Living
Email
Print
Mea Culpa: Error resulting in a red face for the writer was the result of a lapse in attention - he knows the difference between principle and principal
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: June 28, 2009
Updated: 06/27/2009 08:05 pm
It is the kind of embarrassing and humbling error that is likely to befall anyone who writes frequently about language and its misuse. It is doubly embarrassing when the writer commits the very error he is commenting about.
It happened to me in last week's column, in which I wrote about homophones and the difference between principle and principal. In a letter, a reader had correctly written principle, but in transcribing the letter, I changed it to principal. Then I compounded my error by repeating it.
Several readers have called the error to my attention. I can plead only a lapse in attention, the source of many errors in language and in other areas of life. The error was mine alone.
An item here last week was about the frequent misuse of lay for lie. George Toler of Rural Hall has responded:
"I have just finished reading ‘lie, lay.' My gripe is with people who use ‘refer back.' That's the only way to refer.
"Also, ‘point in time': I can't find a point in time, as a point is a place. A moment in time, not a point in time.
"It bugs me to hear those phrases used by well-educated people, i.e. the president."
It is sometimes correct to say "refer back." If I tell you to refer to something I have written, the implication is that you have not previously read it. If I tell you to refer back to something I have written, the implication is that you have previously read it, and I am suggesting that you go back and read it again.
As for "point in time" or "moment in time," both are redundant. One definition of point is "a particular instant in time." (At that point, the game was called for darkness.)
There is no need for either "point in time" or "moment in time." Phrases that serve equally well are "at that point," "at that moment" and "at that time." Sometimes even "then" will do.
Byrna Weir of Rochester, N.Y., has commented on the headline on my column of June 7.
The column was about an English class that had spotted several misplaced modifiers in the Journal.
Weir wrote that the headline seemed to be a play on the subject of the column. The headline said, "ON THE MARK: Mrs. Buie's students find misplaced modifiers reading the paper."
Weir asked, "Who ever saw a modifier reading the paper?"
Readers continue to comment on the use of toboggan to mean a cap rather than a kind of sled. The latest is Roger L. Payne of Saint Helena Island, S.C., a native of Winston-Salem. He wrote:
"It is interesting to note your mention of the term toboggan meaning a cold-weather head covering. My wife, who is from New York City, had never heard the term used for anything other than a sled, and so was convinced that I was inventing this definition until I had others corroborate.
"So, in passing, I wonder if you know how regionalized the usage is. I could check, I reckon, but thought you might already be aware."
As I wrote some time ago, toboggan to mean a cap is a regional usage, especially in the South and the middle United States. When I was growing up in Surry County, children who had never heard of a toboggan sled used it to mean a cap.
Ralph Leonard of Bethania has asked about a subject that comes up from time to time. He wrote:
"An article said, ‘An N.C. state trooper….' So this could go either way. When I read this I say to myself ‘a North Carolina state trooper,' but one could also read it as ‘an en cee state trooper,' which would make the an correct. So this is a toss-up as to whether it should be an or a."
You are correct. It depends on how one reads "N.C."
A story in the June 12 Journal was about the fourth annual Chris Paul's Winston-Salem Weekend. A sentence in the story said: "On Sept. 24, Rick Reilly, the host of ESPN's Homecoming, will tape a segment in front of a live audience." A Winston-Salem reader has commented, "Thank God!"
■ Richard Creed is a retired Journal editor. He can be reached at richcreed@triad.rr.com.
Email
Print
