On July 11, The News & Observer published a letter from Dr. Assad Meymandi who has had many of his opinion letters published in The N&O. This--https://tinyurl.com/y3wh54o4--is a link to letters in the July 11 print edition. You'll need to scroll through others to get to his. Anyway, in my own letter to the newspaper, I suggested a dictionary is needed when reading his well-written letters. The newspaper would not print my letter, so here it is.
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My mother always kept a dictionary nearby when she was reading anything, be it a book, newspaper, or magazine, and when she was listening to a high intellect television show such as William F. Buckley, Jr.’s, Firing Line.
While Mom was an excellent grammarian—knowing the difference between lie and lay and among sit, sat and set, and when to use I instead of me (“He is older than I” not “He is older than me” [or “myself” as some would try])—and while she had a good vocabulary, she pressed herself to make it an excellent vocabulary.
Besides, Mom wanted to fully understand what the writer or commentator was saying. And, if any of her six children wanted to know a word’s meaning, she would say, “look it up” and then hand over the dictionary.
George Will is a master of using words that requires me to scurry to the nearest Webster’s or to access the Dictionary app on my iPhone. Sometimes, as my wife and I read The News & Observer in the early a.m., we will be about halfway through one of his essays and stop to ask, “What is he trying to say?” Sometimes, after researching those words not familiar, we still don’t know what’s he’s trying to say. I’m sure we’re not alone.
There’s another regular author in The N&O, one who primarily offers letters to the editor, sentences with excellent structure and words requiring a dictionary or thesaurus: Dr. Assad Meymandi of Raleigh. His most recent work of word-art titled “Show some humility” was about the United States women’s soccer team and the players’ reaction to winning the World Cup, and required a little dictionary assistance. He wrote:
The cacophony generated by the super-enthusiastic rah, rah, rahs, the unwelcome meretricious behavior, and their arrogant, narcissistic aura call for some moderation. I suggest an infusion of a modicum of humility and temperance.
Interpretation: The women should have toned down their meaningless mixture of sounds, stop acting tawdry, stop making claims or pretensions to superior importance or rights, and quit having personal undue fascination. Dr. Meymandi was saying celebrating is fine but with little bit of restraint and decorum (dignified behavior, speech and dress, if you have to look it up).
In other words, be happy and excited, act as if you’ve been there before, and let the fans of your accomplishment heap praise and joy, show admiration, and join you in being excited without making an unwanted spectacle of your celebration.
Thanks to Dr. Meymandi for steering me to the dictionary this time and many times before now, thanks to The New & Observe for being a good learning tool, sometimes, and thanks to Mom for the dictionary lesson.
And, boo-yah (look it up) for the U.S. Women’s soccer team in winning the World Cup. You done good!
While Mom was an excellent grammarian—knowing the difference between lie and lay and among sit, sat and set, and when to use I instead of me (“He is older than I” not “He is older than me” [or “myself” as some would try])—and while she had a good vocabulary, she pressed herself to make it an excellent vocabulary.
Besides, Mom wanted to fully understand what the writer or commentator was saying. And, if any of her six children wanted to know a word’s meaning, she would say, “look it up” and then hand over the dictionary.
George Will is a master of using words that requires me to scurry to the nearest Webster’s or to access the Dictionary app on my iPhone. Sometimes, as my wife and I read The News & Observer in the early a.m., we will be about halfway through one of his essays and stop to ask, “What is he trying to say?” Sometimes, after researching those words not familiar, we still don’t know what’s he’s trying to say. I’m sure we’re not alone.
There’s another regular author in The N&O, one who primarily offers letters to the editor, sentences with excellent structure and words requiring a dictionary or thesaurus: Dr. Assad Meymandi of Raleigh. His most recent work of word-art titled “Show some humility” was about the United States women’s soccer team and the players’ reaction to winning the World Cup, and required a little dictionary assistance. He wrote:
The cacophony generated by the super-enthusiastic rah, rah, rahs, the unwelcome meretricious behavior, and their arrogant, narcissistic aura call for some moderation. I suggest an infusion of a modicum of humility and temperance.
Interpretation: The women should have toned down their meaningless mixture of sounds, stop acting tawdry, stop making claims or pretensions to superior importance or rights, and quit having personal undue fascination. Dr. Meymandi was saying celebrating is fine but with little bit of restraint and decorum (dignified behavior, speech and dress, if you have to look it up).
In other words, be happy and excited, act as if you’ve been there before, and let the fans of your accomplishment heap praise and joy, show admiration, and join you in being excited without making an unwanted spectacle of your celebration.
Thanks to Dr. Meymandi for steering me to the dictionary this time and many times before now, thanks to The New & Observe for being a good learning tool, sometimes, and thanks to Mom for the dictionary lesson.
And, boo-yah (look it up) for the U.S. Women’s soccer team in winning the World Cup. You done good!
I had to look up "meretricious" myself. On the rare occasions when I've heard it said or seen it written, it has always been clear from the context that it was a negative word. I had never bothered to go beyond that.
ReplyDeleteAs for the substance of the doctor's comment, he might find the world less annoying if he got with the times. Or, as John Riggins once said, "Loosen up, baby."