Writing on Renewable Energy—Or Anything Else

By the time I was four or five years old, I had become aware that I was growing up in a family that paid a great deal of attention to the correct use of the English language.  Not only was my grammar and word usage continually (not continuously!) being corrected, but I also recall my maternal grandfather’s (Baba’s) claim that no two words in the language mean precisely the same thing, and the contests he’d regularly offer, asking all of us family members to try to invalidate his theory.

As an adult, I try not to make mistakes in the use of the language, though I’m sure I do—and more often than I’d like to think.  In any case, I’m certainly not as pedantic as dear old Baba was; in fact, I try to have fun with the subject, as I did here.

To be honest, however, I most certainly do have a bit of a pedantic streak in me.  When a copy of the book “Gwynne’s Grammar” arrived at my house the other day, a gift from my mother, I took fiendish delight in finding a few booboos … in the preface alone.  At the author’s rather bold request, I just sent him an email with this small spreadsheet that I hope a few readers may enjoy.

For what it’s worth, I realized while I was still quite young that Baba’s belief about synonyms was more than extreme; it was simply incorrect, as there are words that describe the precise same thing that entered the language at different times and through different routes, e.g., feces, excrement, and the vulgar “s-word.”