Author: Mark DuPré

Nother

Posted on by Mark DuPré

Nother is not really a word, but is used informally and only should be used in speech, if at all. We understand what a person means when they say something like, “It was a whole nother thing.” That may work in conversation, but not in writing or any kind of formal communication. In that case, “It was a whole other thing” is what is needed.

Most of us have figured out that the word nother comes from another (with the drop of the first letter), and that another comes from adding an to other. But sometimes when another word wants to make its way into the expression, we rightly say a, but then add the dropped n to other. It seems the n sound just wants to connect with other so much that it insists on connecting itself where it doesn’t belong.

Everyone knows what a person means when they say nother, but we shouldn’t write it down. And really, it makes us sound smarter if we never say it either.

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Date and Time: Plural or Singular?

Posted on by Mark DuPré

Is the phrase “date and time” plural or singular?

If you Google this question, you’ll get a number of conflicting answers, so I will simply offer my best thoughts on the subject.

On the surface, when someone asks you to verify a date and time, or suggests one, it seems logical to some of us to say that “the date and time are” because they seem to be two separate items. Wouldn’t we say “the man and woman are…” or “the table and couches are…”?

But the phrase “date and time” is becoming a singular item in our thoughts and communications, and it’s fine now to say “the date and time is…”.

Think of it this way: The date is the broader term, and the time is a subset of the date; the time is set within the date. So we are expressing a single moment— a time that happens to be set within a certain date, and this is therefore a single entity.

English is such a fluid language, and we must realize we’re in the middle of a transition from a plural to a singular. (Some folks are used to considering them as two separate entities, so they will continue to use the plural. Be kind to them.)

But for the rest of us—the date and time is….!

My thanks to Clint Morgan and his daughter Michelle for this wonderful suggestion!

Stint and stent

Posted on by Mark DuPré

These two words are used interchangeably and wrongly by too many people! We simply have to end the insanity today—and you can help! (Thank you—I feel better….)

A stint usually refers to a specific period of time dedicated to a specific action. For instance, “I did a stint as a hospital technician back in 2012.” Think “I did a stretch as…” or “I did a turn as a go-fer at that company when I was in college.” That’s a stint.

A stent, on the other hand (or in the other artery) is a mesh medical device for keeping bodily tubes open. They put stents in people who have blocked arteries to increase blood flow.

So unless someone gets shrunk down to Incredible Shrinking Man size and is implanted in someone’s artery for a temporary job, we can’t say that there’s a stint in there. If arterial health is the goal, that would be a stent.

Bottom line: Stints are what we have spent some time doing; stents go inside people.