English language

OnWords: The Contradiction Of Myths

Lael Ewy — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:00:00 +0000

We use the word “myth” in at least two almost contradictory ways. Most commonly, we use myth to mean falsehood, a hoax without the intention to deceive.

This is the myth sites like snopes.com and shows like Mythbusters serve to dispel. It is also a product of the Age of Enlightenment, when a seemingly rational universe called not for myth but for measurement.

OnWords: Functions Of Lying

Lael Ewy — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 17:17:32 +0000

The most powerful lies aren’t the day-to-day, so-called white lies--that we’re ”fine” or that we genuinely care if complete strangers “have a good one.” These are, in fact, sometimes important parts of being polite.

OnWords: Ideology, Love It Or Hate It?

Lael Ewy — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:00:00 +0000

The conflicted and often contradictory ways Americans use the word “ideology” reveals the conflicted and often contradictory ways we view ourselves.

OnWords: Momentum

Lael Ewy — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 18:30:00 +0000

“Momentum” is a word that we don’t usually think of as having a technical origin, even though we hear it used a lot by reporters during election season. A typical use would be something like “Senator Belfry’s campaign seems to have gained momentum following his recent speech to the Bloom County Chamber of Commerce.” There seems to be nothing technical about that.

OnWords: Proper English

Lael Ewy — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:30:00 +0000

What we consider correct or proper English has long been bound up in class distinctions. Prior to the advent of public education, this was much more obvious than it is now. Proper English defined itself as the English used by proper people. “Real” English was the English of aristocrats, thus the phrase “The Queen's English,” which is still with us today.

But even in the supposedly classless or at least socially mobile U.S., we tend to attribute correctness to the social “winners”: educated, urban, northerners, preferably those from “old money.”