Tag Archives: speech

May 15, 2010 · 8:39 am

Repeat redundancy

In my spare time I’ve been counting pleonasms.

Beginning with my own (that could be one), I am trying to become more aware of the human tendency toward redundancy.

Pleonasm is the use of word combinations that are unnecessary because the words mean the same thing, such as sum total or close proximity.  

Pleonasm isn’t necessarily wrong.  It has been shown in some cases to help clarify or reinforce an idea.

It’s hard to determne exactly when pleonasm is appropriate.  When the waitress tells me a dish includes Brie cheese or sherry wine, I never know whether she is committing a syntactic oversight or patronizing me pleonasmically (an adverb I just made up).

The legal vernacular is full of pleonasm.  Consider cease and desist, terms and conditions and null and void.

A few that make me shiver include ATM machine and PIN number, as well as Please R.S.V.P.

If your interest in this topic extends beyond these general observations, and if you are not afraid to see how many widely used examples are really out there, visit this blog of Pleonasms and Redundant Phrases.  Their list is so extensive it might make you fearful of speaking another word (is that one?)

If you want to make a little game out of it, go in and look at the list, pick one and then substitute a word.  For example, a bouquet of flowers – what else would be in a bouquet?  A bouquet of sneakers?

Try doing this with face mask, tuna fish or visible to the eye.  How about armed gunman?

Have fun with it.  After taking tomorrow off, I will be getting back to my regular routine.

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May 8, 2010 · 8:10 am

Pomp and circumstance

Tomorrow is the big day–my son’s college graduation.

In the movie Parenthood, the grandfather, played by Jason Robards, observes this about being a parent:  “You never get to spike the ball in the end zone and do your victory dance.  It never ends.”

There’s no doubt that’s true.  But tomorrow will be pretty darn close.

As much as I look forward to watching my son walk across that platform, there’s something else I am looking forward to.

Yes, the all-important commencement address.  I’ve heard very few in my lifetime.  My father was the commencement speaker at my high school graduation and, while he was a big hit, I’d heard him speak a few times before.  I didn’t participate in my own college graduation exercises because I was already working full time and didn’t consider it important.

This time of year, I enjoy reading the various commencement addresses.  These speeches are intended to give young adults advice for succeeding in their professional lives and motivate them to high achievement.

Let’s get real.  The graduates are sitting there numb from exams and term papers, perhaps a little hungover, and exhausted from clearing away the leaning towers of pizza boxes and other debris that’s piled up all year, in anticipation of their parents’ arrival.

A commencement speaker with any hope of stirring these men and women had better make it pithy, punchy and to the point.

I’m no Kurt Vonnegut  (who reportedly never delivered that famous Wear Sunscreen speech at MIT), but I’ve often wondered what I’d say if I were in front of an audience of graduating seniors. 

I thought back to something I did when my son went off to college four years ago.  As the nerdy, over-involved mother I am, I jotted a list of keys to success, typed it out and framed it to sit on the desk in his dorm room, so he could look at it every day and be inspired.  I think it came home sophomore year, never to be read again.

10 Secrets for Lifetime Success and Happiness

  1. Drink water – eight glasses a day will keep you healthy, inside and out.
  2. Read the paper – know what is going on in the world; be informed, keep a global perspective.
  3. Say your prayers – ask for guidance and give thanks.
  4. Say no – to options that are destructive to yourself and others.
  5. Say yes – to opportunities to do good for yourself and others.
  6. Count your blessings – at the end of every day, think of three things you are thankful for.  Even when you have a bad day, you will always find something good, however small.
  7. Make eye contact – look people in the eye; it will help you to be a good listener.
  8. Keep God at the center – let him, not you, be the focus of your life.
  9. Help the needy – be attuned to those who are vulnerable and tend to them.
  10. Call your mother – she worries.

Maybe I’d add “watch your grammar.” 

If you had one piece of advice for today’s college graduate—perhaps something that has worked for you or something you would have done differently—what would it be?

In the meantime, I will enjoy the big day and might even do a little victory dance.

Reminder:  Word Nymph doesn’t post on Sunday.  Did I mention my son is graduating?

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April 14, 2010 · 6:58 am

Did you want to ask me that again?

Here is another grammatical trend I am betting you haven’t noticed but, once you do, you’ll hear it everywhere.  I hear it in restaurants all the time.

I say, I’d like a cup of coffee, please.”  The server asks, “Did you want cream?”

I reply “yes” but in my head I am sarcastically responding, “Yes, I DID and I still DO.”

When did we move from “Would you like” to “Did you want?”

Yes, I did want fries with that and, once that burger comes off the grill, I am pretty sure I will still want them.

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April 13, 2010 · 7:41 am

Sort of a verbal pause

I’ve written before about generational shifts in language.  If this topic interests you, here’s a parlor game you can play at home alone or out with friends.  Count the number of times someone says “sort of” in conversation or a television or radio interview.

In everyday speech, we are all prone to using a verbal pause now and again, usually the “um” or “uh” that comes between words in a spoken sentence.   As with hemlines, forms of verbal pause change with the times. 

In the 1970s, “you know” was the verbal pause of the decade.  For example, “I was doing my homework, you know, and I couldn’t do this long division problem, you know, so I called Cindy, you know, and she told me how to do it.”  I became aware of this at an early age because sloppy language was not tolerated in our home.  We had what was called the You-Know bell.  Whenever any of us used “you know” as a verbal pause, my father rang the You-Know bell.  Whoever said it the most won the You-Know bell prize.  But I digress.

In the ’80s it was “like,” as in “Nancy and I were like so into Bonnie Raitt that we were like listening to her albums over and over like every night.”

I first noticed “sort of” in the late 1990s in a meeting of senior U.S. government officials and prominent industry executives.  “Sort of” is a bit more refined than its predecessors.  In fact, at the time I first tuned in to it, it seemed more a verbal tiptoe than a pause.  Here’s how it might have been used around the conference table that day.  “We need a policy framework that sort of gives companies sort of an incentive to offer innovative products while allowing them to sort of achieve sort of a reasonable return on their investment.”  This wasn’t exactly it but illustrates how “sort of” was not used to mean “a kind of” or “a little bit” but rather, was a simple substitution for “uh” or “um.”

“Sort of” has spread like wildfire, showing no signs of dying down even in this decade.  I hear it every day.  Recently Jennifer Love Hewitt was on the Today show promoting her new book.  I lost count of how many times she said it.  Disappointingly, I’ve noticed prominent cable news anchors have picked it up.

“Sort of” is a slight improvement over “like,” to be sure.  But once your ear is attuned to it, it becomes annoying to the point of distraction.

On second thought, forget this parlor game.  It’ll drive you sort of nuts.

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