Garner's Usage Tip of the Day

Want an easy way to pick up useful tips about grammar and usage? Sign up for Bryan Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day. Every weekday you’ll receive an e-mail drawn from Garner’s Modern American Usage, the final word on questions of word use and other language matters. Every tip also includes a Quotation of the Day featuring what great writers and language authorities have said about the art, touching on a wide range of topics. To sign up for this free service, just send an e-mail with “Subscribe” in the subject line to LawProse.

Below is a sample of the kind of usage tip and quotation you’ll receive:

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Draconian; Draconic.

“Draconian” (the usual form) is derived from the name “Draco,” a Greek legislator of the 7th century B.C. who drafted a code of severe laws that included the death penalty for anyone caught stealing a cabbage. As the Century Dictionary put it, “he prescribed the penalty of death for nearly all crimes -- for lesser crimes because they merited it, and for greater crimes because he knew of no penalty more severe.” Today, “Draconian” (usually capitalized) refers to any harsh rule or punishment, not necessarily just legislation.

Sometimes the word is the victim of slipshod extension, when applied to any rule or policy that is viewed as harsh, even when it isn’t cruel at all -- e.g.: “Phil Seelig, president of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, said his organization would appeal the decision to the State Court of Appeals on the ground that random drug testing was unnecessarily draconian [read ‘harsh’ or ‘burdensome’] and violated constitutional protection against unlawful searches.” “Court Upholds Drug Testing of Correction Officers,” N.Y. Times, 13 Oct. 1989, at 10.

In one of its senses, “Draconic” is a needless variant of “Draconian” -- e.g.: “Knowing, as he must, of the unforgiving and draconic [read ‘Draconian’] rules of Islamic law, he still sold this material for publication.” “Did Clinton Commit Faux Pas in Meeting with Rushdie?” San Diego Union-Trib., 2 Dec. 1993, at B13.

But in another sense, “draconic” means “of, relating to, or like a dragon” {the child protagonist is rescued by a friendly dragon and raised with its own draconic brood}.

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Quotation of the Day: "A dictionary is a compendium of a nation's thought, social life, domestic and foreign activities. It is almost possible to lay down a dictum and say: Show me the nation's dictionary, and I will build up from it a true picture of the nation itself." B.L.K. Henderson, Chats About Our Mother Tongue 5 (1927).