antimeria

Wrong: “untracked”
Right: “on track”

Wrong: “intensive purposes”
Right: “intents and purposes”

Wrong(ish): “mediums,” “stadiums”
Right(er)*: “media,” “stadia”

* Yeah, I know.

There’s an piece in this week’s NYer about creative writing programs. In true NYer style, it’s good (and incredibly long), but this sentence came off with a clonk, especially in an article about learning to write well:

As McGurl points out, the horses that the Plains Indians rode when they hunted, so picturesquely, the buffalo were European imports.

I think every journalism professor in the country just had a stroke. How would you fix this sentence? Discuss!

The photographic dictionary is pretty neat. I wonder when “antimeria” will be added and how it’d be represented.

turns out i'm xanthous.

HT: Andrew Sullivan

Merriam-Webster’s top 10 words of 2008 gets pretty political:

1. bailout
2. vet
3. socialism
4. maverick
5. bipartisan
6. trepidation
7. precipice
8. rogue
9. misogyny
10. turmoil

It bothers me that so many people don’t know the definitions of these words.

First, a word about the title. Or several, rather boring words (Definitely off to a great start).

“Antimeria” (sometimes incorrectly spelled “anthimeria”) is the use of one word as a different part of speech than normal. Generally, this takes the form of using nouns as verbs–for instance, those who “summer” in “the Hamptons” (who are often “jackasses”).

From Languagehat:
combine anti- ["instead of"] and mereia ["a part"], what you’ll get is “antimereia” or (if you want to Latinize it) “antimeria.”

The subtitle comes from one of my favorite Calvin & Hobbes strips, which, in a beautiful burst of synchronicity, is also handily linked from the LH post.

So enjoy, and let me know your favorite instances of antimeria–I’ll probably need some new subtitles soon (don’t worry, I’ll credit you).