Rescue Words

Rescue dogs we know all about. They skulk around garbage dumps and railroad tracks, mangey, smelly, hungry, and lovable. Humans see them, love them, take them home with them, feed them and clean them up, and humans and dogs live happily together.

And then there are rescue words. These are as badly abused as rescue dogs, but the more they are abused, the more they are held in contempt. But they were good words once, and are still important tools of thought and expression. In this post I will adopt a few rescue words, bathe them, comb the ticks out of their hair, and get them back on their own two feet.

In this post, I refer to usages that are “correct”. By this I mean that the usages are well established and should never mislead anyone as to your meaning.

Note: I have no quarrel with usages that cannot be mistaken for correct usages. (See entry for “disinterested” below) “I ain’t got none” is not a correct usage, but it cannot cause any confusion about the meaning of any correct usage. It is simply a usage that you are better off avoiding if you are, for example, applying for a job as a copy editor at the New Yorker.

— beg the question. This is a logical fallacy, meaning to take as the premise of your argument the very thing that your argument is trying to prove. For example, “Parallel lines never touch because they are parallel.”

— deja vu. Literally, “already seen,” in other words stale, overly familiar. For example, “When Harold Stassen declared his candidacy for president for the fourth time, the press labeled him ‘the candidate from deja vu.”

— disinterested. Having no stake in a matter, no hope of private gain. Avoid using to mean, “blase” or “not interested.” For example, “The rich man’s philanthropic donations were inspired by his disinterested love for the human race.”

–eke out. To make something last longer by managing it carefully or supplementing it with something similar. For example, “He eked out his salary as church sexton by singing hymns as a busker in Harvard Square.”

— icon. Literally, an image; typically an image of a saint revered by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Avoid using to mean a “celebrity.” For example: “The shelf above the priest’s cot was filled with icons.”

— kitsch. Describes something that is vulgar, cheap, and crappy. Not to be confused with “chic”. For example, “The self-taught artist was dismayed when the art critics said that his black velvet portrait of Wayne Newton playing golf with Jesus Christ was kitsch.”

— R.S.V.P. Stands for “repondez, s’il vous plait.” Literal meaning: “Please reply.” Thus, “Please R.S.V.P.” means “Please please reply.”

— transparent. This word applies to something that can be seen through, like water or glass. When a politician says that his motives are transparent, it is hard to know what he means. That his motives are glassy? For example: “The Board of Health recommends filtering the rusty tap water until it is clear and transparent before drinking.”

— problematic. This word means “abounding in unanswered questions. For example, “The historical existence of King Arthur is problematic.”

— usage. A common form or way of using something; almost always a grammatical usage. Avoid using this word to mean “the amount of use”. For example, “Lincoln’s conversation was peppered with the quaint usages of the prairie.”