Today’s Pet Peeves

Does anyone know what notoriety means any more? Notoriety is a synonym for infamous (usually a bad thing). It does not mean famous (usually a good thing). John Wilkes Booth was notorious for assassinating President Lincoln. His notoriety was widespread. Brat Pitt is famous. His fame is widespread. He hasn’t done anything to make himself notorious, at least as far as I know.

If something pisses you off, you’re irritated, not aggravated. If you pick at the scab on your elbow, you’re aggravating it. That is, you’re making things worse. If you pick at the scab on your elbow and you bleed on your little brother, you’re going to irritate him.

If you tell me you’re nauseous, what you’re really saying is that you feel you make me sick (and you might not be far from the truth). If you’re sick to your stomach, you are nauseated. People who are nauseous cause nausea in other people.

If you have a strong point, it’s a “fort” and not a “fortay.” Forte comes from the French word fort, which means “strong” and it’s pronounced “fort.”  Forte (fortay) comes from Italian and is a musical term meaning to play with enthusiasm. I lived in France for 10 years and I favor saying “fort.” It’s not incorrect. Stop looking at me like I’m an idiot because I don’t say forte the same way as you.

Utilize may sound like a fancy permutation of use, but it isn’t. If you use something for a purpose for which it was not intended, you utilize it. So, if you use a knife to pick your teeth, you utilize it. If you use a knife to stab someone in the back, you use it.

Due to and because of are not the same things. “Due to” substitutes for “caused by.” If you mean “because of,” that’s what you should use. The flooding in New Orleans was due to Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans was flooded because of Hurricane Katrina. I can’t think of any reason that you would say “due to the fact that.”

Stop saying “in order to.” All you need is “to.”

It’s not “close proximity.” Proximity is close. If you say “close proximity,” you’re saying “close close.”

Same thing for “reason why.” Reason is the same as why. If you say “reason why,” you’re saying “why why.” It’s “reason that.” I doubt that anyone is going to change saying “reason why” on my account, so I don’t plan to lose sleep over that one any more than I plan to lose sleep on the “fortay” thing.