Month: January 2008

“Click here if this page does not refresh in one minute.”

Devolution toward Simpler, Prepositions

I saw this on Houston’s water-bill-payment website.

Problem:
The preposition “in” is misleading in this sentence.

Explanation:
This imperative sentence implies that the reader should click the “here” link in the event that the page does not refresh exactly one minute after it first appears.

However, my experience with the page is that it always has refreshed itself sooner than that, so the sentence should not tell the reader that the page requires exactly one minute to refresh itself. Instead, the sentence should tell the reader that the page requires up to one minute to refresh itself.

The correct preposition for this sentence is “within” because one of its definitions is in the period of.

I believe that the use of “in” in place of “within” supports my “Devolution toward Simpler” hypothesis. It’s simpler to write or say “in” than to write or say “within”.

Solution:
“Click here if this page does not refresh within one minute.”

“Driver License” vs. “Driver’s License” vs. “Drivers’ License”

Adjectives, Plurals, Possessives, Versus

I have wondered for years about which of these is the correct form.

Problem:
The fifty state governments in the USA are inconsistent in the way that they refer to licenses issued to drivers.

Explanation:
I searched the Web for the form used by each of the fifty state governments.

Some state government had two official ways to refer to these licenses. Most state governments had only one way. No state government used “Drivers License” (plural, with no possessive apostrophe).

Here are the names of the states whose governments use one or more of the three forms on their own websites:

  • “Driver License” (35 states):  Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana (also in “Driver’s License” list), Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania (also in “Driver’s License” list), South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin
  • “Driver’s License” (16 states):  Arkansas, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana (also in “Driver License” list), Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Pennsylvania (also in “Driver License” list), Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming
  • “Drivers’ License” (1 state):  Delaware

Ignoring the two “undecided” states (Indiana and Pennsylvania), we see that “Driver License” is favored by a ratio of more than 2.35 to 1 over “Driver’s License” (thirty-three states vs. fourteen states).

Solution:
I doubt that the fifty state governments ever will agree on a single form for referring to licenses that they issue to drivers. The best for which we can hope is that any given state government with multiple ways will settle on a single form and that Delaware will come to its senses about “Drivers’ License”.

“Bring” vs. “Take” Revisited

Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler, Verbs, Versus

I continue to hear “bring” when the speaker means “take” instead.

Problem:
The verbs “bring” and “take” are not interchangeable.

Explanation:
As I wrote last year, one should use “take” when one is telling the listener to transport something to a location other than where one currently resides. One should use “bring” when one is telling the listener to transport something to a location where one currently resides.

I am revisiting this topic to say that I believe that use of “bring” instead of “take” supports two linguistic hypotheses:

  1. It supports my “Devolution toward Simpler” hypothesis. The verb “bring” is simpler to say than is “take”. The NG sound in “bring” is simpler to say than is the K sound in “take”. One can let the ending of “bring” trail off; in contrast, one must distinctly pronounce the ending of “take” to ensure that listeners understand what one said.
  2. It supports an avoidance-of-negative-connotations hypothesis. I believe that people unconsciously avoid “take” in favor of “bring” because of negative connotations of “take”. These negative connotations come from such phrases as “on the take” and “getting taken”; “bring” has no negative connotations, as far as I am aware.

Solution:
Use “bring” when the person making the request is at the destination.
Use “take” when the person making the request is NOT at the destination.