{"id":3055,"date":"2018-01-26T06:56:11","date_gmt":"2018-01-26T11:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/?p=3055"},"modified":"2018-01-26T06:57:59","modified_gmt":"2018-01-26T11:57:59","slug":"facebook-language-blogs-often-get-it-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/facebook-language-blogs-often-get-it-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook Language Blogs Often Get It Wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"

On any given day, Facebook is filled with useful things like news stories you might miss because you don\u2019t follow certain bloggers or check out various web sites. And even \u201c18 Ways To Make A Really Great Rum and Coke.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also been burdened by quizzes like \u201cAnswer these questions and we\u2019ll tell you what kind of snake you are.\u201d And worst of all, the language advice blogs. I\u2019m not sure why those are so popular, but they crop up all the time, get endlessly re-posted, and they\u2019re often filled with dubious assertions.<\/p>\n

Not so long ago, I read one written by a best-selling inspirational author whose apparent audience is people in the business world. His aim in that column is to keep \u201csmart\u201d people from sounding \u201csilly,\u201d but his advice is mediocre and error-prone. Seriously, why should you trust someone who thinks that correct word choice is \u201cEnglish grammar\u201d? It\u2019s not. It\u2019s a question of diction.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>That writer further diminishes his credibility because he seems to think that words like \u201caffect\u201d and \u201cnauseated\u201d are sophisticated.<\/p>\n

He also doesn\u2019t understand that the strict distinction between \u201cnauseous\u201d and nauseated\u201d broke down years ago. It\u2019s perfectly acceptable to say that you feel nauseous when you mean \u201csick to my stomach.\u201d Pedants might not approve, but that\u2019s too bad.<\/p>\n

He trots out the tired dictum that \u201cironic\u201d can\u2019t mean weirdly or cruelly unexpected. Of course it can, and yes, breaking your leg right before a ski trip is deeply ironic, not just coincidental. It\u2019s a reversal of expectations\u2014one of the prime meanings of ironic\u2014because you expected to be skiing and now you won\u2019t be able to. Despite all the planning, the lessons, the money you\u2019ve spent on equipment, etc.<\/p>\n

Now, some language bullies might despise that usage or misunderstand it\u2014look how people have dissed Alanis Morissette\u2019s \u201cIronic\u201d over the years\u2014but there\u2019s nothing wrong with it.<\/p>\n

His ultimate advice is to learn \u201crules.\u201d Seriously? That\u2019s okay when it comes to distinguishing between \u201clay\u201d and \u201clie,\u201d but it\u2019s not nearly enough. As an author and teacher of writing, I think rules are a good foundation. But being familiar with the language as it\u2019s written\u2014and in different registers\u2014is more important.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s disappointing that an author who wants people to sound more literate wouldn\u2019t recommend that his fans become more literate: that is, actually read more so they have a better understanding of how English works.<\/p>\n

But even people you\u2019d expect to be language mavens, like lexicographer Kory Stamper, can write nonsense. In a blog supposedly dredging up \u201cdelightful\u201d neglected words that need to be polished and enjoyed because they\u2019re supposedly out of sight, with a word like \u201cSchadenfreude\u201d presented as a prime example.<\/p>\n

Google it and you\u2019ll find three and a half million hits.<\/p>\n

Lev Raphael is the author of 25 books in genres from memoir to mystery, including Writer’s Block is Bunk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On any given day, Facebook is filled with useful things like news stories you might miss because you don\u2019t follow certain bloggers or check out various web sites. And even \u201c18 Ways To Make A Really Great Rum and Coke.\u201d But it\u2019s also been burdened by quizzes like \u201cAnswer these questions and we\u2019ll tell you … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1048,1045,1051,499,1046,1049,1044,1050,1047],"class_list":["post-3055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-facebook","tag-alanis-morisette","tag-diction","tag-english-usage","tag-facebook","tag-grammar","tag-irony","tag-language-blogs","tag-language-rules","tag-pedantry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3055"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3066,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3055\/revisions\/3066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}