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In another forum someone said of Obama's acceptance speech: "And Mr. Eloquence and Inspirational Orator made one of the most common and egregious errors in his vocabulary!" I have read the transcript and am wondering what this egregious error could be. Anybody?
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Probably his use of the word enormity, but, if by egregious, the complainer means 'out of the herd' that's probably just as questionable. The use of enormity to mean 'enormousness' or 'immensity', while rejected by some, is fairly common.
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I want to see the volumes this person has had to have written about Bush...
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"Errors in his vocabulary" doesn't strike me as a correct use of "vocabulary".
If I read the wrong book, are there errors in my library?
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I want to see the volumes this person has had to have written about Bush... The person who made the comment voted for Obama. I omitted that because my question was just about language not politics.
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Probably his use of the word enormity, but, if by egregious, the complainer means 'out of the herd' that's probably just as questionable. The use of enormity to mean 'enormousness' or 'immensity', while rejected by some, is fairly common. Thanks Faldage I missed that. Interesting to see the OED say Excess in magnitude; hugeness, vastness. Obs.; recent examples might perh. be found, but the use is now regarded as incorrect.
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I want to see the volumes this person has had to have written about Bush... The person who made the comment voted for Obama. I omitted that because my question was just about language not politics. My post had no political intent or connotation, and for whom s/he voted doesn't matter to me. I was referring to the fact that Bush is infamous for his self-contradiction and extremely poor command of the English language, about which volumes actually have been written.
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I want to see the volumes this person has had to have written about Bush... The person who made the comment voted for Obama. I omitted that because my question was just about language not politics. My post had no political intent or connotation, and for whom s/he voted doesn't matter to me. I was referring to the fact that Bush is infamous for his self-contradiction and extremely poor command of the English language, about which volumes actually have been written. Yes i think thats why the person I quoted made the comment. To them Obamas "gaffe" was notable because of his reputation for oratory and mastery of English, two things of which Bush would never be accused.
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Excess in magnitude; hugeness, vastness. Obs.
Yes, the normative grammarians want it both ways: e.g., decimate etymological and nearly extinct meaning, but enormity's newer one. (That is the Other is always wrong, grammatically speaking.)
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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A. thought "green behind the ears" in one of those debates sounded pretty goofy.  Are any points deducted for lying or does only vocabulary count?
ÅΓª╥┐↕§
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Ruh roh, somwon's getting powitical..
And who said "green behind the ears"? That's pretty funny...
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And who said "green behind the ears"?The POTUS-elect ( link).
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Read all the comments in Nuncle Z's link.
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MDWEU: "We have seen that there is no clear basis for the 'rule' at all. We suggest that you follow the writers rather than the critics: writers use enormity with a richness and subtlety that the critics have failed to take account of. The stigmatized sense is entirely standard and has been for more than a century and a half."
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Nemmine enormity. The important thing is how does he pronounce NUCULAR?
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Regarding enormity, this analysis from Language Log may be of some interest to the Defenders of the Language Against All Things Evil.
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And who said "green behind the ears"?The POTUS-elect ( link). Nice acronym. I like the sound of POTUS to describe a political figure. It's kind of like a cross between BOGUS and POTATO. "The POTUS today said that anyone who is green behind the ears should..." [complete the sentence]
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Regarding enormity, this analysis from Language Log may be of some interest to the Defenders of the Language Against All Things Evil. There's a language that is against all things evil?? Must be the language of heaven huh? 
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The POTUS article is interesting, and had me thinking about a couple of things:
greenhorn as the origin of "green". In checking this out, the etymology I found is Olde English, and referring to newly slaughtered animals. If anyone can clear that up a bit more for me, I'd appreciate it because it's not clicking in my brain...
The idea of "idiom blend", I suppose related to the mixed metaphor, is interesting. I love making combinations like this! One of my mother's favorite phrases was "Six of one, half dozen of another." I purposely "renew" that one when I use it, in different ways, but usually some variant of "Three dozen chickens, six dozen eggs". People usually just ignore it... But some of the examples given were:
It's not rocket science + It's not brain surgery = It's not rocket surgery
He's under the gun + He's behind the eight ball = He's under the eight ball
That's another kettle of fish + That's another can of worms = That's another kettle of worms
It might be fun to come up with a few, although I'm blanking at the moment... :0)
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The idea of "idiom blend", I suppose related to the mixed metaphor, is interesting. I love making combinations like this! One of my mother's favorite phrases was "Six of one, half dozen of another." I purposely "renew" that one when I use it, in different ways, but usually some variant of "Three dozen chickens, six dozen eggs". People usually just ignore it... But some of the examples given were:
It's not rocket science + It's not brain surgery = It's not rocket surgery
He's under the gun + He's behind the eight ball = He's under the eight ball
That's another kettle of fish + That's another can of worms = That's another kettle of worms
It might be fun to come up with a few, although I'm blanking at the moment... :0)
I'd contribute some but I'm not exactly the sharpest bulb in the six-pack.
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The idea of "idiom blend", I suppose related to the mixed metaphor, is interesting. I love making combinations like this! One of my mother's favorite phrases was "Six of one, half dozen of another." I purposely "renew" that one when I use it, in different ways, but usually some variant of "Three dozen chickens, six dozen eggs". People usually just ignore it... But some of the examples given were:
It's not rocket science + It's not brain surgery = It's not rocket surgery
He's under the gun + He's behind the eight ball = He's under the eight ball
That's another kettle of fish + That's another can of worms = That's another kettle of worms
It might be fun to come up with a few, although I'm blanking at the moment... :0)
I'd contribute some but I'm not exactly the sharpest bulb in the six-pack. But at least your heart's as big as gold.
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and my favourite by a friend "He looked like death run over."
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and my favourite by a friend "He looked like death run over." "You look like A Million Bucks! {after taxes}"
"I am certain there is too much certainty in the world" -Michael Crichton
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"A bird in the hand is worth two cats on a hot tin roof"
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My thought was to create some like the examples they gave, where the two idioms used actually have the same meaning, not two dissimilar phrases. This makes it harder. I can do a lame one for now:
don't spill the beans + don't let the cat out of the bag = don't let the beans out of the bag OR don't spill the cat
:0)
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and my favourite by a friend "He looked like death run over." Love it!
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greenhorn as the origin of "green". In checking this out, the etymology I found is Olde English, and referring to newly slaughtered animals. If anyone can clear that up a bit more for me, I'd appreciate it because it's not clicking in my brain...
When an animal's antlers, or horns, are just growing in, they can be referred to as "green".
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"Greenhorn (containing the sense of "new, fresh, recent") was first "young horned animal" (1455), then "recently enlisted soldier" (1650), then "any inexperienced person" (1682)."
The online etymology does not speak of slaughtered animals, only of 'new , fresh, recent. These words with horn at the back. I really do not understand where 'inkhorn' comes from. ('=')
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Michael Quinion explains all, or at least inkhorn.
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Thank you for that good article. In these days 'inkhorn' is an quite an inkhorn word. If I had known it as inkpot word, no one would have had to explain.
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