Wednesday September 24, 1975
daily nebraskan
page 17
bernstein on wed?
ouns verbe
N
r m
By Theodore M. Bernstein
Not a predominaat adverb. A Colum
bus Ohio, reader asks about the word
predominately as in the term "predomi
nately white" or "predominately black."
She says her librarian tells her the library's
dictionary lists no such word, nor, she
says, does hers, but both list
predominantly.
Actually, almost all dictionaries do
include the word and it is not a latter-day
development. The big Oxford English
Dictionary traces it back as far as 1594,
but labels it "rare. Today's dictionaries
do not even give it that label, but it is true
that predominantly is the predominant
form. :. ; ,
Should nouns be Yerbed? The answer,
which was given here once before, is a re
stricted yes. The process of what in
grammar is called "conversion" has been
going on since the 13th century and in
many instances has made the language
more economical and more precise. It is
crisper, for example, to say a man gardens
than to say he tends a garden.
However, one th&t bothers Miss Phyllis
G. Chew of Salem, N.J., and many other
people is "host," as in "he will host a
party.". Another is author, as in "she
authored a romantic novel."
It is too late to prevent people from
saying that Senator Blank chaired the
meeting, although that coinage is only a
couple of decades old. But let's hope the
senator will never be allowed to motion
adjoumament.
The conversion of nouns into verbs is
acceptable if it fills a need, but there is no
need for mere novelty.
Word oddities. Why the expression "by
the same token;" why always a token and
not a coin? asks Donald K. Fenstermacher
of Collingswood, N.J.
A coin is a piece of metal used as
money. A token sometimes is something
similar, but more often is a thing that
represents or indicates a fact, a happening,
a feeling, etc.
By the same token means likewise or
calls up the similarity to one of those
things. In that sense it has nothing to do
with a piece of metal,
with a piece of metal.
(c) 1975 Theodora M. Bernstein
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