classical curmudgeon

[calimac]

1) I got an e-mail today regarding my Frederic Chiu review from last year. The writer maintains his own classical review web site in his own town, and referred me to his own Chiu review. He even offered to treat me lunch if I'm in his area, which was very kind.

I do think, though, that people who keep an e-mail whitelist should remember to put on that list anybody you write to and expect a response from, so they don't get one of those "you must click on this link within 14 days" automated comebacks when they do respond. Maybe he just forgot.

2) I made the mistake of reading the other reviews this week on the website that I write for. You know, we're supposed to have copyeditors, so why does one of the reviews say that the conductor "led a taught performance"? Oh, whimper.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

(image: musicians downing instruments to do a quick algebra lesson)

[irontongue.livejournal.com]

Uh-oh! Time for email to Catherine??

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I've recently begun to think that the word "fazed" is joining the word "bated" as an apparently incomprehensible archaicism.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I can't think of any way to point this out without being unbearably snotty about it. Ergo silebo.

[irontongue.livejournal.com]

"I think the writer meant 'taut' here."?

[scribblerworks.livejournal.com]

Oh, indeed! In fact, I've seen people online type it "phased" because they don't know they are two different words!

*sigh*

And the way English collects and steals words makes it such a fun language! Why do people not learn the richness of it? *sniff* Instead of mangling homonyms? *whimper*

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Well, as you say, they just don't know it's two different words. I'd guess that a lot of it comes from hearing the word first instead of reading it. You hear it as "phased," and it gets stuck in your head that way. Although you'd think eventually you'd see it written and think, "Huh? What's that?"

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

I think it's a combination of what Randy says below (hearing a word first, and then reading it), and spell checkers, which can't tell you when the wrong word is correctly spelled.

[nwl.livejournal.com]

"led a taught performance"?

Perhaps he was giving a class with the performance.

On the national news late night (I think it was last night), there was an article on how alternative spellings of several words are being added to the dictionary. Among them are "vocal cord" and "vocal chord" and "free rein" and "free reign". I think it was ABC and it may be on their web site.

[scribblerworks.livejournal.com]

I've noticed on some message boards - where the regular posters include some genuinely literate folks - that more people are putting in "free reign" for "free rein". I suppose that as we get further and further from the regular use of horses, losing "rein" to "reign" makes a sort of sense. Even though I don't think "run without restriction" quite equates with "rule without restriction".