Archive: Arts & Entertainment

SMART TALK

by Dr. Saber S. Poder

EVERYDAY: The other day, Dr. Weiss N. Heimer told me about an item he'd seen on a bulletin board downtown. I think he said it was in The Perfect Parfait, Underbelly's ice cream shop.

The sheet had those tear-off tabs of the phone number for a home aide service. One of the services offered was light house cleaning. Dr. Heimer said, "At first glance, I thought the offer was for lighthouse cleaning. Maybe he or she should have written it as "light housecleaning."

This matter of one word or two does matter. At the Institute for English as a First Language, we teach our patients that a black bird, such as a crow, isn't always a blackbird; you could watch some water fall, but that's not necessarily a waterfall. You can look out for texting idiot drivers, but that doesn't make you a lookout, and an everyday event is one that happens every day.

Getting this right requires only a little thought. Your reward is the respect you gain from speakers of English as a first language.

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