Author: Kirk

“I have two train of thoughts on that.”

Common English Blunders, Plurals

I heard this last week on a conference call.

Problem:
The speaker pluralized the wrong word.

Explanation:
Someone made a comment during a conference call.

The call’s facilitator responded to the comment by saying, “I have two train of thoughts on that.”

Given that “two” modifies “train” and not “thought”, the word “train” — not the word “thought” — should have been pluralized.

This type of mistake is a common English blunder in spoken American English because avoiding it requires one to think quickly beyond the common pattern of putting the pluralizing S or E-S at the very end of a concept, which in this case is “train of thought”.

Another example of this type of mistake is pluralizing “attorney general” by saying the incorrect phrase “attorney generals” instead of the correct phrase “attorneys general”.

Solution:
“I have two trains of thought on that.”

Names mean things: Pastor Preasha Hilliard

General

I noticed this a week ago.

I was stepping through television channels, looking for something good to watch, when I saw what clearly was a religious TV program.

A woman was speaking directly into the camera, and “Pastor Preasha Hilliard” appeared as part of the banner at the bottom of the TV screen.

I do not know whether Pastor Hilliard was given that name as a child or she chose that name later in life.

But you have to admit that Preasha sounds a lot like “preacher”.

I do not believe that it is a coincidence that Preasha is involved with preaching.

Names mean things.

“quaint essential picnic”

Mispronunciations

My wife saw this a week ago in an email message.

Problem:
The modifier of “picnic” is incorrect.

Explanation:
My wife got what appeared to be an often-forwarded email message about being safe with mayonnaise, which has a reputation for spoiling quickly when not refrigerated.

The message referred to the popularity of mayonnaise in meal items that are commonly found on picnics.

The message included the phrase “quaint essential picnic”.

A spelling checker would not have caught the problem in this phrase.

Except perhaps to suggest a comma between the word “quaint” and the word “essential”, a grammar checker would not have caught the real problem, either.

The solution comes from saying “quaint essential” to oneself quickly and appreciating that the email message writer probably was attempting to convert an unrecognized word into two words that he or she already knew.

Solution:
“quintessential picnic”