Words that are not actually words drive me nuts. I’m not talking about useful made-up words like “janky” (which means “crappy”) or “trotch” (an excellent swear word). Those kind of words are fine. The ones that bother me are those common slips you hear frequently that are either a massacre of the accepted form of the word or (in the case of today’s word) are simply obsolete versions. Specifically, two that have been bothering me lately are heighth and verbage. Today we’ll discuss the former.
Listen people! “Heighth” is NOT A WORD. And neither is “hidth,” if you’re inclined to spell it that way. Get this through your heads. Yes, it is true that wide becomes width and deep becomes depth, but that doesn’t mean when we discuss the height of an object we need to mention its heighth. Watch this:
ADJECTIVE -> NOUN
wide/narrow -> width
deep/shallow -> depth
broad/narrow -> breadth
long/short -> length
high/low -> HEIGHT
There just isn’t another H, and that’s because the word “height” is already on the right hand side of the nifty table above. That is to say, it is already a noun. Unlike its compadres, who need to end in H in order to move from left to right, high gets to be special by trading the “th” for an “ht.” Do you really want to be the one to make height feel less special? No. I didn’t think so.
Now, to be fair, heighth was an acceptable form (indeed, the proper form) all the way up to the 19th century. And it is still used frequently enough that I suppose it isn’t exactly an abomination to run around discussing the ever-growing heighth of your eldest son. Plus, languages change all the time, right? What harm is it to revert back to an antiquated form?
All fairly valid points. But, much like the Cro-Magnons chose not to revert back into Neanderthals, we should embrace this modern era and speak like we belong in such. Height is so much easier to pronounce than heighth—why make more work for ourselves?
17 responses so far ↓
1 Laura // Sep 24, 2007 at 9:20 pm
“becking call”… aargh!
2 TimsHead // Sep 25, 2007 at 2:48 am
Preach on!
I chafe at the use of should of instead of should have. And I’ll find this among people who are otherwise intelligent!
On a brighter note, I think redonculous, asstastic and craptacular are among my favorite made-up words.
ryc: Yes, it is supposed to be 10Kan, only two syllables total, with the pronunciation meaning both the can (able to do) and the can (recyclable type). The logo included a giant can mascot … and I’m glad I wasn’t in that suit on a hot day.
3 Boo // Sep 25, 2007 at 3:25 am
Oh man, I just started grading essay questions too.
The “of” instead of “have” like ^ is the error most frequently made as far as word misplacement goes.
I love a made-up word if it is presented at diction or dialogue, but formal essays. Holy crap. I have my work cut out for me.
4 rubyblue123 // Sep 25, 2007 at 4:10 am
“Ax” instead of “ask” can make my ears bleed.
5 Jacque // Sep 25, 2007 at 7:05 am
Amen Sister!
6 Michael5000 // Sep 25, 2007 at 7:34 am
I prefer “tallitude” or “longitudinal prowess.”
7 lizzy // Sep 25, 2007 at 12:49 pm
In my line of work, I’m chafed by those who pronounce the word “affidavit” as “affidavid.” It’s not a guy named David. Stop saying it that way.
I’m also anoyed by redundancy. It’s not an ATM machine. The M stands for machine. Nobody calls it an ATMM.
While we’re on shit that drives me bonkers, I hate emails in all small caps. I can’t think of a more passive-aggressive typeset.
I could keep going, but I fear I’ll annoy myself.
8 fern_forest // Sep 25, 2007 at 2:03 pm
HERE HERE!
could i get you to come to my class and share this wisdom?
9 "Jim" whatever // Sep 25, 2007 at 3:11 pm
wow. talk about passive aggressive. I’m a folklorist for crying out loud, so I got to keep antiquated sayings out there, if only in the spirit of cultural diversity. And speaking of which, whats up with all the grammer/diction nazis running around here? Hasn’t anyone ever heard of ociotypes?
10 Natalie B // Sep 25, 2007 at 6:16 pm
well put! though I’m taking a poetry class, so unfortunately I have to bounce between the two. Don’t worry though! In my day to day usage, I will use the correct form!!
11 Brandy // Sep 25, 2007 at 6:58 pm
That one has always bothered me too. What the hell people?? There is no H at the end of that word!
In rural Missouri you’ll hear warsh, Wal-Marts (the HUGE ass sign clearly does NOT contain an S, wtf?!) and Missour-ah. Ugh. So yah, I feel your pain.
12 Sarah Kushwara // Sep 27, 2007 at 6:46 am
Actually, Neanderthal is Neandertal.
13 Sasha // Sep 28, 2007 at 9:34 pm
do you actually still know anyone who says trotch? i haven’t heard that since high school…
14 Lynn // Sep 30, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Well, the Cro-Magnons COULDN’T convert back to Neadersthals because they were a different species, but that’s no the issue here…
I hate made-up or stupid words.
My biggest one lately is “surveill” as a verb. It’s not a word, people! It’s survey. Surveillance does not become surveill. Yet, I just saw that the dictionary added it as a back-formation. That makes me ill.
Lynn
15 Lynn // Sep 30, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Neanderthans. Jeez. Some copy editor I am.
16 Kathryn // Oct 1, 2007 at 1:11 pm
irregardless
’nuff said
17 Lisa // Oct 24, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Supposeably
2 coworkers, 2 different jobs, same word!