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DEAR RICHARD: When I answer the phone and the caller says they would like to speak to Selena, what is my proper response? — “This is I.” “This is she.” “This is me.” “This is her.” Or “Speaking.” – Selena Destro, Scripps Ranch
When you answer your phone and the caller asks, “Is this Selena?” you’re in a quandary. You can answer “This is I (or she)” and risk your caller thinking you’re a stuffy grammatical purist. Or you can go with “This is me (or her)” and be accused of promoting nonstandard English. Or you can resort to “Speaking,” but, except for that one word, you aren’t really speaking.
So I suggest “This is Selena,” or, a variant of what I say in such situations: “Last time I checked, I’m Selena.”
DEAR RICHARD: In the word scent, which letter is silent, the s or the c? –Howard Killion, Oceanside
If I had to choose s or c as the silent letter, I’d go with the c because s is almost always pronounced as a hiss, while c is often sounded like a k.
English spelling is haunted by the ghosts of silent letters. In the word indict, the c is silent, in heir the h is silent, in salmon the l is silent, in receipt the p is silent, in island the s is silent, in answer the w is silent.
And in marriage, the husband is silent.
DEAR RICHARD: My cousin says that the word tip, when referring to payment for services, is derived from “to insure promptness.” I’m skeptical, if only because I believe ensure would be the correct word here. Can you enlighten us? –Ted Leib, Pacific Beach
Tell your cousin that you’d like to agree with them, but then you’d both be wrong.
An acronym (Greek akros, “tip,” as in acrobat and acrophobia + onyma, “name”) is a word formed from the first letters (tips) of other words. Always beware and be wary of acronymic etymologies. Tip, as a gratuity, does not stand for “to insure promptness” nor cop for “constable on patrol,” nor news for “north-east-west-south,” nor golf for “gentlemen only, ladies forbidden,” nor posh for “port out, starboard home.”
Because one tips after receiving service and, as you point out, the verb would be ensure, not insure, “to insure promptness” is a totally bogus etymology.
DEAR RICHARD: How far back in time could I go and maintain a simple conversation in English and reasonably understand and be understood? –Isaac Hirschbein, La Mesa
Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (late 14th century), the first great epic poem in English, rather than Latin or French, is fairly understandable in print. I doubt, however, that we moderns could engage in an intelligible conversation with late Middle English speakers until what is termed The Great Vowel Shift gathered momentum between Chaucer and William Shakespeare. So I’m thinking late 16th century as modern English trembled into birth, thanks in large part to Shakespeare, who helped invent it.
DEAR RICHARD: While watching a Channel 8 newscast, a picture of the San Diego Police Department flashed on the screen with this message at the bottom: “Sitter Accused of Molesting Children in Court.”-Allan Salkin, Scripps Ranch
Turns out that I’ve accumulated a file drawer of examples of misplaced modifiers that make us question the efficacy of our law enforcement system. Here’s a sampling:
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The following quip may strike you as mean spirited, but you know my passion for clever word play: We San Diego baseball fans are bewailing the soul-sapping performance of our Padres, the third highest paid squad in MLB. Rumor has it that the Padres have just been sold to a conglomerate in the Philippines, and the team will be renamed The Manila Folders.
Welcome to the website woven for wordaholics, logolepts, and verbivores. Carnivores eat meat; herbivores eat plants and vegetables; verbivores devour words. If you are heels over head (as well as head over heels) in love with words, tarry here a while to graze or, perhaps, feast on the English language. Ours is the only language in which you drive in a parkway and park in a driveway and your nose can run and your feet can smell.