Have you heard the old wise tale about knats?

Today's lesson in word usage:

1) I heard Justin Farmer on Dallas WFAA say, "Dallas is growing at a more slower rate . . ." Either Dallas is growing at a slower rate or Dallas is growing more slowly -- it's not growing more slower. KDFW's Dan Henry has a similar grasp of the English language -- "We had a more thicker cloud cover." Too bad Justin and Dan aren't more smarter.

2) I finally couldn't stand it any longer. I wrote the Enablex company about their ads promising "less leaks and accidents." Less leakage maybe, but fewer leaks and accidents. They say they will refer my "suggestion" to the proper department. When did correct word usage become a suggestion?


4) Mary Madewell, in an editorial on the Essent/blogger case, said the case "is certain to set a precedence and is likely to end up before the U.S. Supreme court." The case may, indeed, set a precedent; but it should not take "precedence" over a journalist's imperative to use the language properly.

5) If the TV news folks will persist in seeing how many graphics they can put on a screen, would they at least get someone who can spell? Channel 8 ran a crawl about the American flight "cancelations." And it wasn't a typo, because the same misspelling showed up on a background graphic.


6) From The Paris News of 3/3/2008 -- "fire consumed a hay bailer along with the barn and several bails of hay." That's "bales," folks. Proper usage: When the boat carrying hay bales began taking on water, all the hands grabbed their buckets to bail.

7) I keep reading about people running a muck. A muck is a muddy mess. Proper usage: When the thunder rolled, the scared pigs ran amok in a muck.

8) I saw recently someone reference "old wise tales" about how to predict the first frost. I have to admit, some of those old wives' tales are pretty wise.

9) And my final one today -- I read a quote from a person complaining about his antagonist: "You're just like a pesky old knat!" Kind of loses it's impact in that form, doesn't it?