{"id":1128,"date":"2015-12-04T10:01:23","date_gmt":"2015-12-03T21:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=1128"},"modified":"2015-12-09T07:42:59","modified_gmt":"2015-12-08T18:42:59","slug":"time-to-leap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=1128","title":{"rendered":"Time to leap?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?attachment_id=1127\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1127\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1127\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Clausewitz-236x300.jpg\" alt=\"Clausewitz\" width=\"236\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Clausewitz-236x300.jpg 236w, https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Clausewitz.jpg 340w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 236px) 100vw, 236px\" \/><\/a>I think it was the Prussian general and military theorist Carl von Clausewitz who suggested that \u2018nobody in his right mind tries to cross a broad ditch in two steps.\u2019\u00a0 If one is going to get from one side to the other, one must make a decisive leap.<\/p>\n<p>For perhaps the first 60 years of my life, <em>unique<\/em> meant \u2018of which there is only one; unequalled; having no like.\u2019\u00a0 There were no degrees of uniqueness.\u00a0 To suggest that something was \u2018a bit unique\u2019 or \u2018slightly unique\u2019 was a sign of an uneducated or careless writer.\u00a0 It was on a par with writing \u2018the woman was slightly pregnant.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>But language changes.\u00a0 And the English language changes faster than most.\u00a0 Today, many writers use unique to mean \u2018remarkable\u2019 or \u2018unusual\u2019.\u00a0 Just today, I read a sentence that began: \u2018The approach is slightly unique in as much as \u2026.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>I must confess that whenever I see this usage, my mind shouts \u2018No, no, no!\u2019\u00a0 But I also know that I can\u2019t wind back the clock.\u00a0 I must \u2013 however reluctantly \u2013 get to the other side of the broad ditch which is the evolution of the language.\u00a0 I must make the leap.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m probably going to have to \u2018cross the ditch\u2019 on a few other words too.\u00a0 <em>Anticipate<\/em> has become a slightly more pompous version of <em>expect<\/em>, and <em>utilise<\/em> has become a more pompous version of <em>use<\/em>.\u00a0 Back in the days when <em>unique<\/em> meant unique, <em>anticipate<\/em> and <em>utilise<\/em> also had their own specific and useful meanings.\u00a0 <em>Anticipate<\/em> meant \u2018to expect something to happen and to take steps to mitigate the consequences\u2019.\u00a0 <em>Utilise<\/em> meant \u2018to put to good use something which might otherwise be wasted\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>I also read today that \u2018when it comes to selection, there is only one criteria\u2019.\u00a0 Well, no, there are at least two\u00a0<em>criteria<\/em>.\u00a0 But there is only one <em>criterion<\/em>. \u00a0<em>Criteria<\/em> is the plural; <em>criterion<\/em>\u00a0is the singular.\u00a0 Or at least that\u2019s the way it used to be.<\/p>\n<p>Now, could someone please hold my hat?\u00a0 It seems that I have a broad ditch to cross.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I think it was the Prussian general and military theorist Carl von Clausewitz who suggested that \u2018nobody in his right mind tries to cross a broad ditch in two steps.\u2019\u00a0 If one is going to get from one side to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=1128\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1128"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1128"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1133,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1128\/revisions\/1133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}