Past

Posted on by Mark DuPré

Happy Boxing Day!

There’s nothing wrong with using this word—except when it’s redundant. And that’s where we find most of the goofs in our speech.

How often have you heard the phrases “past history” or “past experience”? Probably far too often, and likely often enough that we no longer feel the damage it’s doing to our brains.

Think about it. “History” is all in the past, isn’t it? So “past history” is redundant, right?

How about our experiences? As far as I’m aware, I’ve never had a future experience. Come to think of it, all my experiences have been in the past. (I’m assuming yours have been, too. So to say “past experience” is redundant, too.)

So let’s just say things like “History tells us…” and “From my experience…”. And yes, you have my permission to ask folks about any future history or future experiences when they use “past” redundantly!

A lot/allot/alot

Posted on by Mark DuPré

A mistake here is always a matter of written grammar error, as all these sound the same when we speak.

Many things equals a lot of things—two words. There is no such word as alot. A and lot should always be written as two separate words.

(Then there’s allot. That means to assign or allocate or apportion something, or to give it as a share of something. For example, “Line up, and I will allot each of you a piece of cake.”

To repeat, don’t ever write alot. Ain’t no such word. : ). If you are referring to many things, it’s two words:

a              and              lot.

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 2022.” 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.