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Los Angeles Times
02-05-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
A Word, Please: How this simple word can be intimidating
You probably don't read a lot of books written in the 1820s. But if you did, you'd see the word 'belie' a lot more. According to Google Ngram Viewer, in the early 1800s, 'belie' appeared in books about four times as often as it does now. Maybe that's why I find the word a little intimidating. I never use it, partly because its definition is confusing, but mostly because its past tense is terrifying. Today I belie, yesterday I belay? Belaid? Belied? And what about in its -ing form? Beling? Belieing? I never know. That's ironic when you consider how well-versed I am in the past forms of 'lie' and 'lay.' Today I lie, yesterday I lay, in the past I have lain. Today I lay the book on the table, yesterday I laid the book on the table, in the past I have laid the book on the table. I've written about 'lie' and 'lay' so many times I no longer have to look them up. But for 'belie' … well, better to just avoid the word altogether than to botch its past tense. At least, that's how I've been operating. That changes today, starting with some good news for anyone who's ever struggled to figure out the past form of a verb: Definite answers — not just opinions that amateurs post on the internet — are always handy. Open any major dictionary, digital or physical, turn to any irregular verb, and the first thing you see after the entry word will tell you how to conjugate it in every form. For example, in Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, after the entry for 'begin,' you see in bold 'began, begun, beginning.' Dictionaries list the simple past tense, 'began,' first, followed by the past participle, 'begun.' The easiest way to understand past participles is to think of them as the forms that go with 'have': I have begun. For a lot of verbs, there's no difference between the past participle and the regular past tense, which is why you say, 'I laid the book on the table' and also 'I have laid the book on the table.' In those cases, the dictionary lists only the one past form, 'laid,' indicating that it serves as both. For past forms of 'belie,' Merriam-Webster's lists only 'belied.' So that's the past tense, 'Her gentleness belied her strength,' and the past participle, 'Her gentleness has belied her strength.' Not as difficult as I feared. The progressive participle, 'belying,' seems pretty easy now that I realize the obvious: that 'belie' is more closely related to the 'lie' that means to deceive than to the 'lie' that means to recline. And we all know how to conjugate that type of lying: Today I lie, yesterday I lied, in the past I have lied, I am lying. 'Belie' mirrors that. The definition of 'belie,' though, is another matter. It's confusing. The main definition is to give a false impression of something, as in Merriam's example, 'Her gentleness belies her strength.' But the secondary definition is 'to show something to be false or wrong,' as in, 'The evidence belies their claims of innocence.' In other words, it can mean to conceal a truth or to reveal a truth. Some experts disavow this second definition. 'The word does not mean 'to disclose or reveal,' as is sometimes thought,' writes Garner's Modern American Usage. 'That is, some writers wrongly think of it in a sense almost antithetical to sense 1.' It's always unfortunate when a word has a secondary definition that contradicts its main definition. (Read the full dictionary entry for the word 'literally' and you'll see what I mean.) So even though 'belie' is easy to put in the past tense, I'll continue not using it in any tense. — June Casagrande is the author of 'The Joy of Syntax: A Simple Guide to All the Grammar You Know You Should Know.' She can be reached at JuneTCN@
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Yahoo
KILGORE'S CORNER: No rhyme, reason for what turkeys do
Adjusting the turkey season three years ago in an attempt to stabilize the population of birds, the season now goes from April 16 to May 16 with a limit of one tom turkey statewide. The youth season is open April 12 and 13. The wild turkey is Oklahoma's largest game bird and their chief predators are bobcats and coyotes. Advertisement For hunters, the one thing I've learned about turkeys is that many times there's no rhyme or reason for some of the things they do. I've witnessed a mature and very wild tom turkey, seeing his reflection, peck the chrome bumper of a Ford F150 pickup truck, which happened to be mine. Also, and not funny at the time, a gentleman, with a classic 1956 or 1957 Chevrolet, was staying in an area state park. He requested a report be taken for his auto insurance. You guessed it, a tom had indeed done some serious damage having pecked off the paint almost to the point that it looked as though someone had peppered it with buckshot. As with most hunting, nothing takes the place of scouting and boots on the ground. If you don't have access to private property, there are a number of opportunities and resources available to hunt turkeys on public land. Advertisement There are a number of easy-to-use calls on the market. If you have time to practice and have an understanding family, including your loyal canine, the diaphragm mouth calls are some of the most practical simply because they reduce movement and free up both hands. If you own a set of shooting sticks, by all means take them with you. Speaking from experience, a gun gets awfully heavy when you're having to sit motionless for any length of time and a good rest is not to be found. The keys to a successful spring turkey season are locating an area with turkeys and scouting to learn the terrain looking for turkey tracks and turkey scat. Find areas along creek bottoms or ridges where they tend to roost in mature trees. Advertisement Having a plan in place and knowledge of the area will help swing things your way. If you can hear a turkey gobble, he is closer than you think. Hen and tom decoys work well together or even a hen decoy by itself. One rule of thumb that I have learned over the years is, the less you call, the better off you are. Overcalling is tempting, but doesn't always yield results. Let the tom dictate the conversation. If you have a bird coming your way and hasn't gobbled in some time, the chances are he's coming in silent. In the Green Country area of Oklahoma, we have the Eastern, Rio Grande and Eastern/Rio Grande hybrid breed of turkeys. The Rio Grande breed tends to be more vocal than the Eastern breed. A Rio Grande tends to be easier to call in, at least in my experience. Throughout the central and western of Oklahoma, you will find the Rio Grande breed. In the far western panhandle of the state, there are a mix of Rio Grande's and Merriam's breed of turkeys. Advertisement The Osceola breed is located only in parts of Florida. If you complete the harvesting of all of these four breeds of turkey, it is considered a 'grand slam'. For a 'world slam,' you add in Gould's wild turkey which is found in Mexico, and small parts of New Mexico and Arizona. Generally, turkeys many times will hang up just out of range. Another bit of advice — patience, patience, and patience. As with any hunting, gun safety is paramount. Make sure of your target. Reach John Kilgore at jkilgoreoutdoors@
Los Angeles Times
13-03-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
A Word Please: Do you say ‘car-a-mel' or ‘car-mel'? Turns out, they're both right
People think that, because I write about grammar, I must have grown up in one of those we-value-education families, probably in a good school district. Nope. I dropped out without finishing the ninth grade, then stumbled through life for a few years before straightening out to become the first and only person in my family to get a college degree. (Heck, the first and only to get a newspaper subscription.) So I've had to get my learnin' where I could find it: sitcoms, serial mansplainers, candy bar commercials. I can be forgiven, then, for being deeply influenced by the language teachings of Shaquille O'Neal. Perhaps you remember this 2003 commercial: Shaq corrects actor Percy Daggs III when Daggs pronounces the ingredient in a new variety of Nestle Crunch as 'carmel.' 'It's caramel,' Shaq says, hitting all three syllables. 'Car-a-mel. Can't you spell?' I'd been pronouncing it 'carmel' all my life. It's how the people around me pronounced it. It's all I knew. But then, I grew up in the region of Florida that spawned the first Hooters restaurant, so I didn't have much faith in the judgment or taste of the people around me. Instead, I put my faith in Shaq. I started pronouncing it 'car-a-mel.' After all, Shaq made a good point with 'Can't you spell?' Three vowels, separated by consonants, sure look like three syllables to me. As a self-styled 'language expert,' I knew I should do a little research. And I did — 22 years later. Here's what I just learned: the pronunciation 'carmel,' with two syllables, is every bit as acceptable as the three-syllable pronunciation. In fact, the two-syllable option comes first in Merriam-Webster's dictionary, which may indicate it's more standard. Score one for the town that gave the world chicken wings with a side of hair mousse. Reasonable minds may disagree. Garner's Modern American Usage, for example, is on Team Shaq, deeming the three-syllable pronunciation superior. Jewelry is another word that's spelled like it has three syllables but is often pronounced with just two: jool-ry. In my world, the two-syllable pronunciation is standard. I almost never hear 'joo-ul-ry.' Merriam's dictionary seems to prefer three syllables, though it allows two, as well. The difference is subtle, almost undetectable. 'Joo-ul-ry' so buries the 'ul' that it sounds nearly identical to 'jool-ry,' even on the audio clip on Merriam's website. The pronunciation you definitely want to avoid is 'joo-luh-ry,' with 'luh' in the middle instead of 'ul.' Merriam's dictionary calls this pronunciation nonstandard, which is dictionary-speak for 'ill-advised.' 'Realtor' is another oddly pronounced word. Instead of dropping a syllable, people add one: 'reel-uh-tur.' It's a little bizarre, but if you pay attention to how your mouth moves to say 'Realtor,' it's easy to hear why the first and second syllables could benefit from a little more separation. Regardless, the three-syllable pronunciation of 'Realtor' is widely considered to be wrong. The experts in my language library say it's always just 'reel-tur.' Perhaps the most hotly debated word of this type is 'homogeneous.' Some argue, passionately, that it should be pronounced 'ho-mo-GEE-nee-us,' while others insist it's 'ho-MOJ-en-us.' Actually, these are two different words. 'The more common term is homogeneous,' writes Garner's, 'which means 'of uniform characteristics.'' It's pronounced as five syllables, with the stress on 'gee.' The word 'homogenous,' has just one 'e' and is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable: 'ho-MOJ-en-us.' It's a term from biology that means tissues or organs are genetically related. Many people pronounce 'homogeneous' as if they're using the other word, 'homogenous.' But if you want to say that things are similar or of uniform composition, that's not a good idea. 'Writers are best advised to use 'homogeneous,' and to pronounce all five syllables,' Garner's writes. — June Casagrande is the author of 'The Joy of Syntax: A Simple Guide to All the Grammar You Know You Should Know.' She can be reached at JuneTCN@
