You Keep Saying That Word... Part II

More linguistic commentary. For Part I, go here.

To beg the question is to assume what you are trying to prove. A rudimentary and somewhat silly example is the following mathematical argument:

Prove:
Pi is not an irrational number

Proof:
Since Pi can be written as p/q with p and q integers, Pi is clearly a rational number. Therefore, Pi is not an irrational number.

Of course, the assumption that Pi can be written as the quotient of integers p and q is the same as assuming that Pi is not an irrational number. This is begging the question. Begging the question =/= raising the question.

Communicate is overused. It sounds corporate. Don't communicate something; tell me something, e-mail me something, or call me. Communicate is best left to its intransitive meaning. That is, two people communicate well with one another when each is capable of telling the other whatever is on his mind (and yes, the masculine pronoun is correct).

Invest your money. Spend time with friends, learn to know them, rejoice with them, weep with them, but for heaven's sake do not invest in them - unless they are a bank.

Calling women "females" makes animals of them. Proper words would be girls, ladies, women, matrons, lasses, dames - depending on the situation in which one finds himself.

Avoid rhetoric; say what you mean; know what you are saying. Remember, businessmen and politicians are professional liars.

This will perhaps be an ongoing series, and yes, I will continue to pick on my friends without calling them out :).

You Keep Saying That Word...

...I do not think it means what you think it means.

So tell me, what makes "social justice" different from regular ol' justice. Remember, I'm just a simple sort of man who spent too long in the south, but it seems to me that there's justice and injustice, and we oughta talk about what they are, and we oughta say, "This is just; that is unjust. Let us do this and not that." So tell me, what do you mean by social justice? Is it just, or are you employing not-so-cleverly deceptive language?

(N.B. I am not ranting against the Catholic Church's social teachings. I am ranting against the overuse of an undefined or ill-defined word in support of governmental policies. Remember, the Church's social teaching is founded in Charity for our neighbors. I have more thoughts on this, but the rant was mostly linguistic, so I'll lay off for now.)

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Remember: proscribe != prescribe. A doctor prescribes medicine; a tyrant proscribes persons or actions.

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"Use" is not always the best word. You do not use a hammer; you drive a nail. If you must write or say "use" never replace it with "utilize".

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If you are writing a column for struggling writers, do not write "try and".

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24-Hour Plays this weekend. Wish me well.

St. Ephrem and St. Francis de Sales, pray for me.