Month: June 2008

Lessons Learned from George Carlin

General

I saw the news yesterday that comedian George Carlin died Sunday evening.

Carlin’s death made me question why he was and is one of my all-time favorite comedians.

The answer is the communication lessons that I learned from Carlin.

Lesson Number 1: Be willing to question everything, especially when it comes to language.

Carlin’s legendary ability to play with the English language was, and continues to be, an inspiration to me.

For example, one of his popular jokes was: Why do we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway?

The more easily that one can question this or that about language, the better that one becomes at communication, in my opinion.

Lesson Number 2: Profanity is punctuation only when used in moderation.

Carlin was famous for “the seven words” that still cannot be said today on broadcast television.

But, if you looked more deeply into it, you know that Carlin saw profanity as punctuation for expressing one’s passion about something.

Those comedians who take profanity overboard in their acts don’t seem to understand this lesson.

Excessive profanity in a comedian’s performance is analogous to ending sentences with lots of exclamation marks!!!!!

In other words, profanity used excessively distracts from one’s message, and profanity tends to get duller with overuse.

Lesson Number 3: One can find humor in anything.

This has to be one of the best lessons for a happy life.

For helping one to find humor in anything, I highly recommend George Carlin’s book Brain Droppings.

Carlin excelled at turning language inside out, upside down, and backward. Finding humor in anything requires that ability.

So my prescription for a happy life would include honing one’s ability to play with language.

“… a couple callers …”

Adjectives, Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler, Nouns

I heard this the other day, and I hear this type of construction a lot.

Problem:
The word “couple” is not an adjective.

Explanation:
The word “couple” is a noun, not an adjective.

In particular, “couple” is a group noun, just as “flock” and “gaggle” and “colony” are group nouns.

Just as you should not say “a gaggle geese”, you should not say “a couple callers”.

The solution is illustrated in these examples:

  • “a gaggle of geese”;
  • “a flock of seagulls”;
  • “a colony of ants”.

That is, the solution requires the preposition “of” between the group noun and what the group noun is collecting, if you will.

I believe that the dropping of the preposition “of” in “a couple callers” is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” linguistic hypothesis. It is simpler to not say or write the preposition “of” than to include it.

Solution:
“… a couple of callers …”

“… separate out [something] …

Common English Blunders, Verbs

I heard this on Fox News Channel a couple of days ago.

Problem:
The preposition “out” is unnecessary here.

Explanation:
I frequently see and hear “separate out” in sentences such as these three:

  • “This will separate out the men from the boys.”
  • “Can you you separate out the results from the two groups?”
  • “Economists can separate out the values of buildings.”

Here is yet another perfectly understandable verb — “separate” — that has become seen by many speakers and writers of American English as requiring the preposition “out” after it. It doesn’t!

Look at the same three example sentences with “out” removed:

  • “This will separate the men from the boys.”
  • “Can you you separate the results from the two groups?”
  • “Economists can separate the values of buildings.”

We do not lose any clarity by removing “out” from each of the original sentences, Instead, we gain clarity because the listeners or readers are not wondering why “out” was added.

Solution:
“… separate [something] …”