During the recent 2018
Traverse City Film Festival, founder Michael Moore invited Jane Fonda to attend
in order to receive the festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She did, in
fact, attend.
Residents with long
memories were outraged as they recalled that she had visited Hanoi in a show of
support during the Vietnam War, earning the nickname Hanoi Jane. So letters to
the editor and comments on Facebook exploded in outrage.
A couple of them caught
a listener’s eye because of poor word choice. In fact, they fall into the
category known as eggcorns. [https://eggcorns.lascribe.net/]
“Why are you so enameled
of Michael Moore?” one person asked another. To be enameled is to be covered in
protective paint. The writer meant enamored, which comes from the Latin word amor.
Someone else called Jane
Fonda a trader. She may, indeed, have bought and sold stocks and bonds in her
day, but the word should have been traitor, a word derived from the Latin traditor, a betrayer.
Word choice matters.
Listen to Mike’s program in real
time every Tuesday morning, 9:10 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to wtcmradio.com
and clicking on Listen Now. You’ll
also find some podcasts there under The Ron Jolly Show.
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