Notes from A Wordsmith’s Desk – Part 2

I am a professional wordsmith and I understand English better than many people do. With a BA in Latin, I sometimes know English spelling and usage better than a dictionary. That is because about 75% of English derives from Latin or Greek. My BA program focused mostly on Latin from first-century-BC Rome. It included studies in Ancient Greek. Hence, my degree work was like studying the DNA of English. This qualifies me to correct or improve word choice in others’ writing.

the practicality of knowing Latin
For example, it gives me authority to advise that circa means around or about. Do not use circa if you know the actual date when, for example, a photo was taken.

questioning dictionaries
I draw upon my knowledge of Latin every day. It qualifies me to comment on English dictionaries that describe rather than prescribe spelling and word use.

the descriptive approach
Nearly all English dictionaries take a descriptive approach to spelling and word use. If you look up a word in one of these, you could find multiple spellings and uses. This can be helpful if you encounter an unaccustomed spelling or use of a word, then look it up and find it associated with a more accustomed spelling or usage.

what’s best
In contrast, prescriptive linguistics provides rules indicating how words should be spelled and used, regardless of what else might work. Hence, while the descriptive approach says, “Anything in this range could work,” the prescriptive approach says, “This is best.”

a lexicographer’s rules
Championed most notably by lexicographer and spelling reformer Noah Webster (1758 – 1843) the descriptive approach can be summed up thus: If a spelling or use of a word appears in a respected publication and is accepted and understood then repeated in other publications with acceptance and understanding over a sufficient time, then it is a legitimate spelling and usage that warrants dictionary listing.

reform for easier English
Webster’s approach to spelling reform focused on the simplification of American English. In this way, he was prescriptive with spelling, though descriptive with usage. His mission was to serve American schoolchildren who would find the path to literacy easier with fewer rules and fewer exceptions.

deviation back to the roots
His advocacy of spelling reform was respectful of the Latin and Greek origins of many English words. For example, the word color is Latin and appears in American English. Colour is British English used in England, Canada, and Australia among other places. Americans use color , labor, humor, and flavor courtesy of Webster and the extensive use of his schoolbooks in the 19th and 20th centuries.

distinctions lost in homogeneity
In Canada, centre refers to a place where people go for a specific purpose. Thus, people go to a gardening centre for gardening supplies. A center is a location equal distance from every edge. A circle has a center. A mall is a shopping centre. Many Canadians forget the distinction in their writing. Because neither spelling is incorrect, they cannot depend on the spell-check feature of a computer program to correct usage. As an editor, I address such matters.

precision lost
Noah Webster found that center could be accepted and understood with both meanings. Hence, dictionaries of American English include center only. Centre is considered a misspelling in the USA. Though Americans gain the advantage of such simplicity, Canadian writers who know the difference can use this knowledge to communicate more precisely in their writing.

make informed choices
Knowing the difference between center and centre is just one example of how making an informed choice about how to spell and use words – which prescriptive grammar books such as Fowler’s Modern English Usage make possible – can help people to communicate more precisely, or with more useful nuances of meaning in their writing.

serve your readers
More useful nuances of meaning might not seem particularly valuable to many – especially people who prefer a simple, pragmatic approach to things. To them, it might not be just cause to spend four years at a university studying Latin and Greek. Still, the very same people do find value when a professional wordsmith makes things easier for them to understand and minimizes the chance for their own ideas to be misunderstood in writing. Accuracy of concept and precision of spelling and usage are indeed valuable.

- Glenn R Harrington
Articulate Consultants
www.articulate.ca