Wyn Drabble: Our language is a treasure which needs to be respected

Wyn Drabble

I am delighted to report that, based on your responses to a couple of recent columns, I can safely say that pedantry is alive and well.

Granted, there were a few who thought we should get a life and one who (quite rightly) claimed there were more important things to worry about than a comma in the wrong place. That said, I have seen a health pamphlet with a wrongly placed comma which had the potential to cause a fatality.

But there are more important things to worry about than fatalities.

A rather timely complaint was about daylight saving becoming daylight savings. Adding the s makes it sound like a banking operation. Still there are more important things to worry about than adding randome gratuitoush letterst tow wordes.

The mysterious doubling of "is" is still rife and I can't for the life of me find an explanation for this. Why someone would say, for example, "The bottom line is is ..."? After "reason being" even one is unfathomable but it still often earns two. It is is beyond my comprehension.

But there are plenty of other things to worry about besides doubling the verb to be: too many verbs, for example. "If I had have known" (or the variant which replaces one of the auxiliary verbs with a preposition as in, "If I had of known ...") are both cases of incorrect and excess verbiage.

Then there are buzz phrases to worry about. Top offenders here include "touch base", heads up", "bottom line" and "going forward". And words such as "literally" which are needlessly and incorrectly included - "I literally died from laughing so hard". Oh yeah?

Or sentences which are preceded by "With all due respect ..." and "I don't mean to be rude but ..." which invariably announce that the speaker is about to be ... well ... rude or disrespectful. "I'm not racist but ..." is almost always followed by a racist statement. "Let me tell you something" is a tamer version.

To me, "To tell you the truth ..." or "To be honest with you ..." both indicate the speakers' propensity for telling porkies.

At formal occasions, one is often asked to "be upstanding" or to "put your hands together". I, like many others, would prefer to be asked to "stand" or "applaud". Anyway, I try to be upstanding in all of my activities.

But there are more important things to worry about than putting your hands together: what about "my bad", "very unique", "110 per cent", "yeah, no (or nah)" and "I personally"?

And I'm pleased to hear that others are irritated by Las Vegas being called "Los" Vegas by so many. Why? The letters are there before our very eyes. It's as bad as "the" Hawke's Bay.

A well-known New Zealand newsreader, after the first Clinton-Trump debate, wondered who was "best" when there were only two contestants! A similar problem often occurs with "between" and "among".

So, as you can see, there are plenty of people who care. Our language is a treasure which needs to be respected and the contributors of the above are showing respect.

I would now like to recap some of the main issues covered here today but, to lighten things up a little, I will do so using the style made famous by Engrish.

Forbid twice making the "is" in the sentence or else.

Do not use the daylight savings for the other purpose.

Literally do not make too many verbs or a catastrophe.

Please be obeying the rules 110 per cent.

We mean not to be rude but to be honest we are.

Please to be the enjoyment of these commas ,,,.

Please do not make the frolic on this awesome page.

This last one.