Nouns

A “quantum leap” is NOT impressive.

Euphemisms, Nouns, Self-negation

Have you ever heard someone say something similar to “The company made a quantum leap in productivity this past quarter.”, as if trying to say that a lot of progress was made?

I do not know the origin of the phrase “quantum leap”, but you should know that this euphemism, which is especially popular in American business, is essentially a self-negation.

The classic definition of the noun “quantum” is the smallest quantity of radiant energy that can exist independently.

A “quantum” in physics is the energy that is equal to the frequency of the associated radiation times Planck’s constant.

And a “quantum leap” refers to the discontinuous, instantaneous jump of an electron in an atom from one quantum state to another.

So taking a “quantum leap” truly refers to taking the smallest leap possible — not exactly what most Americans mean when they say it.

I suspect that many people misapply the phrase “quantum leap” so that they can sound smarter.

But they end up sounding a bit ignorant or pompous to anyone who has been exposed to even a little bit of modern physics.

“Baluster” vs. “Balustrade” vs. “Banister”

Nouns, Versus

I sometimes hear these nouns used interchangeably.

Problem:
These nouns are not all synonyms.

Explanation:
A “baluster” is a moulded shaft that most often supports the handrail of a staircase but also can be used to support the coping of a parapet, which is a wall-like barrier often at the edge of a roof.

The noun “baluster” comes from the Italian word — balaustra — for a pomegranate flower because the traditional shape of a baluster resembles the half-open pomegranate flower.

Balusters often are made of stone or wood and are sometimes made of metal.

A “balustrade” is a sequence of balusters that support a handrail.

A “banister” — also spelled with two “n”s — is another name for a staircase baluster, but many architects and interior designers prefer to reserve the word “banister” for a narrower, more-modern support.

Now here is where it becomes more confusing.

Many Americans — I cannot speak for other countries — also use the word “banister” to refer to the handrail of a staircase.

Solution:

  • Use “baluster” to refer to a pomegranate-flower-shaped support of a staircase handrail.
  • Use “balustrade” to refer to a sequence of balusters.
  • Use “banister” to refer to a non-pomegranate-flower support of a staircase handrail.
  • Be aware that some use “banister” also to refer to the staircase handrail itself.

“Perogative”

Mispronunciations, Misspellings, Nouns

I hear or see this occasionally.

Problem:
This is a mispronunciation or misspelling of a valid noun.

Explanation:
The valid noun is “prerogative” — spelled P-R-E-R-O-G-A-T-I-V-E.

The definition of this noun as it is most commonly used is a privilege or right limited to persons of a particular category or to a specific person.

This noun dates back to a Latin adjective in the late 1300s that literally meant voting first.

The noun “prerogative” exemplifies the value of knowing the roots of words in the English language.

The “rogative” portion of the noun is related to the word “interrogative”, which as an adjective usually means conveying or pertaining to a question.

The “pre” portion of the noun means before.

Knowing these two roots makes it easy to understand how the noun “prerogative” refers to a privilege or right limited to a person or specific group of people — such as voting first!

So replacing “pre” with “pe” in “prerogative” produces the nonsense word “perogative”.

I believe that the mispronunciation of “prerogative” as “perogative” is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” linguistic hypothesis (and that this, in turns, leads to the misspelling of “prerogative”). It is simpler to say “perogative” — as if it were spelled P-U-H-R-O-G-A-T-I-V-E — than it is to say “prerogative”.

For fun, I searched Google for each of the following (with the quotation marks, to avoid variations) and got about the indicated numbers of matches:

  • “perogative” — spelled P-E-R-O-G-A-T-I-V-E — 5,750,000 matches
  • “prerogative” — spelled P-R-E-R-O-G-A-T-I-V-E — 5,610,000 matches

This tells me that Web authors have favored the incorrect word over the correct word by a ratio of 1.02-to-1, which is horrible!

Solution:
“Prerogative”