The nitpicker’s guide to the vocabulary

When a writer for Ebony magazine referred to Kamala Harris’s “historical” visit to Ghana and CNN aired a report on the same “historical” trip, they didn’t mean the visit had happened in the past. They meant it was the first by an African American vice president — historic.

Dictionary of Fine Distinctions: Nuances, Niceties, and Subtle Shades of Meaning; By Eli Burnstein; Union Square; 201 pp., $20.00

To err is human, of course, though it does seem more errors of expression are published and aired today than in the past. Journalists for NPR now regularly misuse the phrase beg the question to mean raise a question. It has become acceptable to use convince and persuade interchangeably. The distinction between fewer, which should be used

Continue reading