The Words of the Week - Mar. 1
Dictionary lookups from the calendar, the arts, and the English language
‘Preposition’
We tweeted something about ending sentences with prepositions last week, and it seems to have caused a stir.
It is permissible in English for a preposition to be what you end a sentence with.
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) February 15, 2024
The idea that it should be avoided came from writers who were trying to align the language with Latin, but there is no reason to suggest ending a sentence with a preposition is wrong.
The matter was sufficiently arousing that a number of news organizations thought it worth covering:
Terrible news for pedants as Merriam-Webster relaxes the rules of English—It’s fine to end a sentence with a preposition, according to a shock ruling from the American dictionary publisher.
— (headline) The Guardian (London), 27 Feb. 2024
While we applaud any passionate discussion of language, and think that any (respectful) discussion of linguistic use is to the public’s benefit, there is something about the above-cited newspaper story that needs correcting: we do not relax the rules of English, not even if you ask us very nicely, or offer to give us fifty dollars. You, the English-speaking people, are the ones who—shift is perhaps a better word than relax—make changes to the language, and we (and every other dictionary) merely try to keep up with, and document, these changes. And yes, it is fine to end a sentence with a preposition.
‘Bait and switch’
An exhibit that claimed to offer a simulacrum of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory ended up being a poorly planned knock-off, causing bait and switch to become part of the conversation.
The first thing that jumps off the page ... set descriptions painting a picture of a whimsical, enchanting and immersive experience do not line up AT ALL with what was actually awaiting paying parents, who ended up demanding refunds for the bait and switch.
— TMZ, 28 Feb. 2028
A bait and switch is “the ploy of offering a person something desirable to gain favor (such as political support) then thwarting expectations with something less desirable.” The term came into use in the 1940s, and originally referred (and sometimes still does refer) to a sales tactic in which a customer is attracted by the advertisement of a low-priced item but is then encouraged to buy a higher-priced one.
In this ‘bait-and-switch’ practice, salesmen sometimes disparage the advertised merchandise or claim all of it has been sold in order to divert the customer to higher-priced goods.
— Thomas F. Conroy, The New York Times, 6 Apr. 1947
‘Fanfic’
A widely-shared article on the practice of people taking books that were written in imitation of a writer, selling them online, and then not giving any money to either the author who wrote it, or the author who was imitated, caused searches for fanfic to spike.
Lots of People Make Money on Fanfic. Just Not the Authors
— (headline) Wired, 28 Feb. 2024
Fanfic is a shortening of fan fiction, itself defined as “stories involving popular fictional characters that are written by fans and often posted on the Internet.” While fanfic and fan fiction are often used of writing posted online, both words predate the Internet age; fanfic has been in use since 1968 and fan fiction since 1939.
‘Leap year’
The week saw the addition of a 29th day to the month of February, and, as always when this happens, people all over were talking about leap year.
Why Do We Have a Leap Year Anyway? Without adding an extra day to February every four years, our calendar would get increasingly out of sync with the cosmos.
— Scientific American, 23 Feb. 2024
A leap year, as most of you doubtless already know, is “a year in the Gregorian calendar containing 366 days with February 29 as the extra day.” But what only some of you know is that this may also be called a bissextile year, a tidbit of information that will really come in handy if you can remember it four years from now. And since we’re on the topic of ‘word facts that more or less relate to the leap year,’ you should also know that the word quadrennial means “occurring or being done every four years.”
Words Worth Knowing: ‘Antipelargy’
Our word worth knowing this week is antipelargy, defined by Thomas Blount in his 1656 dictionary as “the reciprocal love of children to their Parents, or (more generally) any requital or mutual kindness.” The reason we are giving you a definition from someone else’s dictionary is that this word fell into sufficient disuse that we no longer enter it. The absence of the word in written form does not mean that the thing it refers to has gone away, and we hope you have plenty of antipelargy in your week.
