Say the Magic Word

THE ELEGANT USE OF LANGUAGE is something I’m passionate about, and if you’re reading Reader’s Digest I reckon there’s a fair chance it’s something that matters to you too. We get more letters taking us to task for the use of a sloppy phrase, or a dodgy sentence structure than just about anything else. Whether we’re plain wrong, can defend our “sins” or agree to disagree, it’s always a hearty conversation among people who care about words and grammar in the service of smart communication.

As our chief subeditor can’t help but mention in her Living Language column this issue (page 80), I find it difficult to contain my tskk tskks every time I hear or see a less when it should (according to my dear old rules) be fewer. And I cheer when pretty and precise words that have fallen out of common use, such as egregious and mellifluous are given a second chance.

I trace my foibles back to an idiosyncratic English teacher at college, whose personal lexical line in the sand was vital. Any student who used the term to mean anything other than “consisting in, constituted by, that immaterial force or principle which is present in living beings or organisms” (thank you, Shorter Oxford English Dictionary) was immediately marked down. Not just by a point or two, but dropped a whole grade.

As arbitrary as it seemed at the time, it taught me that the English language often has exactly the word for the moment you’re trying to describe, it just needs finding – and that’s where the fun lies.

Do you have a favourite word, or a new standard that leaves you grimacing? I’d love to hear from you – see the page opposite for how to share your language loves and loathes.