But if not, then what?

On Fresh Air today, Terry Gross said, as she often does, "If you're just joining us, I'm talking with so and so."  But the "if" part is irrelevant.  She's talking with so and so, whether you just joined or not.

A similar phrase I hear a lot is "In case you don't know me, I'm so and so." Same logical problem.

A more accurate statement would be "For the benefit of those just joining us (or those who weren't paying attention), I'm going to say where we got to in today's program before we broke for a message from your local station. We're talking with so and so." 

Or, "For the benefit of those who don't know me, I'll say my name: so and so."

I can see why they use the short, illogical forms.

And more and

While I'm picking on "and" -- the number 125 is spelled out as one hundred twenty-five, not one hundred and twenty-five. If you like, you can hyphenate one-hundred, but it's not necessary.

One of my old school teachers said, "Don't say 'and' until you get to the decimal point."

Try and

Q: Why do people say "try and make me do it" when they mean "try to make me do it"?

A: I have no idea.

Cynical

I heard an interview in which Herb Needleman, the man who discovered the bad effects of lead on children, described the vicious attack that the lead industry mounted against him. They falsely accused him of scientific misconduct.

Describing witnesses at his hearing, Needleman said that it became clear that they didn't know what they were talking about -- or more likely were cynical.

By cynical, he meant dishonest, but those words are not synonyms. A cynical person  is one who habitually distrusts the motives of others. A person who merits this distrust is dishonest, not cynical.