Hand Coding » language

“Make No Mistake” is a Mistake

A. Bischoff — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 15:35:16 +0000

Like fashion, some phrases come along and — like capris pants or tribal tattoos — it suddenly seems like everyone is making use of them. One recent occurrence is “make no mistake” which, near as I can understand it, is a speaker’s attempt at emphasizing a point. However, whenever I’ve heard it, it’s come off condescendingly (and maybe that’s part of the idea, for all I know).

I knew that I couldn't be alone is my distaste for the phrase, but it was only recently that I came across some prose expressing as much. Writing for Slate Magazine, Timothy Noah is no fan of “make no mistake” (or, as he half-jokingly calls it, MNM) either:

[… ] “Read my lips” is funny—unless, of course, it’s spoken to a deaf person—and swagger always comes across better when it's leavened with humor. “Make no mistake,” on the other hand, are the words not merely of a bully, but of a bully who lacks panache. It practically begs for a defiant response. Listen, buddy, I’ll make a mistake whenever I goddamn well feel like it.

I think Noah was able to capture my feelings on this one. At first, when trying to figure out my distaste for the phrase, I thought that maybe it was because the speaker was being redundant (after all, who intentionally makes mistakes?). Thinking further, and looking at it from the perspective that Noah offers, I think he’s right — by chiding the listener not to make mistakes, the speaker is implying that the listener is prone to making them. Well, that’s not very hospitable, now is it?

I suppose that I can only count down this phrase’s fifteen minutes. With any luck, it’s merely a passing fad of the pretentiarati.

Aye, It’s a Sunken Cost!

A. Bischoff — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 04:15:07 +0000

I was familiarized with the idea of “sunken costs” during Jason Fried’s 2005 panel at SXSW on How to Make Big Things Happen with Small Teams. I had heard the term before, but didn't entirely grok its meaning until Jason went over a few anecdotes (in the context of small teams, natch). One example he gave is that a small company may buy a new server with the expectation that they’ll need it as part of an upcoming project; however, when it comes to the stage in the project, if it no longer makes sense to use the server, then it shouldn't be used (since the money is gone, either way).

I've internalized this thought process for my personal life, to some extent, but I haven’t really been able to explain it well to others. I ran across an entry in Wikipedia on Sunk Costs which I thought explained it fairly well:

Economists argue that, if you are rational, you will not take sunk costs into account when making decisions. In the case of the movie ticket, there are two possible end results. You will either have:

Paid the price of the ticket and suffered watching a movie that you do not want to see, or;

Paid the price of the ticket and used the time to do something more fun.

In either case, you have “paid the price of the ticket” so that part of the decision should cancel itself out. If you regret buying the ticket because you do not think the movie is worth the money then your current decision should be based on whether you want to see the movie at all, regardless of what you have paid for it — just like deciding whether you want to go to a free movie. […]

Or, put another way, here’s a scenario that may have occurred to you in real life. Suppose that you go out for dinner, enjoy the entree, and afterwards order a slice of chocolate cake from the dessert menu. Perhaps your eyes were bigger than your stomach, though and you start to become full halfway through the cake. At this point, there are two ways this could end up — either you will have:

Paid for the chocolate cake but eaten all of it anyway, or…
Paid for the chocolate cake but refrained from finishing the slice

Either way, you’ve paid for the cake. So, you may as well base your decision on whether to finish eating the slice on factors other than whether you’ve paid for the cake :).

I Think I Get “Irony”

A. Bischoff — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 02:47:40 +0000

It would be untrue to say that “ironically, I don’t understand what irony means”. Not that I understood the understood the nuances behind irony (until recently), but that the sentence itself wouldn’t be an example of irony. If all this is too meta too soon, I’ll back up a bit.

I’ve become aware that many Americans misunderstood the meaning of “irony”, equating it with a gap between what is expected and what actually happens, such as saying “ironically, I encountered a traffic jam when I was already late”. I hesitated in using the word until recently as I didn’t want to contribute to that blunder. A trip to Wikipedia has helped clear up the nature of irony, though.

At first, I skimmed through the article, but that only made me more confused. After reading it more carefully, though, a tidbit towards the beginning helped shed some light on it — “A common metaphor for using irony is to ‘have your tongue in cheek.’”. And, an example that they give is that saying “Lovely weather outside!” — when it's actually raining — would be irony.

So, is irony the same thing as sarcasm, then, you might ask? Well, as I understand it, sarcasm is a subset of irony, with the addition that sarcasm also includes an aspect of ridicule. Anyway, I’m obviously a master of irony now. (See? That’s irony in action ;). )

Gemütlichkeit

A. Bischoff — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 16:11:51 +0000

I ran across gemütlichkeit in Wikipedia and I like its connotation of “a cosy place”, but with a meaning conveying more than just “cosiness”:

Gemütlichkeit is a German abstract noun whose closest English equivalent is cosiness. However, rather than basically just describing a place as not too large, well-heated and nicely furnished (a cosy room, a cosy flat), Gemütlichkeit connotes, much more than cosiness, the notion of belonging, social acceptance, cheerfulness, the absence of anything hectic and the spending of quality time in a place as described above. […]

The article went on to say that Queen Victoria was one of the first to use the adjective gemütlich in English; since it seems to be a useful word, I might be inclined to do the same. How would it be pronounced, though? Something like geh-MUTE-lish?

Yeah, Stars. Whatever.

A. Bischoff — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 02:12:06 +0000

As I was walking out of work this evening, I came to a “Don’t Walk” crosswalk and, as I waited, another commuter walked to the crosswalk as well. She then thought to strike up conversation:

Her: “It’s nice seeing stars in the sky. I don't often see them after work.”
Me: “Ah.”
Me / inner dialog: “Stars? Yeah, fine.”
Her: “Can you see it? It’s right… [pointing with her finger] there. ”
Me: “How about that.”
Her: “No, I’m not sure you're seeing it — take a step back… Do you see it? Right there?”
Me: “Oh. There it is.”
Me / inner dialog: You’re still talking?
Her: And I know it’s not an airplane because it’s not moving. It really is a star.

Fortunately, the light changed at that point and we crossed the street. I have nothing against astronomy, but I guess I've seen enough stars that they're not that exciting to me.

So That’s What “Minimal” Means…

A. Bischoff — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 03:23:08 +0000

After some browsing through Answers.com, I stumbled upon “minimal”. I discovered that it doesn’t quite mean what I thought it meant.

Minimal and minimize come from the Latin adjective minimus, “least, smallest,” and people therefore use minimal to refer to the smallest possible amount, as in “The amplifier reduces distortion to the minimal level that can be obtained with present technologies.”

In recent years, however, people have begun to use minimal more loosely to refer to a small amount, as in “If you would just put in a minimal amount of time on your homework, I am sure your grades would improve. Language critics have objected to this usage, but it is fairly common.”

In an earlier survey, the Usage Panel was asked what minimal meant in the sentence Alcohol has a particularly unpleasant effect on me when I have a minimal amount of food in my stomach. Under the strict interpretation of minimal, this sentence should mean only “Alcohol has an unpleasant effect when I have eaten nothing.” […]

Aha, so I had fallen into the trap of common usage, the meaning that minimal meant merely a small amount; I didn’t know that it meant the smallest possible amount. Well, with that out of the way, perhaps I can put this newfound knowledge to work. I could say that I “make minimal use of tables for layout” or that I eat “a minimal amount of trans fat in my diet”. Whee! I think I like this “new word” already.

I Wonder If I’ve Forgotten Something…

A. Bischoff — Mon, 30 May 2005 23:27:47 +0000

Merriam-Webster has a collection of their readers’ favorite words that aren’t in the dictionary. Slashdot covered the article in the context of item #3, “woot” or, as I prefer to spell it, “w00t” (with zeros in the middle). Of course, that would be an interjection meaning “an exclamation of joy or excitement”.

Wootiness aside, my favorite is actually #5, “cognitive displaysia”:

cognitive displaysia

(n): the feeling you have before you even leave the house that you are going to forget something and not remember it until you’re on the highway

I don’t know about you, but that one happens to me all the time and especially as I’m heading off for a long trip. I mean, I’ve done silly things like packing my cell phone on a week-long trip but not its charger (d’oh). Or, just as boggling would be to forget one’s socks on a trip (which I haven’t done but I’ve run into someone who’s done that). These days, I mostly resort to making myself a list of things to pack the night before. That way, I can calmly compose the list and, when it comes time to pack, I just follow the list and I don’t have to worry about forgetting something.

A Substitute for Both “Yes” and “No”

A. Bischoff — Sat, 28 May 2005 07:27:53 +0000

I was surfing through Answers.com and I came across an entry which I’ll get to in a moment. But first, Jeopardy-style, here’s an abbreviated version of the word’s definition (the answer) followed by the word itself (the question).

A: This word can be substituted for both Yes and No.
Q: What is “meh”?

I got a kick out that one. I mean, it's not often that one runs across a word which has two meanings — each opposite of the other. Jeopardy-ness aside, here’s the rest of the definition for meh:

“Internet and general slang or spoken, ‘meh’ usually signifies apathy or indifference. It is used to signify unwillingness to answer a question, or admitted laziness. Can be substituted for: Yes. No. Maybe. I don’t care. Whatever. Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?”

The part I struggle with — if I were to attempt to make use of the word — is that I’m not sure of its connotations. If the connotation skewed towards “lacking a preference”, that would be, erm, preferable; but, if its meaning was more along the lines of outright “disinterest”, that might lessen the general usefulness of the word.

PS Note to semantic enthusiasts: Rest assured, I used a definition list above and, yes, I coded the

before the

:).

Word Endings — -ible vs -able

A. Bischoff — Tue, 24 May 2005 01:51:00 +0000

I was talking with my friend Liz the other day and she mentioned that someone had asked on the Glen Mitchell show about whether there was any rhyme or reason behind why some words end in “able” (such as “comfortable”) while others end in “ible” (such as “horrible”). Before I get to the answer, though, here’s the scoop on the Glen Mitchell Show for readers who aren’t in Dallas — the show airs on Dallas’ local NPR affiliate and each Friday show features call-in questions which other audience members are invited to help answer. It’s a bit like Ask.MetaFilter but on the radio (HHOS).

Anyhow, you wouldn’t think that there’d be any reason behind such word endings, but there actually is (well, mostly).

If the root is not a complete word, add -ible. (aud + ible = audible)

If the root is a complete word, add -able. (accept + able = acceptable)

For example, “laugh” makes sense on its own, so that becomes “laughable”. On the other hand, “elig” can’t stand on its own, so that one’s “eligible”. Then again, English just isn’t allowed to be that easy ;), so there are some exceptions, such as “irritable” and “inevitable”.

The Language of Business Today

A. Bischoff — Sat, 09 Apr 2005 17:13:37 +0000

I thought some readers might get a chuckle out of this page of some phrases in use within business these days. Some of my favorites:

Core Competencies

Context: We need to focus on our core competencies in order to maintain our edge in the marketplace

Meaning: What you/your company does well

Quick Win

Context: Please come up with a list of quick wins we can look to implement

Meaning: Things that are fairly simple (in terms of time and/or cost) and will help improve the situation with regards to a project/product

Touch Base

Context — “I need to touch base with Fred on this one.”

Meaning — “I need to go a speak to Fred about something”

Are you enjoying this as much as I am? Well, the Interweb offers plenty more of this. (I mean, does anyone actually say “Pour the Kool-Aid”?)