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#38 (March 26, 2010): Debate Club
Spring is in the air, which explains both the blossoming exuberance in our hearts and the nonstop sneezing in our
offices. Yes, our cranky word-nerdery is in full flower; witness this issue's rant about heedless abbreviation, a non-debater's
introduction to argumentative fallacies, a salute to new "On Language" columnist Ben Zimmer, and the latest dandelion in the Not Our
Clients weed patch. Gesundheit!
Red Pen Diaries: Stop Abbreviation Abuse Now!
In most digital media — from text messages and tweets to marketing e-blasts and Web pages — brevity is the soul of wit. But I wonder if those using "fail" as a stand-in for "failure" are simply witless.
If you regularly use "fail" instead of "failure," please
why. Is it because you think it sounds cool? (It doesn't.) Is it because you're in a hurry? If the latter, how much time do you save in not typing "ure?"
As America's ongoing adventure in health-care legislation illustrates, our public square can produce some loud, emotional
arguments. But it would be a stretch to call the incessant volley of epithets and doom-saying that have characterized the health-reform
saga a "debate."
Traditional debate, wherein one posits a claim and attempts to make a persuasive case with logic and examples, whether deductively or inductively, has come to seem as quaint as an 8-track
player in our tweety-speedy demimonde. Even our political "debates," which ape the formal structure of more rigorous rhetorical
face-offs, are more tailored to the coining of killer sound bites and "gotcha" moments — and, lest we forget, the cultivation of
on-camera gravitas — than winning on the merits.
We've known and cherished Ben Zimmer for some time as the editor of word-nerd destination The Visual Thesaurus; in that capacity he's done us the honor of syndicating material originally created for "Editorializing" — and taught us a thing or two via both his published articles and delightful correspondence. We're not alone in recognizing the man's prose-writing prowess, editorial acumen and garrulous grace, however: Ben has been tapped to succeed the legendary William Safire as the New York Times Magazine's "On Language" columnist. Safire launched "On Language" in 1979, and his departure for The Great Reference Library in the Sky left huge shoes to fill. But we feel confident that Ben has big feet. We wish him great success.
Photo: Monico Rabara
Not Our Clients: Frog in Our Throat Edition
We enjoyed the museum's frog exhibit — but some explanatory copy on the wall nearly gave us warts.
Hey, kids: Find the FOUR punctuation errors in this paragraph and you can be the new curator!
For more lamentable samples from the swamps of poor usage, swim over to Not Our Clients. Has a similar outrage hopped onto your virtual lily pad? Don't just croak about it;
If we choose to post it, you'll earn yourself an iTunes gift card, redeemable for the soundtrack to "The Princess and the Frog," "Peace Frog" by the Doors or Kermit's lament "It's Not Easy Being Green," among other amphibian attractions.
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In most digital media — from text messages and tweets to marketing e-blasts and Web pages — brevity is the soul of wit. But I wonder if those using "fail" as a stand-in for "failure" are simply witless.
As America's ongoing adventure in health-care legislation illustrates, our public square can produce some loud, emotional
arguments. But it would be a stretch to call the incessant volley of epithets and doom-saying that have characterized the health-reform
saga a "debate."
We've known and cherished Ben Zimmer for some time as the editor of word-nerd destination 
