First Minor Grammar/Usage Rant of 2008

There is only one "n" in the word pundit. So all you television broadcasters, commentators, analysts, and other pundits, stop being so lazy or ignorant: stop saying pundint!!

Not "Just" Arguing Semantics: Bishop "Under Investigation"?

Thursday evening, Austin's Fox television news affiliate reported that

"the prosecutor in the Laura Hall case is under investigation for alleged misconduct during the sentencing phase of her trial. That's according to a letter FOX 7 obtained from the Board of Disciplinary Appeals. Hall's attorney says prosecutor Bill Bishop called Doug Connaly [sic] to testify against her during sentencing, but Bishop did not tell the defense that Connaly [sic] was not able to pick Hall out of a photo lineup."

"Under investigation" sounds serious--and it may very well be serious in Bishop's case--but it's impossible to determine from the vague yet ear-catching information provided in that short story. I haven't been successful in finding more information online, either.

In the section regarding filing grievances against lawyers, the State Bar of Texas' website does not use that term "under investigation" so I don't know what that really means in the real world. The Bar uses the terms "inquiry" and "complaint" in its initial grievance process: which word sounds more serious on the surface? Apparently a "complaint" is more serious.

Nothing personal, Fox 7, but it would be nice to hear more specifics in your "top stories." And correct spelling of names would be nice, too.

Minor Grammar/Usage Rant Number 2

I know, I know: language is fluid and I shouldn't be such a stickler; however, I just don't understand why some television commentators, for example, continue to use the word "concerning" as an adjective instead of choosing a correct adjective, such as "worrisome", "troublesome", "disturbing", "upsetting", or "disconcerting".

What's Next Here, Iris?

Husband-Kurt and I celebrate our anniversary tomorrow. Whoo-hoo!

Blog-wise, I'll continue writing about our garden-yard and old house trials and errors (and probably the occasional grammar rant.)

The next local criminal trials I'll attend (parts of, at least) will be the retrials of Michael Scott--I attended most of his first trial--and Robert Springsteen, of so-called "Yogurt Shop Murders" notoriety. Their next pretrial hearing is November 14th and may be fairly dry, but I'll probably attend.

Minor Grammar/Usage Rant Number 1

I know this isn't really related to xeriscaping, keeping up with an old house, or criminal trials, but I feel compelled to comment:

It seems that many people are now using the phrase, "...graduated high school" or college or 5th grade or whatever. The problem is that "graduating," without the subsequent "from" word, indicates some kind of gradation, separation, or indication of hierarchy on some level, and so that just doesn't make sense.

Think about throwing a bunch of dirt into a coarsely-graded screen, then continuing to filter that resulting dirt through even more finely-graded screens: THAT would be "graduating" soil.