LawProse Lessons

spitting image (1). Today: Etymology. "Spitting image" (= the exact likeness; an identical duplicate) is actually a corruption of "spit and image," from the notion of God's using spit and dust to form the clay to make Adam in his image. As far back as the early 1800s, the phrase "the very spit of" was […]

spit. "Spit" (= to expectorate) is inflected in three possible ways: "spit / spat / spat," "spit / spat / spit," and "spit / spit / spit." Good authority can be found for the first two; the third finds less enthusiastic support. The recommendation here is to follow the first, as good writers generally do

Miscellaneous Entries. spill / spilled / spilled. So inflected. The archaic past form "spilt" still sometimes appears in metaphorical references to "spilt milk" ("Don't cry over spilt milk"), but "spilled milk" is somewhat more common. spiral, vb., makes "spiraled" and "spiraling" in American English, "spiralled" and "spiralling" in British English. spiritual; spiritualistic; spirituous; *spiritous; spirituel;

Miscellaneous Entries. speechify = to deliver a speech. The word is used in a mocking or derogatory way. speed / sped / sped. The best past-tense and past-participial form is "sped," not *"speeded" — except in the phrasal verb "speed up" (= to accelerate) {she speeded up to 80 m.p.h.}. Language-Change Index — *"speeded" for

spasmodic; *spasmodical; *spasmatic; spastic. "Spasmodic" = (1) of, relating to, or characterized by a spasm; or (2) intermittent, sporadic, unsustained. *"Spasmodical" and *"spasmatic" are needless variants. "Spasmatic" is labeled "rare or obsolete" by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, but of those two labels only "rare" is accurate — e.g.: o "Likewise, human history is a

spartan; sparse. "Spartan" is the antonym of "luxurious," and "sparse" the antonym of "luxuriant." But there the similarities end. In ancient Greece, the people of Sparta were known as being stoical, frugal, simple, laconic, brave, disciplined, and indifferent to comfort or luxury. From them we get the adjective "spartan," which describes someone with the qualities

sow, vb. Part A: Inflection: sow / sowed / sown. In the past participle, *"sowed" is a variant form. In modern print sources, "sown" predominates by a 6-to-1 ratio. Part B: Sowing wild oats. To "sow" is to scatter seed. By extension, to "sow one's wild oats" is to engage in youthful promiscuity or other

sour grapes. This is one of the most commonly misused idiomatic metaphors. It is not a mere synonym of "envy" or "jealousy." Rather, as in Aesop's fable about the fox who wanted the grapes he could not reach, "sour grapes" denotes the human tendency to disparage as undesirable what one really wants but can't get

Miscellaneous Entries. sound bite. So spelled — not *"sound byte." E.g.: "Although this was a fairly logical prediction to make, knowing the teams, their styles, and their media sound bytes [read 'bites'] throughout the week, Kawakami hit the nail on the head." "For His Next Trick: Tonight's Winning Lottery Numbers," L.A. Times, 22 Mar. 1997,

Sound of Prose (2). Today: Awkward Repetition. Too much repeating of sounds can enfeeble your style, especially if two different forms of the same root appear close together — e.g.: o "The major role of legislative liaisons is to answer legislators' [read 'lawmakers'] questions about the impact of proposed legislation [read 'bills'] on various agencies."

Sound of Prose (1). Today: Undue Alliteration or Rhyme. Every writer is occasionally guilty of having a tin ear. But the effective writer is self-trained not to write in a way that distracts with undue alliteration, unconscious puns, accidental rhyming, or unseemly images. These clunkers are sure to irritate some readers. And although clunkers are

sort of, adv. "Sort of" as an adverb is a casualism that hedges what would otherwise be a direct statement. It should be avoided in polished writing. Both of the following sentences would be improved by dropping it: o "It used to be easy to think of McElwee as a sort of [delete 'sort of']

sortie. "Sortie" (= [1] a raid, esp. an unexpected attack from a besieged position; [2] by extension, an excursion) is occasionally misspelled *"sortee" — e.g.: o "NATO says it has flown 1,700 sortees [read 'sorties'] as of Wednesday, a quarter of which were bombing runs." Lance Gay, "The Daily Cost: Approximately $40 Million," Pitt. Post-Gaz.,

sophistic(al); sophic(al). These words have opposite connotations. The former (usually "sophistical") means "quibbling, specious, or captious in reasoning." The latter (usually "sophic") means "learned; intellectual." "Sophistical," the disparaging term, is more common — e.g.: o "His sophistical alibi that he has a duty and responsibility to bless the rest of the nation with his political

*sooner rather than later. Not only is this idiom redundant; it isn't entirely logical because the comparison is never completed. Sooner and not later than what? "Soon" is usually an improvement — e.g.: o "If so, that could dampen fears that the Federal Reserve will act sooner, rather than later, [read 'soon'] to boost interest

Language-Change Index. The third edition of Garner's Modern American Usage reflects several new practices. Invariably inferior forms, for example, are now marked with asterisks preceding the term or phrase, a marking common in linguistics. The most interesting new feature is the Language-Change Index. Its purpose is to measure how widely accepted various linguistic innovations have