Mike
Carruthers:
Its always bothered me when people pronounce the word "nuclear"
as "nuculear" - however…
Patricia O'Conner:
The newest Merriam Webster's dictionary now includes that as
a standard pronunciation - it's not the leading one, it's not
number one but it's in there.
Grammar expert
Patricia O'Conner, author of the book Woe
is I, says language is always changing. For example, the
word "data" has always been plural but now…
Data has crossed
the Rubicon into being an acceptable singular. In fact many
dictionaries now recognize it as a singular. "The data
is in" instead of "The data are in." And I think
media is on the way - it's not there yet but so many people
now say, "The media says this" or "The media
is slanted."
In fact a lot
of words have done this very same thing.
You know that
"agenda" was once a plural; it meant items on a list.
Soon it became the word for the list itself. The same is true
of "opera"; it used to be a plural for works.
Patricia says
words and meanings change all the time.
Take the verb;
"to chill" - you know it started out as hip-hop language
on the street. It very rapidly caught on and it's in dictionaries
now as an alternate meaning of the words "to relax or to
take it easy."
At somethingyoushouldknow.net
I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.
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