All In a Word
Bending over backward to be wrongAs the term 'prestige construction' hints, hypercorrection is intimately bound up with issues of social class.
When words get 鈥榞irl cooties鈥�A word that starts out as a neutral or even positive term for men聽feminizes聽(becomes exclusively identified with women) and often聽pejorates聽(gets worse).
Where did all the hoydens go?It is hard even to imagine聽hoyden聽as a meaningful term of reproach and criticism today. Why shouldn鈥檛 girls climb trees? What鈥檚 wrong with women laughing loudly and saying what they think?
Can the punniest also be the funniest?Why, as John Pollack writes in 鈥淭he Pun Also Rises,鈥� do we consider puns 鈥渢he lowest form of humor?鈥�
Must Dennis be a dentist?A group of psychologists recently published a paper claiming that nominative determinism actually works. They found that men named Dennis were more likely to be dentists, the theory being that 'people choose 鈥� or are unconsciously drawn to 鈥� careers that resemble their own names.'
Can comity and Comey coexist?The US Senate is 鈥� or was 鈥� strongly associated with ideals of comity. Many of the recent articles about former FBI Director James Comey, however, suggest that Senate comity is under threat or already destroyed.聽聽 聽
Exactly how often is that?Even if you decide to make a firm distinction between聽bi-聽and聽semi-, these words are used so interchangeably that it鈥檚 still confusing.- When plump was a pleasing wordIt was only at the turn of the 20th century that a high enough proportion of Westerners had so much food that thinness resulting from self-denial became the standard of beauty.聽
You say pitato 鈥�As a result of technology and the prevalence of social media, we are now seeing a return to much earlier attitudes about spelling. The criterion then was simple: If people understood you, you were spelling it right.
From one word lover to anotherI never met Ruth Walker in person, but I felt I got to know her.