Every Good Boy Does Fine
All Cows Eat Grass
Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally
Good Boys Do Fine Always
B. I have begun carrying a dime and two pennies with me at all times. I carry the dime because John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937), who was a multi-billionaire, gave away dimes to people for many years and a popular song during the Great Depression was called "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?" I hope to be able to say, "Why, yes, I can" if anyone ever asks. I carry the pennies in case anyone ever says to me, "You aren't worth two cents" I will be able to reach into my pocket and prove them wrong. Am I losing my mind?
C. I learned a new word today. Acyrologia. It means the inexact, inappropriate or improper use of a word. Malapropisms, which we discussed in other posts, are examples of acyrologia in speech but acyrologia also occurs in writing, often in the form of homonyms (words that sound alike but are spelled differently) of the word intended. Here is a wonderful piece on acyrologia I found on Facebook that is itself an illustration of acyrologia.
"An incorrect use of words -- particularly replacing one word with another word that sounds similar but has a diffident meaning -- possibly fuelled by a deep-seeded desire to sound more educated, witch results in an attempt to pawn off an incorrect word in place of a correct one. In academia, such flaunting of common social morays is seen as almost sorted and might result in the offender becoming a piranha. In the Monday world, after all is set and done, such a miner era will often leave normal people unphased. This is just as well sense people of that elk are unlikely to tow the line irregardless of any attempt to better educate them. A small percentage, however, suffer from severe acyrologiaphobia, and it is their upmost desire to see English used properly. Exposure may cause them symptoms that may resemble post-dramatic stress disorder and, eventually, to descend into whole-scale outrage as they go star-craving mad. Eventually, they will succumb to the stings and arrows of such a barrage, and suffer a complete metal breakdown, leaving them curled up in the feeble position." (author unknown)
I spotted 23 instances of acyrologia in that paragraph and listed them in the first comment. Before peeping, how many instances did you find?
Happy end of January to you. In China, it is now the year of the snake. You have been warned.
1. diffident -> different
ReplyDelete2. deep-seeded -> deep-seated
3. witch -> which
4. flaunting -> flouting
5. morays -> mores
6. sorted -> sordid
7. piranha -> pariah
8. Monday -> mundane
9. set and done -> said and done
10. miner -> minor
11. era -> error
12. unphased -> unfased
13. sense -> since
14. elk -> ilk
15. tow the line -> toe the line
16. irregardless -> regardless
17. upmost -> utmost
18. dramatic -> traumatic
19. whole-scale -> wholesale
20. star-craving -> stark raving
21. stings -> slings
22. metal -> mental
23. feeble -> fetal
Very good. I often read examples on the strap lines of news bulletins and in the subtitles of plays, films, and so on.
ReplyDeleteOur language manages not only to survive but to thrive despite being mangled frequently. Thank you, Janice.
DeleteIn the first instance three of the phrases relate to music. Aunt Sally is excused.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, but can you be more specific? The Aunt Sally phrase is a mnemonic for the order in which mathematical operations should be performed (parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction).
Delete