Nib #17: Germanic words, Ja

One of the coolest things about the English language — granddaughter of both Latinate French and germanic Saxon — is that almost every word has a twin. The germanic word eat means the same thing as the latinate consume. Same with dog and canine or earth and terrain.

The more of these pairs you read out loud, the more you’ll notice — the German words are usually better.

They’re hardier, more fun to say and hear, more grounded and descriptive. Latinate words — with their French iambs and gentle sounds — often seem detached and antiseptic. Sometimes this is a good thing. Think how much easier it must be for doctors and patients to discuss the horrifying prospect of losing a limb in terms of amputation rather than lopping off.

But writers of English should want to use graphic, bracing, sticky words. As Will Strunk and E.B. White put it in The Elements of Style, “Anglo-Saxon is a livelier tongue than Latin, so use Anglo-Saxon words.”

I was reminded of this point when reading President Biden’s State of the Union Address last month. See how it ends:

“I believe in you the American people. You’re the reason I’ve never been more optimistic about our future! So let’s build that future together! Let’s remember who we are! We are the United States of America. There is nothing beyond our capacity when we act together! May God bless you all. May God protect our troops.”

Notice how the crescendoing peroration trips over that “capacity.” There’s nothing wrong with the word as such. But in this context, the ostentatiously Latinate “capacity” (just like that clunky “optimistic” four sentences earlier) stands out as robotic and wonky. It breaks the spell, like a car horn interrupting music.

The whole sentence — “There is nothing beyond our capacity when we act together!” — sounds like it was written by AI or translated from another language. The idea being communicated is good; it’s the word choice that’s awful.

Biden should have said something like, “There’s nothing we can’t do when we do it together!” Or, “Together, ‘we the people of the UNITED States of America,’ can do anything!”

The lesson for young writers: when in doubt, choose those rough-hewn, earthy germanic words over the smooth, antiseptic Latinate ones.

Until next week… keep writing!

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Nib #19: Meet Your Audience Where They Are

17 May, 2024

It’s the writer’s job to persuade, not the audience’s *to be* persuaded. To move readers from A to B, you have to meet them at A.

Nib #18: Joe Biden’s Pretty Good Campus Chaos Speech

10 May, 2024

The Nib of the Week’s frequent criticism of President Joe Biden’s speeches belies the soft spot I’ll always have for the guy. So it was nice to see Ole Joe give a pretty good speech about the snarling “encampments” besetting America’s college campuses this Spring. Let’s dive in. The speech begins poorly, alas, with a muddled riff about “fundamental American principles” and some bush-league partisan preening about “authoritarianism” and “those who rush in to score political points.” But then the tone shifts. “Violent protest is not protected [by our Constitution]; peaceful protest is. It’s against the law when violence occurs.” The language is a bit stilted there, but Biden soon hits his stride. In quick succession, he calls out: “destroying property … vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations … threatening people, intimidating people, instilling fear.” Note the hard, prosecutorial word choices. Then, Biden goes even further, aligning himself with the students the encampments are harassing. Then, God love him, Biden goes there: “There should be no place on any campus, no place in America for antisemitism or threats of violence against Jewish students… There is no place for racism in America. It’s all wrong. It’s un-American.” Conservative readers may question why anyone should give the president credit for a belated and banal endorsement of basic justice and American political norms. But look more closely at what the president did here: he punched, effectively, to his left. Biden’s biggest problems this election year are the public perceptions that (a) he is a bumbling incompetent in mental decline, and (b) he shares the woke extremism of the New Left. This speech pushes back on both narratives. Biden energetically indicts the encampments’ criminal tactics and then outright condemns their motivating, anti-Semitic bigotry -- targeting the very voters Biden and Democrats need to win in November. Theretofore, most elite Democrats had tried to thread various rhetorical needles on the encampments. “Criticizing Israel isn’t anti-Semitic!” “99% of the protesters are peaceful!” “Rioting is the language of the unheard!” Biden, by contrast, shoves through the bothsidesism like a snowplow. Riots are bad, period . Anti-Semitism is bad, period . Shutting down colleges is bad, period . No doubt some in the White House wanted more nuance, more “but of course…”, more attacks against Republicans or even — gulp — Israel. But those would have compromised the mission of the speech, which was to re-assert Biden’s membership in the United States of Normal, Everyday Americans. Good on him — and whoever in the White House speech-approval process kept the text on the rails. The lesson for young writers — when an issue arises enabling you to triangulate with 97% of the country against a tiny fringe of mouthy, racist criminals, be like Joe and don’t overthink it. Moral clarity still works. Until next week… keep writing!