllabel what about the difference between "pocketbook" and the way that I always hear it pronounced "pock a book."

What about that first "t" in often? It sounds so pretentious. Please tell me it's ok so it can stop bothering me.

Am I crazy or was it "plead" guilty when I was a kid? When did it become "pleaded?" It makes me crazy to hear it!

Discuss the difference between how the british say negotiate.

Americans pronounce the first T with a soft SHH sound The Brits say it with a hard S sound.

There are many words that one can hear on TV, or even in casual conversation in public today, that you would never have heard in "good company" 20 or 30 years ago. A mild example of this is the word damn, although there are many others. Can you give any examples of words that perhaps 75-100 years ago that would have been really off-color or deragatory that are now common place and acceptable?

my ten year old son uses the word: "amn't"

as in : " I am ten years old, amn't I ?"

any comments?

I know some Indians (from India the country) pronouces, "wednesday" as
"we-d-nes-day," enouciating "d' sound.

What about that first "t" in often? It sounds so pretentious. Please tell me it's ok so it can stop bothering me.

What is the correct pronunciation of "Carnegie Hall"?

Please!!!!

Less and Fewer! No one seems to know the difference and most are using less incorrectly, including a cable network's tag line - less commercials!

God forbid but will "irregardless" ever become acceptable?

Yes Mayor Bloomberg is from the Boston area. My father in law who is from Brooklyn would often say " Idears" as apposed to Idea's? Would that be considered a regional dilect? Thank you!

perhaps the mayor is using an "s" at the end to mask a lisp ?

Mayor Bloomberg also has a very odd intonation, ends his sentences up!!! like question marks and many Europeans.

My sister who used to live in Ahlington MA says she loves listening to Bloomy's Malden-isms, (he's from Malden, MA, I guess) which I don't hear as much as she does

I am constantly correcting my husband’s use of “less” when I think he should be saying “fewer.” For example he’ll say “My team scored less points in the second period than the first.” This sounds incorrect to me. Is there a grammar rule for the correct use of less and fewer?

How about the misuse of the word "alternate" where the speaker means another option or choice in which case the correct word is "alternative"

During the recent uprising in Egypt the Obama administration referred to the situation as being "fluid." I'm not sure I've heard fluid used that way before, it sounds as if fluid was being used in lieu of "volatile."

As a side note, days after this word was used, I heard someone use it at work and all over the media.

i'd like to ask a philosophical question:
can a grammarian, and, a party animal, abide in the same body ?

Mayor Bloomberg often says "anywheres" and "elsewheres." I'm surpised no one on his staff has brought it to his attention beginnin in his first term.
Where does this type of error originate?

How do you account for presumably well educated peoples' -- especially politicians and government officials -- inability to use proper subject - verb agreement? e.g.
"There's many ways to solve the problem" or "There's many people you would expect to be precisionists in the use of their first language."

Is there something to plain laziness between correct usage but harder to say versus the easiest pronunciation?

When did "anytime soon" become part of American language? Before moving here from the UK 13 yrs ago I had never heard it . I think it might be catching on in Britain as on my last visit I heard it a couple of times on the news.

It seems like it has become a trend to enunciate the first R in February. Is this correct? No one is saying Wed-NES-day, isn't February similar?