How Do You Spell “Irony”? S-E-N-T-A-N-C-E.

Posted 16 June, 2007 in Uncategorized |

Ian Brown has a long article in today’s Globe and Mail (pp. F1, F4-F5) about the declining vocabulary skills in today’s society. Fair enough, and some would say long overdue.

Brown quotes Harriet Brand, director of public relations for Princeton Review, as saying, “The reality is, God gave us spellcheck.” While the (dubious) merits of spellcheck over native ability are debatable, what is not debatable is that spellcheck only works if you use it.

Case in point:

The article is accompanied by hand-lettered graphic illustrations that are credited to Jason Logan. Several of these illustrations provide definitions of uncommon or unusual words. The first, in an orange square that resembles a post-it note, reads as follows: “ZEUGMA[:] N., A FIGURE OF SPEECH DENOTING THE JOINING OF TWO OR MORE PARTS OF A SENTANCE WITH A SHARED VERB OR NOUN.” (My emphasis.)

When you flip over to page F5, you encounter another hand-lettered, shaded square resembling a post-it. This one reads: “UNHOUSELED[:] ADJ., THE STATE OF A DYING SOUL THAT HAS NOT RECEIVED THE EUCHAREST.” (My emphasis.)

In a piece about the declining linguistic standards in our society.

I. Shit. You. Not.

4 comments to “How Do You Spell “Irony”? S-E-N-T-A-N-C-E.”

patricia, June 16th, 2007 at 12:12 pm:

• omigod. That is so funny, and yet, so not. I haven’t read that article yet. Can’t wait for the letters.

  My mom is always kvetching about the sad lack of quality proofreading in the Globe – this one may just send her right over the edge.

Steph, June 16th, 2007 at 1:52 pm:

• Bollocks! This is EXACTLY what I was going to write about today, to get myself back into blogging! But I obviously spent too long wondering if, perhaps, the spellings were in some way ironic and I was missing a hidden intellectual joke. You are on the cutting edge, Mr. Beattie…

Claire Cameron, June 16th, 2007 at 2:27 pm:

• On purpose?

Steven W. Beattie, June 17th, 2007 at 8:38 am:

• I don’t think so, Claire, unless the hidden intellectual joke is so deeply hidden that I completely missed it. Wouldn’t be the first time, mind you …

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