The Language Perfectionist: Words That Come in Two Flavors

By Don Hauptman

I read The New York Times regularly. Notwithstanding its reputation, this esteemed newspaper often proves to be a fertile source of misuses for this column. Within the space of a few days, for example, I found these two sentences in its pages:

• Photo caption: Jed Walentas, a real estate developer, says that an 18-story building would not be obtrusive, and that a smaller one is unfeasible.

• Headline: Town Mourns Typical Businessman Who Took Untypical Risks

The words unfeasible and untypical are not necessarily wrong, but they are nonstandard. The preferred forms are infeasible and atypical.

Garner's Modern American Usage, one of my favorite authorities on matters linguistic, uses the term "needless variants" - "two or more forms of the same word without nuance or differentiation."

The English language contains numerous word pairs with identical meanings but which differ in minor ways, as the examples above demonstrate. One form is usually regarded as standard, however, and that's the one you should use.

Here are a few more words to use - and avoid:

• complacency, not complacence
• ironic, not ironical
• orient, not orientate
• preventive, not preventative

When in doubt as to which version of a word to use, consult a good dictionary or style guide.

It's Fun to Know: Luxury Cave Living

Twenty million people in northern China are full-time residents of caves. The Chinese first turned to this unconventional lifestyle because of poverty. But even now, as the region becomes more prosperous, many feel more comfortable living underground.

It turns out that cave dwelling ain't all that bad. There is no mortgage to pay, for one. And since the caves, known as yaodong, tend to be passed down for generations, they've become customized with electricity, running water, and even cable TV. Also, the natural insulation keeps temperatures warm in winter and cool in summer.

(Source: McClatchy Newspapers)

Word to the Wise: Blackguard

A "blackguard" (BLAG-urd) is a rude or unscrupulous person, a scoundrel. The word originally referred to the lowest servants of a nobleman's household, jokingly called the "black guard."

Example (as used by Saul David in Prince of Pleasure): "The years, as time went on, imparted to him that peculiar majesty that white-haired blackguards, successful (and unpunished) criminals, seem generally to possess."

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These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #2604, 02-28-09], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.