Pronunciation Matters

Some kinds of homonyms are spelled the (about) same but pronounced differently. When the pronunciation is the difference, it’s important.

We match the Italian pronunciation fairly closely, but not the French. The French pronunciation is something like “wah-la,” accent on the second syllable. It’s more fun if you go find someone who’s French and ask them to pronounce it for you. The spellings “voila” and “viola” are part of the humor, by the way.

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I preach conciseness as an important feature of good expository writing. This comic’s punchline is about her timing, but her summary of the whole Valentine legend is excellent:

She did it in five sentences. When I find an article on this topic, it’s usually several pages.

Be like her, but watch your timing, too.

I just ran into a comic that is similar to the “like or as” mistake I mentioned the other day. Should the kid in the first panel use “us” or “we”?

He should use “we”! The sentence is easier to get right if you say “…dogs can smell better than we can smell.” It’s the verb he’s comparing, so “we” is a subject.

And here’s another comic with the same mistake. Of course, I don’t really expect kids in pre-K to get this right.

The last sentence in the second panel. It should be “…knows you better than I do.” The way it’s written, it means “…knows you better than they know me.”

The key to the subjunctive is that the subjunctive is contrary to reality. This is not about lies (lies pretend to be reality), but about correctly describing something that isn’t. The gradeschooler in the first panel of  this Frazz gets it right:

She even says it’s a wish. Don’t say something like, “I wish there was…” when you aren’t referring to something that doesn’t exist.

On a side note, I’ll add that the Greeks had a mood even stronger than the subjunctive, used only for wishes. It’s called the optative. We have to make the subjunctive work for both wishes and contrary-to-fact things.

Need a non-wish subjunctive: How about “He would go on vacation, but he’s too busy.”

A month or so ago I referenced Sanskrit, Latin, and alluded to Hebrew culture. Here’s some French.

The term that Frazz and that first grader are talking about is “esprit de l’escalier” pronounced es pree dee les kal yay. It refers to that witty reply you didn’t think of until too late. Literally “wit on the staircase”; that is, after you had left and gone upstairs. Ah, those French.