Words, Part 2

And what about the folks who say asterik for asterisk? This one I heard twice in a week, once by Ron Howard on TV. Now there, I thought, is a man who should know how to say that word. I don’t know why, just because he writes, directs, produces movies.

I think fiction writers and screen writers sponsor, perpetuate, and encourage misuses of language in their a) efforts to replicate the speech of the street, and b) own ignorance. It’s one reason I so liked Frasier. The writers of the show and the actors knew words and made a big thing about knowing words and using them correctly. Yes, the characters often showed themselves as snobs—how very comic of them—but I figured words were important to them.

I cannot count the times I moan inwardly at “between John and I” or whatever. And I got a Christmas card from a friend, someone I like very much, who gave “thanks to He who . . .” I can’t correct her; it’s a Christmas card; it's the idea that matters; she’s a friend.

And yesterday, another very good friend phoned and wanted me to know the perimeters of the essay contest she’s asking me to be judge for. I said nothing until much later in our conversation when I said--and it was hard to do--“Well, okay, I’ll go online, and when I find the rules and parameters I’ll . . .” but she may not have noticed, and I quite hoped she hadn't. Besides, maybe perimeters could work there.

No need, I suppose, to get into nuculer for nuclear or relator for realtor.

Although I tend to get excited about words and their use or misuse, and although I may fire off an email or make a phone call to someone in the public eye who ought to know better (like Carolyn Holly on Channel 7 News), I long ago resolved to be calm about the whole words phenomenon among friends and family members. After all, not everyone is in my English class, which, by the way, I don't have anymore, so it is not my business to teach them. Not unless they ask, and some do.

My bottom line? People and our relationships with them are more valuable than words.