printBill O’Reilly has a ludicrous segment on The Factor, where he pretends to introduce his listeners to English words that he supposedly uses.
Last week he introduced the word “chimera,” in which he pronounced the “ch” as you would in “chimp.”
Having actually used this lovely word before I was convinced that the “ch” was pronounced as a “k.” And so it is.
Oh, BO also habitually conjugates incorrectly, saying “laying around” instead of “lying around” in his “Talking Points.” A lot of American writers do that.
I recall that when he was on WND, in the early 2000s, O’Reilly would make this same conjugation error (it drives me to drink), and I’d drop him a polite note. He never replied, but he quickly fixed the mistake. (Myself, I thank my readers profusely when they save me from myself, as they often do, and request that they keep their eyes peeled for any future faux pas.)
Another common error, in enunciation, this time, is “macabre.” The Americanized dictionary support the locals’ hideous habit of saying “macabra.” Sorry. The “re” in “macabre” is silent.
Still on enunciation: “PundiNts.” Even Hillary Clinton inserts an “n” between the “i” and the “t” when pronouncing the word “pundit.” Why?
“Flaunting” laws instead of “flouting” them is especially infuriating. When a politician uses “flaunt” instead of “flout,” as Colin Powell once did, the ultimate penalty should be exerted.
Today (1/3/213) I ran for cover as Bob Costa, National Review’s youthful editor, spoke about a GOP revolt against House Speaker John Boehner. Costa said the following on the Kudlow Report:
“… if he lost 17 Republican votes that means he would have went to a second ballot.”
Costa should have been flogged for not saying, “He would have GONE.” (Although nobody would know why he was being flogged.)
Together, let’s conjugate the verb to “go,” Mr. Costa. “I am going. I will go. I went. I have previously gone. I had gone. I would have gone.”
My first language is Hebrew. However, I like to think that thanks to the drilling I was given, in Israel, by my old English teacher (a Yekke), I can conjugate my verbs.
When it comes to spelling, however, I am lost without Windows.
UPDATE I (Jan. 3): MERCER MISTAKES. One of my wonderful readers has already corrected my TV mistakes in the article, now on RT. He writes: “You had a typo.
Jon Hamm, not John Han. Also, ‘Mad Men’ is an AMC show, not HBO.”
UPDATE II (Jan. 6): RICHARD BURTON. The great Richard Burton, both chivalrous and brilliant, said: “I am as thrilled by the English language as I am by a lovely woman.”
UPDATE III (May 15): ANOTHER NO-NO. “Creative” is not a noun. Don’t call yourself a “creative.” You will stand out not for your creativity (a noun), but for your pretentiousness.