Month: February 2008

“Albumen” vs. “Albumin”

Nouns, Versus

I sometimes see one word where the other word is required.

Problem:
These two nouns are not synonyms.

Explanation:
The noun “albumen” refers to the white of an egg.

The noun “albumin” refers to the water-soluble protein found in the whites of eggs, in milk, in boold,

Solution:
Use “albumen” to refer to the white of an egg. A way to remember this is the common “e” in “albumen” and “egg”. Use “albumin” to refer to the protein that occurs in egg whites, blood, milk, etc. A way to remember this is the common “i” in “albumin” and “protein”.

“Unchartered territory”

Adjectives, Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler, Euphemisms

I heard a Fox television sports commentator say this last evening during Super Bowl XLII.

Problem:
This phrase does not contain the correct adjective for the euphemism.

Explanation:
“Unchartered territory” would refer to territory that has not been chartered.

The definition of the adjective “chartered” is related to an arrangement of leased, exclusive, temporary transportation for a group of travelers.

Given that one charters transportation, not territory, “unchartered territory” makes no sense.

In contrast, given that one can map — or chart — territory, the correct adjective for the euphemism is “uncharted”. That is, “uncharted territory” is the euphemism that was mangled by the sports commentator.

For fun, I searched Google — with the quotation marks included in the search box — for “unchartered territory” and “uncharted territory” and got about 59,600 and 734,000 matches, respectively. That tells me that Web authors have written the euphemism correctly by a ratio of 12.3:1, which is good, but not excellent.

I believe that the spoken use of “unchartered” instead of “uncharted” in the euphemism is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” hypothesis. It is simpler to pronounce the “ered” sound than to pronounce the “ed” sound.

Solution:
“Uncharted territory”

“RADAR ENFORCED”

Common English Blunders

I often see this at the bottom of speed-limit signs.

Problem:
Neither meaning of the phrase makes sense.

Explanation:
“RADAR ENFORCED” could mean either “(THE PRESENCE OF) RADAR IS ENFORCED” or “RADAR-ENFORCED” (note the hyphen).

The former makes no sense, given that drivers don’t have to have radar.

The latter makes no sense, either, given that enforcing a speed limit with radar would mean that a police officer could slow a vehicle to the speed limit by beaming radar toward it. If that were possible, it probably would kill the driver in the process.

What the sign posters want to say is that the law-enforcement authorities are monitoring vehicles’ speeds with radar (detectors).

Solution:
“MONITORED WITH RADAR”