Word for the wise ©
And here we are at O. Our Word for the wise © this week was going to be "ordinary", which along with "common" and "banal", conveys the idea of the unremarkable. Interestingly, all three have converged from very diverse, specific medieval meanings, but because we've been a bit too medieval here of late, in terms of words, we're doing something different today.
only ought to be attached to the word or phrase it modifies. This example, then, should serve as a warning: "In Dublin, the 47A bus only ran on Sundays." The literal meaning there is that on the other days of the week the bus did something quite different — flew, sailed? Far better is "the 47A bus ran only on Sundays" or "the 47A bus ran on Sundays only". But we need to be careful here because in idiomatic English only is often found in a more forward position: "Don't worry. This will only take a second." Or "England's winning of the Ashes can only be called a miracle." The fact is that the rule about the positioning of only is no longer the ironclad matter it once was. Communication is the goal and if fussiness gets in the way, well, it should move aside.
Next week, we are at "P". The candidate is the Latin word that means an illusion or delusion.
