How About That ?

It's official, again, as Merriam-Webster stated in an online post that a sentence can end with a preposition. 

As someone who writes a lot, this declaration was much appreciated. Admittedly, I know I've not adhered to the former "rule" about prepositions. How about you?.

Now, the long-held authority on the English language has unleashed writers (as we all are at one time or another) from the constraints of what many have long regarded as a grammatical faux-pas. 

To be sure, dictionary publishers like Merriam-Webster are not rule makers nor rule breakers, but rather report how language is used and how people speak.

Among grammarians and lexicographers, Merriam-Webster's declarations are widely accepted. That's because for over 150 years, in print and now online, its been America's leading provider of language information.

This isn't the first time the online dictionary has tried to end the end preposition prohibition. As with many long-held beliefs, it's a tough one to dislodge with such a centuries old stronghold. 

Prepositions are common in the English language with over 150 in use, including these common ones: above, across, against, along, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, by, down, from, in, into, near, of, off, on, to, toward, under, upon, with and within.

If the ending preposition is "permissible" and "not wrong" is it right?

That depends on whether or not you agree with the Merriam-Webster declaration.

In its online post, the dictionary publisher stated: It is permissible in English for a preposition to be what you end a sentence with." 

The post continued, The idea that it should be avoided came from writers who were trying to align the language with Latin, but there is no reason to suggest ending a sentence with a preposition is wrong.

The people who claim that a terminal preposition is wrong are clinging to an idea born in the 17th century and largely abandoned by grammar and usage experts in the early 20th.

Soon enough, the post ignited emphatic responses. Many of the respondents were steadfast in believing that a concluding preposition was lazy or unusual; others embraced the permission.

Why such a reaction?

Merriam-Webster touched on a heretofore grammar no-no of ending a sentence with a preposition, a restriction that many, including myself, have grown up with from primary school. That lead to finding ways to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition. 

Learning there's no such rule was a big deal for some who still cling onto a long-held belief. Personally, I'm delighted to let it go. (Advance apology if you get an ear worm from the song , Let it Go,  from the Disney film, Frozen.)

Who Made This Rule & When?

This grammar issue has been a concern for years. There's dissent on how it became common to admonish those who ended a sentence with an of, to, through or with. 

The story dates to the 17th century and involves two Englishmen, grammarian and rhetorician, Joshua Poole, and John Dryden, poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright. Both men along with others wanted to make English more like Latin. 

English poet John Dryden

In 1668, Dryden was appointed England's first Poet Laureate and, in 1672, he chastised English playwright and poet Ben Jonson stating: The preposition in the end of the sentence; a common fault with him. Jonson himself wasn't concerned with this criticism, he had died years earlier in 1637.

It's a shared issue as many credit Poole with creating the rule and Dryden for popularizing it. Both men and others wanted to make English grammar more like Latin, a language in which a structurally sound sentence can't and with a preposition.

In the 18th century, some folks decided Dryden was correct and began advising against the end preposition.

Sometimes, the advice was never to end a sentence with a preposition. Other times it was more general, for instance, Noah Webster, in a 1784 book on grammar, advised against separating prepositions from the words which they govern. He conceded that grammarians seem to allow of this mode of expression in conversation and familiar writings, but it is generally considered inelegant, and in the grave and sublime styles, is certainly inadmissible.

Even though there's no reason to suggest ending a sentence with a preposition is wrong. The idea that was a rule became widespread.

By the 20th century, however, most grammar and usage guides had concluded that there was nothing wrong with terminal (end) prepositions. In fact, there has been, for about 100 years now, near unanimity in this regard from usage guides. The matter must therefore be settled, right?

Apparently, that wasn't exactly the case.

Those determined to hold onto the "rule," no matter how many times they're informed that it really isn’t one, find the end preposition so annoying. According to articles I read, they've gone so far as to contact the editor of a newspaper when they find an occurrence.

English statesman Winston Churchill

In a similar vein, many who like to use end prepositions will give some mangled version of a quote incorrectly attributed to English statesman Winston Churchill, This is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put. 

The story goes that when an overzealous editor attempted to rearrange one of Churchill's sentences to avoid it ending in a preposition, the Prime Minister scribbled the single sentence in response. Like so many Churchill quotes, this was almost certainly never said by him, but it does make for a great anecdote.

What to Know

Not only can you end a sentence with a preposition, but there's no problem doing it. In many sentences, where it's been avoided, it would have been better to have ended with a preposition. 

If you don’t like to end your sentences with prepositions, it's OK too, just don’t claim it's a rule. Conversely, if you prefer to end sentences using with or to, that's OK too. But, don’t quote Churchill when someone says that you shouldn’t.

Merriam-Webster captioned its now controversial post: That's what we're talking about which sounds much better than: That's about what we are talking?

Merriam-Webster, Incorporated is an American company that publishes reference books and is the oldest dictionary publisher in the U.S. In 1831, George and Charles Merriam founded the company as G & C Merriam Co. in Springfield, MA. In 1843, after the death of Noah Webster, the company bought the rights to An American Dictionary of the English Language from his estate. All Merriam-Webster dictionaries trace their lineage to this source. In 1964, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., acquired Merriam-Webster, Inc., as a subsidiary. The company adopted its current name, Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, in 1982.

Happy Leap Year — From Our Pad to Yours

Top These Words

Who Knew, Did You?

That 2023 has 3 top words?

And they are all different

authentic, rizz and AI

Who selected the words?

Merriam-Webster, Inc.

Oxford University Press

Collins English Dictionary

Authentic was the top word of 2023 according to Merriam-Webster, America's oldest dictionary. The word is defined as for something we’re thinking about, writing about, aspiring to, and judging more than ever.

Merriam-Webster, Inc. is an American reference book publishing company well known for dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary publisher in the U.S. founded in 1831 as G & C Merriam Co by George and Charles Merriam in Springfield, MA. 

In 1843, after the death of American lexicographer and textbook pioneer Noah Webster, the company bought the rights to An American Dictionary of the English Language from Webster's estate. All Merriam-Webster dictionaries trace their lineage to this source. In 1964, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., acquired Merriam-Webster, Inc., as a subsidiary. In 1982, the company adopted its current name, Merriam-Webster, Inc.

In selecting its top word of the year, Merriam-Webster stated that while authentic is clearly a desirable quality it is hard to define and subject to debate adding that the word's popularity, highly searched before 2023 increased as the line between real and fake became blurred.

A top word runner-up was deepfake used to describe videos and photos that are digitally changed with AI. Other runners up were implode, coronation and dystopian.

Last year, the top word was gaslighting a term to describe manipulating a person to cause them to question their sanity for one's own advantage

Coincidentally, gas light was the title of a 1938 play by Patrick Hamilton. In 1940, a UK film version was released and in 1944, a US film of the same name was released starring Ingrid Bergman and won two Academy Awards.

Rizz was the 2023 top word according to The Oxford University Press (OUP). This internet slang term for style, charm, attractiveness and the ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner. It's used extensively online on TikTok and has billions of views with hashtag rizz.

So, if you're good at chatting up or flirting with potential partners, you may already have rizz and not know it. It has ben used as a verb in expressions like to rizz up meaning to attract, seduce or chat up someone.

Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world, publishing in 70 languages and 190 countries. The first book was printed in Oxford in 1478 with the press officially granted the legal right to print books by a 1586 decree. It is the second oldest university press after Cambridge University Press founded in 1534.

The list was narrowed down in a public vote in late November, before Oxford lexicographers made the final decision. 

The other 3 top contenders were swiftie an enthusiastic fan of singer Taylor Swift), beige flag  (a character trait indicating a partner is boring or lacks originality) and situationship (a romantic or sexual relationship not considered formal or established). Still others in the running were parasocial, heat dome, de-influencing and prompt.

A short list of eight words selected by OUP language experts was put to a public vote in late November. That reduced the field to four, then experts made the final selection.These words may eventually be added to the dictionary after assessment of their longevity, frequency, and breadth of usage.

In 2022, the Oxford word of the year was goblin mode a slang term to describe self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly or greedy behavior. This term was popularized during and after the pandemic.

AI is the Collins Dictionary word of the year. The use of the word (strictly an initialism) has quadrupled over the past year. It's defined as an abbreviation for artificial intelligence: the modelling of human mental functions by computer programs.”

The Collins English Dictionary is a printed and online dictionary of English published by HarperCollins in Glasgow. The dictionary uses language research based on the Collins Corpus (an analytical database of English) which is continually updated and has over 4.5 billion words. The current edition published in August 2023 is the 14th. 

According to the publisher, AI was chosen as it has accelerated at such a fast pace and become the dominant conversation of 2023. The annual word of the year is selected by lexicographers monitoring a range of sources, including social media. 

The word of the year reflects preoccupations of the time. In 2022, the word was permacrisis in reference to seemingly constant upheavals in British politics. in 2021, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) reached its peak. In 2020, it wasn't surprising that lockdown was word of the year.

Other 2023 contenders for Collins word of the year included — Bazball (aggressive style of cricket, Debanking (act of depriving someone of banking facilities), Greedflation (using high inflation as excuse to raise prices to increase corporate profits), Nepo baby (someone seen as benefitting  from nepotism from famous parents), deinfluencing (warning social media to avoid certain products or lifestyle choices), Ulez (acronym for ultra low-emission zone).

Maybe, these top words were not new to all, but rizz was new to me, and, how can an abbreviation even be considered as a word? Language is ever-evolving, but maybe not always for the better or perhaps I'm more a traditionalist in this area.

Word(s) to Live By ?

At least for this year and possibly longer.

A number of bloggers, and other folks, often select a word for the year, perhaps similar to a mantra, and then share with others online or privately. It's one they plan to live by for the year.

While I've never purposefully done so, this year I considered what word to select. 

Instead of one, there were three for me to consider. So, in no particular order, they are:

Connect — Learn — Choose

One of my New Years goals/intentions was to stop reaching out to folks who never respond. At first glance this may have sounded a bit harsh, so let me explain. 

Connect applies to my plan to connect with myself instead of reaching out to those in my present or past who too often are neglectful at the courtesy of a return reply by phone, mail, email or text. In many ways, I plan to become selfish of my time and how it's spent. 

That said, I will set aside time to connect and read posts of fellow bloggers and comment at least on a weekly basis.

Learn, of course, applies to many things and this year for me its signing up for UniversalClass courses. The Nashua Public Library here offers library users the opportunity to sign up for these courses which offer online continuing education through an online catalog of over 500 classes, best of all there's no cost to participate and while exams are offered, courses can be audited. Perhaps, your local library does the same. This seems like a great opportunity for a new year. 

Choose applies to many things, including being more mindful of purchases and valuing quality over quantity. I often research a future purchase extensively. However, I also admit to falling into the consumer trap of having bought something on the cheap. After some regretful decisions, I've learned that paying a bit more for quality can sometimes work out better.

Whether or not, I will stay true to these words or perhaps select others is uncertain now, but at least it's a start. 

Rain & fog comprised last week's first 2023 views from our apt window

All of our first week of 2023 was spent indoors as we both recovered from colds (just a common cold). Outdoors the weather was rain nearly every day with accompanying fog on a couple of early mornings. Yesterday, the indoor Christmas decorations were taken down and put back in storage. We always enjoy decorating much more, somewhat expected after the anticipation and excitement of the holidays have passed. Do you feel the same?