Good Use of “Lie,” Bad Use of “Like”

Top of the cartoon, he’s quoting, but that use of “lie” is correct. You don’t lay down, you lie down.

But we curmudgeons consider using “[be] like” to mean “say” is bad English. Say “say.”

Harrumpf.

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My first rule of good (expository) writing is to be clear. This rule comes from my personal experience, supported by others’ experience. Anecdotal information, if you will. Well, here’s some science that supports me!

The title of the article:

Words matter: jargon alienates readers
Non-scientists feel shut out and confused by articles that use technical language — even if it’s defined

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00580-w

The article should take you less than five minutes to read. It gives details, but not too much jargon, except for examples.

The article supports my sixth rule, too. Write for your readership.

Okay, no lesson today, just an autobiographical confession. Here’s the illustration. Third panel:

He shouldn’t be ashamed of himself, though. Finding those typos is a sign of alertness.

My confession: Like Sluggo, I can’t look at text without finding the typos.

Marketingese. Is that a word? I hope so, because this post is about a sample of it. This is a style of writing that I don’t much like. I write to explain things, not encourage fantasy. Here’s what I’m talking about:

The front of the plaid packet said UPTAPPED: ALL NATURAL ENERGY. The marketing copy said, “For too long athletic nutrition has been sweetened with cheap synthetic sugars. The simplicity of endurance sports deserves a simple ingredient — 100% pure, unadulterated, organic […] the all-natural, low glycemic-index sports fuel.”

This was the label on a packet of maple syrup.

That’s a quote from an article in vulture.com that speaks ill of business talk aka corporate-speak, made-up words, and new metaphors common in corporate culture. (The writer of the article calls these expressions, among other things, “usage peeves.”) It’s a fun read if you like good language and dislike certain neologisms: Why do corporations speak the way they do? I could pull a lot of quotes from the article, and they’d fit comfortably on this website, but I’ll settle for this.

Read the article and pick your own favorite examples of non-expository language.

Okay, here’s the picture that goes with the article:

English has a long history of verbing nouns, meaning using a noun as a verb. (Look up “verbing” in the search box) but in at least some cases, we curmudgeons take a while to get used to the construction. “Office,” for example, is a pretty tough verb for us to swallow. First panel:

Do you have a pet grammar peeve? Share in the comments. Maybe I’ll post about it.

PS—The next day’s comic. First panel again.