am 8.1.2003 06:15 Uhr schrieb Carrol Cox unter [log in to unmask]:

> Peter Montgomery wrote:
>>
>> I sabotage the sentence! With me is the naked word.
>> I spike the verb all parts of speech are pushed over on their backs.
>> I am the master of all that is half-uttered and imperfectly heard.
>> Return with me where I am crying out with the gorilla and the bird.
>>
>
> The first and third lines are really quite good. The second line limps
> and the fourth line degenerates into jingle. Is the whole thing too long
> to post it all?
>
> Carrol
>
>> from "One Way Song" by Percy Wyndham Lewis.
>>
>> Dr. Peter C. Montgomery
>> Dept. of English
>> Camosun College
>> 3100 Foul Bay Rd.
>> Victoria, BC CANADA V8P 5J2
>> [log in to unmask]
>> www.camosun.bc.ca/~peterm

  hypercorrection (hi-puhr-kuhr-REK-shun) noun

   A grammatical, usage or pronuciation mistake made by `correcting'
   something that's right to begin with. For example, use of the word whom
in
   "Whom shall I say is calling?"

[From Greek hyper- (over) + correction.]

  "One explanation is that some people may have been corrected for saying
   `bad' in another construction such as `I need money bad' and so in
   hypercorrection use `badly' in all constructions. Other use it trying to
   be elegant, thinking `feeling bad' is somehow less educated."
   Roz Young, The Good Word is Don't Feel Bad About 'Feeling Badly',
   The Dayton Daily News, Sep 4, 1993.

  "The truth is that hypercorrection isn't grammar's coup de grace. We all
   do it occasionally; here's how: Fear of the objective case. This comes as
   a shock to we (should be `us') people who care about grammar, but between
   you and I (should be `me'), hypercorrection is quite common."
   Rob Kyff, The Error of Fixing What Ain't Broke, The Hartford Courant,
   Apr 20, 1994.


From today's "A Word a Day",
This week's theme: words about words.


Cheers,


Gunnar