Charles Harrington Elster

Writer-Editor-Voice Talent

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

What kind of society are we living in where people refuse to wear a mask in public to protect themselves and others but insist on carrying a gun in public to protect themselves and others? Isn't that sociopathic behavior?

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

@DrFauciFan Yesterday on "Meet the Press" the good doctor pulled off a pronunciation tour de force, flawlessly enunciating the word "inexplicable" in the traditional manner, with the stress on "ex," not "plic." Very impressive. Meanwhile, if you haven't already, get vaccinated!

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

@FrankBruni Your final column in the Review reminded me of H. W. Fowler's dedication to his classic Modern English Usage: "I think of it as it should have been, with its prolixities docked, its dullnesses enlivened, its fads eliminated, its truths multiplied." You will be missed.

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

@languagestupidity I loved/loathed this ridiculosity from a junk-hauling company in New York City: "Our good reputation precedes us." Does that mean they had a good reputation in the past but not now?

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

@MJGerson @ElsterWords Right on! Thanks for your 5/28 "How to Love a Place." Great quote from Douglass. I'm sure you know James Baldwin's famous line: “I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

#sandiegouniontribune "People lay out among the umbrellas at La Jolla Shores," begins the caption to the big photo on Page A1 of today's paper. What are they laying out, a picnic? The U-T desperately needs copyeditors, especially ones who can distinguish between "lay" and "lie."

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

#modernmysteries Why is it that the subscription solicitation postcards that they stick in magazines don't fall out on their own during handling by the postal service?

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

Headline in my local rag about a public library: "Former volunteer says Escondido shelves, once full with titles, now lay bare." LAY bare? That headline writer needs a remedial and punitive session on the distinction between "lay" and "lie." Inexcusable in a prominent newspaper.

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

I once had an editor at The New York Times Magazine whose answering machine message was "Tell me who you are, what you want, and how you propose to get it." Intimidating as hell, but perfect. I use the same words now when all the robocalls come in on my landline.

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

#RushLimbaughRotInHell Rush was a horrible human being. But I will note only one thing: his defense of tobacco use. If everything has a reason (which I doubt), he got his just deserts. I smoked cigs for 18 years but quit 26 years ago, and now I have bladder cancer. Stop the lies!

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

#mispronunciations Did you notice how speakers on both sides of the recent impeachment trial kept mispronouncing "anti-Semitic" as an-tee-suh-MET-ik, as if it were spelled "anti-Semetic"? This is regrettably common today. Properly, it's an-tee-suh-MIT-ik, rhymes with "arthritic."

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

#Jeopardy #mispronunciations I emailed the show "Jeopardy!" to alert them that Ken Jennings, in two recent shows, mispronounced "zoological" and "zoology" as ZOO-ological and ZOO-ology. The proper pronunciations are ZOH-ological and ZOH-ology. We'll see if they respond.

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

Zeynep Tufekci, a contributing writer at The Atlantic, wrote that Trump "tweets with enough punctuation and grammar mistakes to try the patience of even the kindest elementary-school teacher." If there ever is a T**** library, it should enshrine this evidence of his illiteracy.

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

#Jeopardy The new host of our beloved Jeopardy, for now, GOAT champion Ken Jennings, said "it was a . . . nerve-wracking experience to be behind this lectern" (yup, it's "lectern" NOT "podium"). But comatose copyeditors everywhere overlooked that it's properly "nerve-racking."

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

If you use LinkedIn, you have probably received notices asking if you know so-and-so, saying that you and so-and-so have X "mutual connections in common." Pleonasm alert! Please see my article about this common accident of style at https://t.co/QqqdUkXqzR.

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

@SnyderMediation Thanks for asking. In BIG BOOK I addressed only significant regional variations, as with "Appalachian," "greasy," or "tomato." Midwestern/western speakers pronounce "merry," "marry," and "Mary" alike, while easterners distinguish the vowels. For me, "bury" is the same as "berry."

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

With the presidential election finally resolved (pending frivolous and futile legal challenges), some of us can now start drinking for fun again.

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

https://t.co/6EJXvRTtRd's https://t.co/QkcdnuSDIR for 10/19/20 is "trumpery," which has three definitions: "something showy but worthless"; "nonsense or rubbish"; and "deceit, fraud, trickery." We've had four years of trumpery from Donald Trump. Wear your mask and VOTE HIM OUT!

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

#MarkMeadows #mispronunciation In an interview yesterday on "Meet the Press," Trump spokesman Mark Meadows mispronounced "anarchy" and "anarchist" multiple times, putting the primary stress on the second syllable (an-ARK-ee, -ist) instead of on the first (AN-ark-ee, -ist). Weird!

[Charles Harrington Elster @ElsterWords]

#democraticnationalconvention Last night at the Democratic National Convention, the biographer and historian Jon Meacham said “a deadly virus is ravishing us.” Whoops! He should have said "ravaging us." For more, see my list of accidents of style at https://t.co/7M3Cs8sOzk.