Blogtrek

Some miscellany

Here are some comments I have about words people use. The words very and extreme are used far too frequently. "The revelation is shocking." sounds much stronger than "The revelation is very shocking.", for example. That word shocking carries with it a jolt that gets lost when very is put in front of it. As far as I can see, that is a phrase that can be eliminated. Why don't we ever say "as near as"? It is important to complete applications before the doo-doo date indicated on the form. On the other hand, why not go over the deadline, even though it is a very unique point in time. On the other hand, you can't have something that is "very unique"; unique means there is only one of them, and you can't be oner (pronounced wun-ner) than one. On the original hand, why doesn't anyone say that? Take this quote, which comes from a recent financial article on the web:

The Conference Board's October consumer confidence report -- due a half-hour after the markets open -- is expected to show a significant drop to 90 from 93.3 in September, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com. The drop may be attributable to a six-week decline in stocks that ran through September, thus not reflecting the recent three-week runup that has seen the Dow gain nearly 15 percent.

Whaaa?? How can runups see? They don't have eyes. I give speeches at Toastmaster club meetings; I do this because I know these speeches are apotamy. I.e., they are a part of me. All in all in all, I say this is a good blog, and I say very goodnight.