Words Up To No Good

I found the Upworthy link (Some Words Are Up To No Good) especially rich coming from someone who, in August 2013, would see fit to write the following: "Latin is the preferred language of the Vatican, but don't hold it against the language. It had no say in the matter" (http://wordsmith.org/words/corpus_delicti.html), with a link to the virulently Christaphobic Christopher Hitchens in support of his insult. I can't wait for one of those fair and sensitive Duke students to parry accordingly: 

I DON'T CALL THE CATHOLIC CHURCH A NEST OF PEDOPHILES JUST BECAUSE CULTURAL ELITES HAVE DEEMED IT AN INSTITUTION WORTHY OF DEFAMATION. I TREAT EVERYONE WITH THE RESPECT AND EVEN-HANDEDNESS I EXTEND TO GAYS AND OTHER OPPRESSED MINORITIES.  

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Needless to say, I am not holding my breath for that particular corrective to Words That Are Up To No Good. If the cultural elites have deemed an institution worthy of bad words, surely they have good reason. Any Duke student worth his salt knows that. 

Tony Pivetta

Royal Oak, Michigan

-----Original Message-----
From: Wordsmith <wsmith@wordsmith.org>
To: apivetta <apivetta@aol.com>
Sent: Sun, Apr 27, 2014 6:47 pm
Subject: AWADmail Issue 617

Wordsmith.org

The Magic of Words

Apr 27, 2014

This week's theme
Words to describe people

This week's words
tractable
bombastic
impecunious
petulant
incorrigible

AWADmail archives
Index

Next week's theme
Homonyms

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AWADmail Issue 617

A Weekly Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Tidbits about Words and Language

Sponsor's message: It's Officially Huge. This week's Email of the Week winner, Ken Kirste (see below) -- as well as all AWADers worldwide -- can now make their own terrific fun word-nerd party for nothing. Introducing our best-selling One Up! -- The Wicked/Smart Word Game as a free PDF download, absolutely gratis. Hurree y'up.

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From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
Subject: Interesting stories from the net

Ten Works of Fiction Indebted to the Bard
The Irish Times
WebCite

Some Words Are Up To No Good
Upworthy

Words Formed in Error

Your theme this week really strikes a chord with me. The internet age means blogging. Blogging bypasses gatekeepers, which is all to the good when it comes to imparting sound political philosophy and economic theory. When it comes to careful editing, not so much. 

Otherwise skilled writers are using "lead" as the past tense of lead. They mean led. The confusion is understandable; led is pronounced the same way as the word lead, meaning the element represented by the symbol Pb. But lead most certainly is not the right word! Similarly, I see chose for choose, breath for breathe, and loose for lose. 

Worst of all, I see definately taking the place of definitely and miniscule for minuscule. Ugh! I keep telling myself these words formed in error are a small price to pay for the free flow of information. They stick in my craw nonetheless. 

Lincoln's Legacy

The Lincoln Legacy? War as an instrument of policy! It can advance the Greater Good, however defined! How would you like it defined?