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.

Login vs log in

A firm I do business with sent email that said, "Login to view your account information." I logged in, and when I had logged out again, it said, "You have logged out." If they wanted to be consistent, thy would have said, "You have logouted."

For understandable reasons we use the term "login" as a noun that means the action and consequences of logging in. The verb, however, remains two words. Thus, they should have said, "Log in to view your account information." 

You and your

A recent letter from STC asks me to renew my membership. It says, "We look forward to you renewing your membership." 

STC is a fine organization. It diligently advances the profession of technical communication. Even in good times it helps us sharpen our professional saw. In hard economic times like these, it provides essential networking and support. Sentences like the one in the renewal solicitation, however, leave careful writers shaking their heads.

Some consider the use of possessive case in such sentences arcane -- a sign that the distinction may be on the way out. For now, though, the letter should say, "We look forward to your renewing your membership."

Sadly, hopefully

A couple of posts ago I began a sentence with "Sadly, I hear . . .."  Like similar sentences that start with "hopefully," this seemingly incorrect use of an adverb is not going away. I won't say it's correct, but hopefully, people will stop arguing about it.

Both . . .

Listening to the radio today, I heard an actor discussing two roles he has played. "Both characters are similar," he said.

The plural construction is correct, but to my ear, "both" suggests that they are doing something similarly, not that they are similar. 

I would have been happier if the actor had said, "The two characters are similar."

A similar example comes up in descriptions of negotiations. For example, "Both sides have conflicting objectives . . ." would sound better as "The two sides . . .."