What's a limn, Part III

"Limn" seems to be a book reviewer's best friend. (See my first post on this topic.) At least that's the case for New York Times book reviewer Michiko Kakutani. 

Back in November 2002, New York magazine's Matt Gross called Kakutani out on her overuse of "limn" (see "One Life to Limn by Michiko Kakutani"--great head, by the way). 

Searching on the NYT website, I found seven more "limns" in Kakutani's reviews since then, though she keeps them to about one a year these days. Most recently, Kakutani wrote on January 28, 2010, that "Mr. Salinger was able to empathetically limn the nooks and crannies of his youthful narrator's psyches..." 

Thanks to my dear colleague Jane (whose creative mind mushed lime and rim to come up with another definition of "limn": to wet the rim of a margarita glass with lime juice) for bringing this alarming limn trend to my attention. 

("Limn" by Gina Wilson, copyright 2008, courtesy Laura Russo Gallery)

Principal vs principle

This may come as a surprise to some, but a lot of writers can't spell worth beens [sic].

Flannery O'Connor, one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century, described herself as "an innocent speller." She barely passed spelling in school. Certainly there's no malice intended, it's just not a skill some writers possess.

One of my favorite writers--and colleagues--is a poor speller. I don't mind a bit, though. She's so gifted at her craft, that I love everything she writes. And her bad spelling affords me job security.

But I do have to pay special attention to her spelling. This came in recently:

"The principle researcher for the study..."

Make that principal, as in the lead researcher.

Usage here can be confusing. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has the following unhelpful note:

Although nearly every handbook and many dictionaries warn against confusing principle and principal, many people still do. Principle is only a noun; principal is both adjective and noun. If you are unsure which noun you want, read the definitions in this dictionary.

Principal often means the head of a school, so some think of the Principal as your "pal." (Where did they go to school?) Principals lead schools, so it makes sense they would also lead research or study groups or be the main item on a list. Principal also refers to the amount of a loan that draws interest.

Principles are generally rules, doctrines, or precepts, as in the principles of mathematics. One also hears of the fundamental principles of human rights, for instance.

Principal misspellers haven't mastered the principles of spelling, that's all.

Comma Comment

Commas can be quite controversial. 

Some copy editors like lots of them. Others, like myself, try to keep them to a minimum. So I was delighted to receive the following note today from one of my favorite authors:

"I love the way you don't sprinkle commas over everything like pepper."

It warms my punctuated heart.

(T-shirt pictured available at Zazzle.com)

Of Dogs and Snow

Sorry that the weather and pictures of pups have taken over this blog lately. That's not my intention, it just shows my preoccupations this past week.

Here's the last picture of Argos I will post. It's in Logan Circle, taken on Wednesday, February 10, 2010.

What's a limn? Part II

Leave it to The New Yorker.

I was catching up on some recent issues yesterday and read Peter Schjeldahl's terrific review of the Bronzino exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. ("Then and Now," February 1, 2010, The New Yorker.)

Schjeldahl is a wonderful writer whose prose remains accessible while giving glimpses of his genius. Since he writes about the art world, it makes complete sense for him to use the word "limn." (See this previous posting for a definition.)

Sure enough, about three-quarters of the way through his article, talking about the Italian Mannerist Bronzino's drawings on paper, Schjeldahl writes:

A telltale feature is the thin, continuous line that contours his figures, divorcing them from the negative space of the paper: they were limned to be integrated elsewhere.

This is a case of the right word for the right subject by the right writer. My hat is off to Schjeldahl.

(Cover image copyright The New Yorker)

Snowpocalypse

You know the saying, "Second verse same as the first."

Yet on the heels of Snowmageddon comes Snowpocalypse, a second verse even worse than the first.

The storm that hit the mid-Atlantic region last night and is heading north is worse than the storm over the weekend. We're experiencing blizzard conditions outside, and the snow has piled on another foot or so on top some two feet of accumulated snow.

Other names for this winter of discombobulation are SnOMG, Snowtorious, Snoverkill, Snozilla, and Snofecta.

That's S'now joke.

(Photo of Logan Circle, Washington, DC, taken on February 10, 2010)

Snomageddon

They predicted a huge snowstorm and it arrived. That's the surprising part of this week's historic storm that struck the mid-Atlantic region. Everything else played out in slow-mo on the news, radio, and online.

When it started snowing Friday afternoon, the streets were nearly vacant, since the federal government closed early and most schools in the D.C. region didn't bother opening in dreadful anticipation of "Snowmageddon"--the blizzard of 2010. The snow didn't stop for 24 hours, and by the end, more than 20 inches had fallen. Schools and the federal government are closed today. Metro and buses are on limited schedules. Cars are buried in snow. It'll take a long time to dig out, and more snow is on the way.

This time the hype was real: Snowmageddon struck hard. I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

(Photo of Logan Circle, Washington, DC, taken Sunday, February 7, 2010)

What's a limn?

One of my first published articles in U.S. News & World Report, where I was a financial reporter, was a book review. 

I don't recall the book. In fact, the only thing I do recall is the word "limn" that the editor inserted into my pristine prose. (As a young writer, of course my prose was pristine. I'm sure if I dug that clip out and a copy of what I submitted to the editor, I'd see how much he improved it.) 

When I read the edited copy, I asked, "What's a 'limn'?" I knew it was a verb, since the passage read, "the book limns the experiences of a financial analyst caught in the vice grip of corruption" or some such purple prose of majesty. At that point in my career, I considered myself a wordsmith and was surprised I hadn't run into that before. 

To limn, I soon learned, is "to draw or paint on a surface; to outline in clear sharp detail: delineate; describe," according to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. The word comes from Latin illuminare, to illuminate. 

Even then, I thought it was a pretentious, ten-dollar word when "tell," a perfectly clear Anglo-Saxon word, worked just as well. I queried the editor and was rebuffed. When I complained to colleagues, they said "limn" was one of the editor's favorite words and that he often inserted it into book reviews. It seemed he was on a mission to spread "limn" far and wide. I wasn't convinced. 

As I limn this experience, I can tell you that more than a decade later, this is the first time I've used that word in my writing. It's likely the last time, too. 

(Image of rug, above, from Limn.com, an interior design studio and art gallery in San Francisco)

Snow Day

Saturday, January 30. Logan Circle, Washington, D.C.

Okay vs OK

Okay, are you ready for your world to be rocked? 

Most sources say the correct form is OK, and sometimes O.K. (as at the New Yorker and the New York Times). That's because the term originated in 1839 as the abbreviation for "oll korrect," the facetious alternative for "all correct." (Those crazy 19th-century cats!) 

So "okay" is not OK. Except when it is okay. Calling it "the most successful Americanism ever--perhaps the best-known word on the planet," Bryan Garner writes in Garner's Modern American Usage: 

"okay" has an advantage in edited English: it more easily lends itself to cognate forms such as "okays," "okayer," "okaying," and "okayed." The term is a casualism in any event, but "okay" is slightly more dressed up than "OK."

 

Don't tell that to the Associated Press, though. Its style book prefers "OK, Ok'd, OK'ing, OKs. Do not use okay." And the New York Times manual advises: "O.K., not okay... Do not use O.K. as a verb except in a direct quotation (O.K.'s; O.K.'d; O.K.'ing)." To my eye, all those periods and apostrophes look not OK; I prefer no periods, as does Merriam-Webster's.

The long of it is that the short form "OK" is preferred. That okay with you?

(T-shirt pictured available here.)

T-shirt of the Day, III

It's true, I do this all day long. It's very tiring but strangely satisfying. 

Happy new year to all!

T-shirt is available from zazzle.com.

T-shirt of the Day, II

Who could resist such a fun pun? 

It's available from One Horse Shy, whose tagline line is, "We ponder to everyone!"

T-shirt of the Day, I

Save the kittens; use good grammar.

Bonus: The back of this shirt reads, "I judge you when you use poor grammar." 

It's available at cafepress.com.

Word of the Year: Craptastic

I hereby second John McIntyre's "another damn word of the year, word of the decade": craptastic.

(Wordnik.com also lists craptasticularific. How craptastic is that?)

Here's wishing everyone a decidedly uncraptastic holiday season!

(T-shirt pictured from Craptastic.com--yep, there's a website--is available here.)

A Word on Wordnik.com

Since William Safire's passing this year, there's been a gaping hole in the New York Times Magazine's language column. Ben Zimmer has been the most frequent contributor, and his columns range from zany to real zingers. 

A new voice was introduced on Sunday: Erin McKean, the noted lexicographer and Dictionary Evangelist blogger. 

If you want to learn how to not annoy lexicographers, her "Redefining Definition" column is a must-read. You'll also get some insight into her latest project, the online dictionary Wordnik.com. It's worth checking out, and even signing up for the Word of the Day: frumenty--"noun, hulled wheat boiled in milk and flavored with sugar and spices"--is today's tasty treat.