海角大神

A reader in Florida has sent, without comment, a column clipped from his local paper. In it, the opinionator blasts the 鈥渃rutch phrases鈥� and 鈥渉yperbole鈥� widely used in the news media. The word coming in for particular derision: extraordinary.

I鈥檓 not sure how this reader expected me to respond. But if something is not extraordinary, why is it news? And journalism needs to provide context and perspective. That means that words like 鈥渦nprecedented鈥� and 鈥渉istoric鈥� have specific, valuable meanings, although they usually benefit from tight framing (e.g., 鈥渟ince World War II鈥� or 鈥渟ince records were first kept in 1869.鈥�)

Extraordinary has two main meanings. Its literal background is 鈥渙ut of鈥� or 鈥渙utside鈥� (鈥渆xtracurricular activities鈥� are outside the usual curriculum) plus 鈥渙rdinary,鈥� meaning 鈥渁ccording to the rule.鈥� An 鈥渆xtraordinary city council meeting鈥� may be simply one beyond the usual 鈥渆very first and third Tuesday,鈥� for instance.

But in its second sense, extraordinary means 鈥渉ighly exceptional鈥� or 鈥渞emarkable鈥� 鈥� newsworthy, in short. In that sense, an extraordinary city council meeting may be one that breaks down into fisticuffs.

Note something about the pronunciation: The two vowels together, 鈥渁o,鈥� are unusual in English. If you want to convey the word鈥檚 literal background, you鈥檙e likely to say 鈥渆xtra ordinary,鈥� with what phoneticians call a 鈥済lottal stop,鈥� like that little tap of the vocal brakes at the front of each syllable of 鈥渦h-oh,鈥� for instance, if that鈥檚 what you say when you get to the supermarket and realize you鈥檝e left your shopping list at home.

The more energized extraordinary (the fisticuffs one), however, is pronounced more forcefully, with the second and third syllables smashed together into one long vowel: ex-TRORD-inary. People tend to say it as if they think it鈥檚 spelled with a 鈥渞oar鈥� in the middle.

Sometimes words that start out pretty ferocious-sounding (awfully, terribly, etc.) get used as all-purpose intensifiers to the point where they lose all ferocity: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 awfully kind of you, sir.鈥�

My current bugbear along this line is insane. This word is being pushed down the path of general superlative, even as it is still needed in its original literal sense.聽

When a young man reports that he鈥檚 met his fianc茅e鈥檚 family 鈥渁nd they鈥檙e all insane,鈥� for instance, you can鈥檛 be sure whether he wants his ring back, or just means 鈥淭hey鈥檙e all so insanely warm and inclusive.鈥� Not that I could tell you what exactly 鈥渋nsanely warm and inclusive鈥� would mean.聽

The sense development of听别虫迟谤补辞谤诲颈苍补谤测, however, seems to have gone in the other direction, from merely 鈥渦nusual鈥� to 鈥渉ighly exceptional.鈥� It still doesn鈥檛 mean 鈥渦nique in all human history,鈥� though, which may be the standard our irate opinionator was holding out for.

I鈥檓 surprised to hear myself come down on the side of a clich茅, but sometimes set phrases get 鈥渟et鈥� for a reason. When they鈥檙e looking to signal that 鈥渁ttention must be paid,鈥� journalists can do worse than extraordinary.