When Did a Ball Become a Rock?

Ah, sports. It has a vernacular all its own. The late, great, Lakers announcer Chick Hearn coined an entire basketball-related language. Terms such as “slam dunk,” “air ball,” “charity stripe,” “dribble drive,” “Matador defense,” “The mustard’s off the hot dog,” “nervous time,” “no harm, no foul” (and sometimes he added “no blood”), “triple-double” (sorry, In-N-Out), “ticky-tack” and “yo-yo-ing up and down” didn’t exist until ol’ Chickie uttered them. I thought many of them were in the rule book.

But I have heard some that I find as cringe-worthy as “charity stripe.” I blame ESPN.

Take the rock to the hole — This refers to a basketball player dribble-driving to the basket. But when did a basketball become a rock? When did a basket become a hole? Yes, I know there’s a big hole in the hoop, so I can understand it. I just don’t know when it changed.

Take it to the house — This refers to a football player (American version) returning an interception for a touchdown. When did the end zone become a house? Why isn’t it take it into the zone? Then they could get in the zone.

Pick Six — Once, this referred to a bettor choosing winners in six consecutive horse races. But since horse racing is a dying sport except for three Saturdays a year starting on the first Saturday of May, I guess football people think they can commandeer it and make it mean an interception returned for a touchdown.

Yes, I know an interception can be can be called a “pick,” for “picking off a pass.” And I know that a touchdown is worth six points. Horse racing had it first. How about INTD? INT for interception and TD for touchdown.

Maybe people worry that it sounds too much like IMDB, the Internet Movie Database.

I’m just glad I don’t hear BOO-YAH! anymore.

I miss Chick Hearn.

Until next time! Use the right words!

leebarnathan.com

Did Today’s Youth Start the Abbreviation Trend?

As I drove one of Los Angeles’ lovely freeways (at a time where there was no traffic, no less), I saw a police car with “K9” printed on the side.

That got me thinking about the different ways today’s youth (of which my recently-turned 21-year-old daughter is one) abbreviates so many things: LOL, ROFLMAO, IMHO, TTFN, totes, cray-cray, selfie. Many people put the blame on texting.

But what if today’s youth didn’t start this trend but merely continued a trend that the older folks didn’t see?

Go back to the K9 example: It’s short for canine. We’ve been using 3D for at least 50 years instead of three-dimensional. And our government is full of alphabet soup names: ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), DUI (Driving Under the Influence), DWI (Driving While Intoxicated), CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), NSA (National Security Agency), ERA (Equal Rights Amendment), USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and so forth.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal programs included more of the same: TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority), CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), WPA (Works Progress Administration), AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Administration) PWA (Public Works Administration), FHA (Federal Housing Administration), REA (Rural Electrification Administration) and so forth.

We live in a world of shortened language. Like it or not, it’s here to stay — today’s youth is helping make sure of that.

Until next time! Use the right words!

leebarnathan.com

How “Far” Do You Want to Go?

I’m going really far today to highlight the word far.  It can be an adverb or an adjective relating to a some sort of distance. Here are several correct usages.

Far East — It refers to the easternmost portions of Asia: China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and eastern portions of Russia. This is not to be confused with Southeast Asia, which comprises the nations of the Indochina Peninsula and the islands southeast of it: Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Far West — In the U.S., this refers to the region west of the Rocky Mountains. Living in California, I consider this an example of east coast bias, but that’s a different post for a different time.

Far-flung — It’s an adjective meaning “extending over a great distance” or “widely distributed.”

Far-off — It’s an adjective meaning “distant, remote.”

Far-out — It’s an adjective meaning “unconventional, offbeat, avant-garde, radical, extreme, esoteric.” It’s also slang.

Far-ranging — It’s an adjective meaning “having important and widely applicable effects or implications.”

Farmworker — It’s one word, not two.

Farsighted — It’s one word, non-hyphenated, that means a person can see objects at a distance but has difficulty seeing them up close.

Farther/further — One refers to physical distance, the other refers to an extension of time or degree. So, you walk a mile farther, but the police will look further into the mystery.

Until next time! Use the right words!

leebarnathan.com 

Like, I Hate “Like” as an Interjection

People have used the word like in several different ways for hundreds of years. My dictionary lists nine entries for like: as a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection.

I want to address like as an interjection. It’s the ninth dictionary definition listing and means “used chiefly in informal speech as a meaningless expletive or intensifier or to lessen the emphasis of a preceding or following word or phrase.”

It is this usage I object to so much. To me, it’s another way of saying, um or uh. It makes one sound less intelligent.

I remember when I was in college, the funniest thing I ever heard someone say was from one sorority girl to another, “Well, do you, like, like him?”

If you go back to the original 1969 cartoon series “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?” you’ll hear Shaggy use like this way in probably every episode.

What I find interesting is that this usage dates back to 1778, which tells me it’s not going away.

I prefer that people simply say nothing instead of uttering like, uh or um. It takes discipline but can be done. And you’ll sound so much more intelligent.

Until next time! Use the right words!

leebarnathan.com

I’ve Been Reading Time for “Nigh” Seven Years — “Natch”

Having a background in journalism, I tend to devour news magazines. I was a Newsweek subscriber for many years until the publication stopped publishing the week’s news and instead did deep dives into stories and issues that weren’t making headlines. So, I moved over to Time magazine, and while it still covers the news of the week, I’ve noticed more deep dives, too. But there’s one difference: I usually can tell when a deep dive is related to something going on in the world that week.

I didn’t realize I’ve been a Time subscriber for nearly seven years until I cam across a back issue in which there were two words I couldn’t believe someone had written. One was very old and the other was very slangy.

I’ll address them in order I read them. The article, detailing a Japanese clothier’s strategies, had this: “He dresses casually in a plaid shirt and brown pants — his own label, natch — and underlines his brand loyalty …”

This wasn’t the first time I had come across natch. When I have, I pause because I don’t know what that means. Then I continue reading as if I had never read it.

But this time, I looked it up. Natch, my dictionary revealed, is a slang term from about 1945 that is a shortened form of the word naturally. It also means “of course.”

Why do we need to shorten naturally? It’s a perfectly decent word. I can’t remember ever hearing anyone use it. I’ve only read it.

Later in the same article, on the same page, I read this: “[M]anagement experts have been preaching it to Japanese firms … for nigh on two decades.”

I remember reading nigh in Shakespeare, perhaps in a sonnet or in a poetic passage in one of his plays (I found it in “Henry VI, Part 2:” Was I for this nigh wrecked upon the sea). My dictionary shows the word goes back to the 12th century (or hundreds of years before Shakespeare) and means “near” as a preposition and “to come near” as a verb.

So, is the article’s author, Michael Schuman, in the 12th or 21st century? He’s using the words correctly, but both stuck out when I came across them, and I remember my journalism instructors teaching that any pause might cause a reader to stop reading.

In my case, it caused me to blog about it.

A nigh for a nigh, a natch for a natch.

Until next time! Use the right words!

leebarnathan.com

Much About Marijuana, Cannabis and CBD

Seventeen states have legalized medical marijuana. Another 19 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical and recreational marijuana. At least one federal government hasn’t, but that’s another issue. I’m here to write about how to use the words marijuana, medical marijuana and some related terms.

The actual plant name is cannabis. There are three different plants: cannabis sativa, cannabis indica and cannabis ruderalis. None are native to the United States, but hemp is a variety of cannabis sativa that is grown for industrial use. Hemp also generally refers to the planet fibers that are used to make clothing, rope, paper and other products. Marijuana is the dried flower of the cannabis plant.

There’s also chemical compounds knows as cannabinoids, but since that’s a scientific term, it might be better to just use compounds, chemicals or derivatives, although I’ve seen many cannabis shops use cannabinoids when referring to them. 

Perhaps the most known cannabinoid is THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol. It is the main psychoactive component, so you might see “no THC” signs at cannabis stores who want to sell you on what they consider the benefits of cannabis without the “high.”

Outside North America, cannabis is used, sometimes because marijuana was popularized in the United States to stoke anti-Mexican sentiment in the early 20th century. Inside the United States, pot, weed, reefer, ganja and 420 are used, but all but pot are all slang terms and should be recognized as such and used sparingly.

In the U.S., when cannabis is used for medical purposes, it is generally known as medical marijuana, although medical cannabis is also correct. Regardless, it refers to the dried flowers that are smoked, vaporized or eaten.

Some of the cannabis plant’s compounds are in pharmaceutical or dietary supplements that the federal or state governments that haven’t legalized marijuana allow. Their active ingredients may be isolated naturally or in labs. One of these is the prescription drug Marinol, which contains synthetic THC and hemp oil. A popular hemp oil is cannabidiol, also known as CBD oil. If you use the term CBD oil, make sure it’s really that product.

There are synthetic cannabis compounds, such as Spice or K2 that some people describe as dangerous. It’s better to call them “synthetic marijuana,” “imitation marijuana” or “imitation cannabis” because that’s more accurate. Calling it “synthetic THC” is wrong because it generally contains other chemicals.

I don’t know about you, but I think after reading that, I’m, ready for some.

Until next time! Use the right words!

leebarnathan.com

“Butt Naked” and Other Misused Phrases

Maybe it’s because I just wrote about how I get words wrong sometimes, or maybe it’s coincidence, or maybe it’s because my brother in law knows this would interest me, but he sent me a series of phrases that people often misuse.

This list came courtesy of Buzzfeed, but I did some additional research and will credit when applicable.

Free reign – I admit to getting this one wrong. Many people think it has to do with somebody ruling however they please, but the correct spelling is free rein. It still means to do what one wants, but it stems from holding a horse’s reins loosely so it can move freely.

Butt naked – This is another one I’ve gotten wrong. Like many people, I always thought that, since butt has long referred to one’s buttocks, which can’t be seen with any kind of covering, that butt naked was the phrase. But it’s buck naked. Grammarphobia and Merriam-Webster suggest butt naked came out of phonic confusion. Face it, we don’t hear well.

Hone in – You actually home in on a location; you hone your skills.

Hunger pains – Sometimes, what people feel when they’re hungry can hurt, but hunger pangs, a medical term referring to cramps that are caused by hunger, is correct.

Changing tact – People who change an approach to a situation might think this is correct, but it’s changing tack, from the nautical term for changing a boat’s direction.

Chock it up – I bet this is one kids get wrong because it sounds like the real term, chalk it up. As the Buzzfeed article says, “A fridge can be chock-full of vegetables, but when it comes to explaining why something happened, you’ll want to go with chalk.

There are a few others that are misspelled because they sound alike: Shoo-in/shoe-in, sleight of hand/slight of hand, baited breath/bated breath. Shoo-in, sleight of hand and bated breath are correct – unless you’re referring to a protest with shoes, a hand moving slightly or fishy breath.

Thanks to Bruce G. for the article.

Until next time! Use the right words!

leebarnathan.com 

“Forever” Remains a Long Time

Today, my daughter put on a Taylor Swift CD (“Fearless”) and listened to a song (I think it was “Hey Stephen”), saying, “I haven’t heard this song in forever.”

That got me thinking.

I know there is a usage for forever that means “a really long time,” but I wasn’t sure if it was slang or acceptable usage.

In my dictionary, it says this usage of the word goes back to 1858. Dictionary.com says it’s informal.

Next, I wanted to know if slang and informal were synonymous. The definition of slang: “an informal nonstandard vocabulary composed typically of coinages, arbitrarily changed words, and extravagant, forced, or facetious figures of speech.”

So, use this version of forever at your peril, but remember the true definition: “for a limitless time.”

Until next time! Use the right words!

leebarnathan.com