Perusing the Dictionary In Pursuit of Pursuit

I’ve been pretty good with spelling as far back as I can remember, but there are a few words that I always seem to have problems spelling correctly. There are two categories here, actually:

1. Words that I spell incorrectly and which I know are wrong as soon as I see how I’ve spelled them, and

2. Words whose spelling, despite looking at them on the page or screen, still eludes me.

This second category caught my attention recently. I began to wonder what it was about these words that make them so hard for me to get right. I mean, when I look at (or just think about looking at) the word spelled however I think it should be, I have an odd, sinking feeling that it's not right. But I can't figure how it should be spelled, either.

So, today the word is “pursue.” I tend to spell this “persue.” Sure, when they’re right next to each other, I’m pretty sure that the first one is correct - though there’s still room for doubt. So, I thought about this particular word for a while . . .

I think what messes me up is that there are two “u” vowels in it, right next to each other, but they are not pronounced the same. I think that’s why my brain wants to put something different than a “u” in the first spot. After all, the other “u,” in the “sue” part of the word, actually sounds like a “u” - “yooooooo.” I suppose that from now on I will need to remember that this word is one of those odd ones in this language. Odd to me, anyway.

Oh yeah. Don't even remind me of the existence of “peruse!”

Assorted Insanity (a.k.a. English Sucks)

What do you associate with the word, "assorted?" For me, it is a box of assorted chocolates - the kind that are all mixed up so that you can't really tell what's inside the candy until you bite down on it. I mean, these boxes of chocolates almost always have the word "assorted" printed somewhere on the outside. So, for me,

Assorted = Chocolates

A few days ago the Word of the Day that is emailed to me from the Merriam-Webster web site was "assorted." Here's the definition that came with it:

as·sort·ed /əˈsɔrtɪd/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[uh-sawr-tid] how IPA Pronunciation– adjective

1.	consisting of different or various kinds; miscellaneous: assorted flavors; assorted sizes.

2.	consisting of selected kinds; arranged in sorts or varieties: rows of assorted vegetables.

3.	matched; suited.

---

[Origin: 1790–1800; assort + -ed²]

The first definition matched up closely with my own understanding of the word. But I read further and realized an interesting incongruity in my thinking. The second and third definitions imply some kind of order: sorting; arranged; matched. Funny, even though the root word, "sort" is pretty obvious, I'd never thought of this word as having anything to do with order - it was always miscellany/chaotic/unorganized to me.

So, does anyone use "assorted" to refer to something that's been sorted? Something that has varying parts, but which parts have been grouped together by some kind of sorting process? Not me. And I'm kind of ticked off that I never thought about it before. I mean, the word even says "sorted" in it!

I dunno. The weirdness probably comes from some long-forgotten, but gruesome past.

Stupid English with its sordid origins.

Ascending Interrogative Imitation

I am often fascinated by the inflection and rhythm of a talker when I overhear conversations, listen to radio and TV, and even sometimes when I’m engaged in conversation. With the latter, fascination makes it way too easy to miss what’s being said to me; so I have to be careful. Thinking way back to my earliest lessons on dissecting the English (American) language - somewhere in the elementary school days - I remember the teacher talking about how “the voice voice goes up at the end of a questioning sentence.” I really don’t remember anything else about that lesson, but that particular rule is clanging around inside my brain these days because of something I heard last week.

Fans of the NPR radio show, “Car Talk,” regularly are treated to a caller’s imitation of a car sound - often with much coaxing from hosts Tom and Ray. The imitations are frequently good for a chuckle or two, if nothing else (a really good one can take the hosts from zero to “peeing my pants” in an instant). Often they do actually help to diagnose the car’s problem. A couple of weeks ago I heard something in one of the imitations that got me to a-thinkin’.

The caller was asked to try to make the sound her car was making: “RrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrr,” she rasped. Probing further, trying to diagnose whether or not the sound was connected to engine speed, Car Talk Guy asks, “If you speed up, does the ‘RrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrr’ go to ‘RrrrRrrrRrrrRrrr?’”

Audio clip: Ascending Interrogative Imitation, from Car Talk

What made me chuckle was hearing the pitch of his imitation go up at the end of this interrogative sentence - following the rule I learned as a kid. The funny thing about this to me is that there was a teeny, tiny inconsistency in that sentence if you look at it from a certain point of view. And, of course, that’s exactly where my mind went: If the purpose of an imitation is to try to sound just like the imitated thing, and the thing was not asking a question when it made the sound, then putting the imitation at the end of a question requires changing it so that it sounds like a question. You have to make your “voice go up at the end.” That immediately makes the imitation less accurate but more funny. At least, that’s how I see it.

In the case of the car on Car Talk, I’m guessing it wasn’t asking a question at all. It was probably saying the automotive equivalent of, “OhMyAchingBack!”