Some Things Just Don't Stick ...

our old and oft-consulted copy

I've had this problem all of my (sentient) life: There are things I learn--and then promptly forget. Things with language and usage. Things I have to look up every damn time I must use them (because I can't think of a good way to avoid them).

Here's an analogy. I used to stutter all the time (in boyhood). Gradually, the problem has diminished--though not disappeared, I'm afraid. I have learned all the stutterer's tricks--e.g., avoiding words that I know (from sad experience) trigger it, thinking before I talk (always a problem for us humans, right?). But there are still times, still words that frustrate me. Statistics is one word I just cannot utter without some major effort. I won't tell you what those other words are, for I know you: You will contrive ways to get me to say them so that you can enjoy my stuttering! (Oh, aren't we all bullies at heart?)

There are also words whose spelling I just can't seem to remember--and they're not even difficult words. But I still have to look the damn things up--though spell-check is, in some ways, a savior. Here's one: truly. Does it have an e or not? (Nope--just checked.) Here's another: believable. (Does it have an e after the v? Nope--just checked.)

I know, I know: By this time I should have created some mnemonic device to help me remember. I just haven't. Deal with it.

And then there are those words and phrases whose meanings and uses I have to check every damn time I write them for public consumption.

Here's a troublesome pair (for me): may and might. Is there a difference between I may go to the game and I might go to the game? Some usage books/sites say that may indicates something more certain--might, less so. Others point out that might is the past form of may (I might have done it ...).

So ... what to do? Mostly, I avoid the construction (the stutterer's strategy). But I just now checked my Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage (1975--not too contemporary!), and Wm. and Mary Morris (the authors) confirm the use of might for "greater doubt" than may.

Anyway, I tread carefully with this one.

And here's one more pair that can confound: a while and awhile. The Morrises (see above) remind us that awhile is an adverb and a while is a noun phrase. So ...

• We will linger awhile. (Awhile modifies the verb linger.)
• We will linger for a while. (While, now a noun, is the object of the preposition for.)

With such expressions as a while ago, the Morrises suggest substituting a month ago, a year ago, demonstrating that while should not be joined with a in such constructions.

So, now that I've written about these things, surely I will always remember them?

Nope.

Just as I will always stutter when I try to say statistics.