WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!

No need to strike that pose

When I'm reading an article about a trial that says the judge will "entertain" a motion, a scene pops in my head. The motion is sitting -- motionless -- in the judge's chambers as the judge grabs a top hat and a cane and starts a song-and-dance in the Michigan J. Frog tradition.

That's entertainment.

Then I grow somber when I remember that to entertain a motion just means to consider a legal request.

Verbs can be flashy. I can't explain why some verbs are used in some cases. I can only wonder about them.

Sometimes verbs make a sentence sound fancier.

I have read about candidates "mounting a challenge" in an election. That makes me think that the person is doing so in hiking clothes. Why not just say that a candidate is challenging an incumbent?

Before news conferences, we may hear that a spokesman will "field questions." Will he be wearing his baseball mitt and shades in case one query is a pop fly? It's not likely. He'll just be answering some questions.

A recent Bloomberg News headline said that tech stocks were "staging a comeback." Maybe they have rented a theater and will put on a show. But, more likely, the stocks are rallying, improving or recovering.

When you want someone to take a photo of you, you may "strike a pose." Why use physical force with the pose? You probably only need to "pose" for a picture.

Do you "negotiate a turn" when you're driving in a rural area? Does this involve extensive discussions and a fair amount of give and take? It just means you've managed to get by a curve successfully.

One verb used in medical jargon is "present," with the accent on the second syllable. Your doctors could discuss when your condition presents with symptoms. It simply means the condition shows itself.

Some verbs do not sound at all fancy.

I read in a book recently that three men, eager to get someplace, "piled into the car." Clowns have been known to pile into a car, squishing themselves inside to achieve maximum density. But these guys probably just got in the car, with no one piled onto anyone else.

Have you ever "hopped into the shower"? Me neither. It could be dangerous if the floor was at all wet.

Have you ever seen anyone "thumb through" a magazine? It means the person isn't reading it carefully -- he's only passing the time with it. But is he really using his thumbs? Check this next time you're in your doctor's waiting room.

Some verbs are regional.

"Fixing to" do something is primarily a Southernism. It means you were just planning to act.

We were fixing to go to the store.

GOBBLEDYGOOK

We don't often know the dates that words join the language, but in the case of "gobbledygook," we do.

The word was first used by Texan Fontaine Maury Maverick.

After serving in Congress and as mayor of San Antonio, Maverick was chairman in the 1940s of the Smaller War Plants Corp. That agency aimed to help small businesses efficiently produce equipment for military personnel in the war and supplies for the civilians at home.

These jobs exposed him to a lot of bureaucratic language, and he grew tired of it.

In 1944, Maverick wrote a story in The New York Times Magazine lamenting the murky, arcane language that his colleagues used.

An image of a turkey helped him come up with the word. He said the turkey was "always gobbledy gobbling and strutting with ludicrous pomposity."

I think he was a bit harsh to the poor turkey, but I agree with the assessment of bureaucratese.

He ordered those working for him to be more clear and more concise.

"Let's stop pointing up programs, finalizing contracts that stem from district, regional or Washington levels. No more patterns, effectuating, dynamics. Anyone using the words activation or implementation will be shot."

He was a fan of drastic measures, I guess.

Sources: Merriam-Webster, Law.com, Thesaurus.com, World Wide Words, Texas State Historical Association, Words on Words by John B. Bremner, The Free Dictionary

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ActiveStyle on 05/14/2018

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