LEND ME YOUR EAR: MISTAKES IN USAGE CAN SOMETIMES PUT US IN A WHIRL

Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms carries this bewildering sub-title: "A Dictionary of Discriminated Synonyms with Antonyms and Analogous and Contrasted Words." Which explains why I keep it on the floor in my study, as far from the desk as space will allow.

American English is like no other, with so many related terms listed as synonyms that many speakers and writers wind up scrambling what they want to convey. Following are examples added to my notes in recent weeks.

On a TV commercial advertising new health treatments, viewers learned of a new stimulator that "subsides the pain." No dictionary lists "subside" as a transitive verb, though there are synonyms that serve the purpose. A stimulator may reduce the pain, or ease or lessen the pain, but to "subside" anything is beyond the pale of English.

Everyone knows about the Black Box that made international news some time ago for taking so many lives in the Florida Everglades.

A Florida correspondent asked, "What will they prevail about the Black Box if they ever find it?" To "prevail" means to "predominate." No way can it be used as a synonym or related term for "discover."

On a recent police report, an announcer stated that a prisoner had been "confronted of stealing." To "confront" is to charge, not necessarily to convict, but how are we to know which?

Somewhere in the state of Illinois, a village fire proved so devastating it became "nationally news." A TV networker informed us that the fire "destroyed hundreds of people to evacuate." For the information of anyone who needs it, the fire destroyed the village, not the people. Nor could the news be termed "nationally."

News is national; it spreads nationally. Never mind the thought that suggests itself regarding the "evacuation." This is the sort of blunder that puts us in a whirl.

On a report concerning plans to return businesses to the city, TV listeners heard "What type of business are we trying to recur?" "Recur" and "return" count as synonyms, but only "return" would have been acceptable. "Recur" suggests additional relapses. Besides, it listens all wrong!

At a meeting to discuss the increasing cost of real estate, a prospective buyer asked the group what the "origination" price of the building was. Had the speaker never heard the commonly-used adjective "original"? Or did "origination" sound more impressive to him? A noun for an adjective seldom impresses anyone except the originator.

Speaking of "group," how does "groupling" strike you? A guest on Charles Osgood's Sunday Morning used it a little while back to describe the media's list of Whitewater scandals. Perhaps he meant to say "grouping," and the inserted "l" was a slip. Or was he thinking those involved in Whitewater had an "l" of a task ahead?

So have all half-baked educators who insist that OBE (Object-Based Education) is the right way to go. Of OBE, one VIP at the conference declared: "It's our ability to come to a resolution." Our response to this is "Just say NO," but no one has consulted us. Too bad. At least we know the difference between "ability" and "responsibility." We also understand the distinction between "resolution" and "decision."

On a TV feature about the life and times of Emily Firebaugh, the biographer elaborated: As a young girl, Emily's father taught her..."

I was so flabbergasted by the suggestion that a father could have been a young girl, I failed to record what Emily's father had taught her. Her biographer appeared to have a fine command of English, but he flunked sentence structure this time around.

~Aileen Lorberg is a language columnist for the Southeast Missourian.