VERBAL TICK TOCK

Reader feels as though listener is using conversational shot clock

By: Richard Creed | Winston-Salem Journal
Published: February 07, 2010

A Winston-Salem reader has expressed annoyance at a conversational mannerism that I am sure others have encountered from time to time. He wrote:

"I read your column faithfully and have not yet seen this issue addressed. When talking with people in the 30-to-50-year age group, I have discovered many saying ‘right, right' as we talk.

"Some will say it quickly, as in ‘right-right-right.' It makes me feel as if I am not speaking quickly enough. For me, it's almost as annoying as ‘yada, yada' that became so popular several years ago. Can you address this?"

When this has happened to me, I sometimes also had the feeling that I was being urged to speed up the conversation. It was as if my conversation partner were saying, "I know all that already, so get on with your point."

Instead of "right, right," some people inject "OK" throughout a conversation, as if to say, "I am with you so far." Sometimes it comes as a question, "OK?" as if to ask, "Are you with me so far?"

Another variation, which seems endemic to the British, is "yes, yes." It too is sometimes inflected as a question, "Yes? Yes?" It seems to serve the same function as "OK" and "OK?"

For some, it may be that such mannerisms serve no conscious function but are verbal tics such as "you know" and "like." Functional or not, they can be annoying when used to excess.

A recent column dealt with the increasingly frequent use of grinded instead of ground as the past tense of grind. Reba Whittington of Wilkesboro has responded:

"You have had several items lately about past tenses of verbs. I found this in a North Carolina newspaper article listing acceptable items in the new recycling law: ‘Yard trash such as brush and limbs (will be grinded). Wooden pallets (will be grinded).'

"Are we grammarians fighting a losing battle?"

As I wrote in a previous column, grinded (a so-called weak verb) seems to be gaining in usage over ground (a so-called strong verb.) Some dictionaries list grinded as an alternate past tense.

This is not so much a matter of correct versus incorrect grammar as it is a matter of the evolution of language. It seems that a growing tendency is under way to replace several strong-form verbs with weak-form verbs. Among these are weaved instead of wove and kneeled instead of knelt.

Already some people use one form and some another. As the evolution continues, each writer or speaker will have to decide which form to use.

Henry Church of Winston-Salem recently came across something suggesting that cell phones are intrusive in a way that we had not thought of. He wrote:

"This unintentionally humorous quote comes from an article in USA Today about the intrusion of cell phones in courtrooms: ‘Aside from the noisy interruption of musical ring tones, the technology poses new challenges for judges, who must maintain courtroom décor and consider other legal issues in a world where Facebook, Twitter and cameras are now at the fingertips of many cell phone users.'

"I pictured a judge frantically comparing paint swatches and fabric samples while attempting to render judgments over a cacophony of cell phone chimes."

The word that the hapless writer was looking for was decorum, not décor.

Virginia Walker of Pfafftown demonstrated her ear for the vernacular when she wrote: "I hered a good-un a few days begone. I was watching the news and in my hearing a reporter was telling a story about a controversy between two parties, and he ended his story by saying, ‘Both parties are lawyered up.' "

I would say that it's usually better and less dangerous to settle disputes by getting lawyered up than by getting liquored up.

Richard Creed is a retired Journal editor. He can be reached at richcreed@triad.rr.com