ArcaMax

When I discussed grammar and usage on a rather zany and offbeat radio talk show program a while back, several listeners telephoned with erudite, scholarly questions such as, "What's a nice guy like you doing on a show like this?"

Well, I couldn't answer that one, but questions from other listeners did raise some fascinating linguistic issues.

The first caller wondered whether "myriad" was a noun, e.g., "There is a myriad of stars," or an adjective, e.g., "There are myriad stars."

"Myriad" originally meant a specific number -- 10,000 -- so it entered English as a noun, first meaning literally "10,000" and later any large number, as in, "Your highness, there's a myriad of peasants outside the castle, and they don't look happy."

But, since then, it's become entirely acceptable to use "myriad" as an adjective, as in, "Myriad peasants are throwing dead chickens at the castle," or "The dead chickens are myriad."

The host of the program expressed his strong preference for the adjectival use because the noun form ("a myriad of") is wordy and awkward, and I agree. But there's nothing wrong with using it as a noun.

Another caller challenged the use of "fun" as an attributive adjective, as in, "we had a fun time." I slouched into my usual spiel -- "Words change their parts of speech all the time and common usage has rendered this usage acceptable" -- but I admitted I still wince when I hear this construction. I guess I'm just not a "fun" guy.

A third caller said she cringed when she heard "route" pronounced "rowt" (rhymes with "doubt") instead of "root." Hunched in the dark cave of the radio studio, I suddenly relived the childhood trauma of being rebuked by my fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Crowley, for pronouncing the name of a local highway as "Rowt 22" instead of "Root 22."

The Catch-22 here is that, while "root" is the preferred pronunciation, "rowt" is now well established as an alternative, especially among the pocket-protector crowd: engineers, bus dispatchers and air traffic controllers, who, after all, are the ones who design the routes.

A final caller accused me of condoning slang terms by titling my first book "Word Up!" This expression is indeed taken from African American slang, where it means "I agree." In fact, many of the most colorful terms in American mainstream English originated as slang terms. Where would we be without the hip-hop terms "diss," "swag" and "bling"?

Condone slang? I celebrate it!

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Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Connecticut, invites your language sightings. His book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via email to WordGuy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

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