Monday, September 19, 2016

Praising Bryan A. Garner

On p. 104 of the October 2016 issue of The Atlantic, a handful of people offer their answer to the question "What concept most needs a word in the English language?" Bryan A. Garner replies,
We need a word for the mental suffering that results from someone else's misuse of a word or phrase in one's presence, the distress being magnified by an abiding sense of politeness that precludes correcting the other person--coupled with an intensifying melancholy about the confused changes that so many words are undergoing as a result of mass indifference to linguistic tradition. I suggest wordschmerz. (emphases that were required by the magazine's editorial style omitted, since it's possible Garner isn't responsible for them)
I'm very unfavorably impressed by Garner's "grammar and usage" chapter that appears in recent editions of The Chicago Manual of Style (and who knows?, maybe I'll find an opportunity to dwell on this in later posts). Nevertheless, I'm happy to read that in encounters in real time in the real world, Garner chooses to be polite. It gives me pleasure to have an opportunity to congratulate him.