One Word

By Joe Diorio

A single word – don’t versus stopped, responsibility versus control, and the absence of the preposition at – can make all the difference in a message.

Don’t not stopped. Five years ago, I decided to stop drinking alcohol. No, I didn’t have a substance abuse problem. I just decided it would be better for my overall health if I didn’t drink alcohol.

Nowadays, if I’m at a social event and someone asks me if I’d like to have a drink I say, “no thank you,” then I am mindful to add, “I don’t drink.” I specifically do not say that I stopped drinking.

Saying “don’t” indicates just that. I don’t drink. But saying “stopped,” sometimes gives people the impression that alcohol for me was a problem. I know this because I have used the word “stopped” and someone asked me if I am in a twelve step program.

Responsibility, not control. Just recently, during an interview with ABC News, actor Matthew McConaughey was discussing his efforts to curb gun violence. McConaughey, a native Texan, is from the town of Uvalde, which was ground zero for a horrific mass shooting at an elementary school just last year.

McConaughey said he is for the idea of gun “responsibility.” He specifically did not say gun control. “No one wants to be controlled,” he said. “But responsibility is still something we can all go, ‘Yeah, I’ll take responsibility.’”

The absence of the word “at.” Television station WPVI in Philadelphia caught some flack recently when reporters referred to activities along the New Jersey shoreline as happenings “down at the shore.”

Now, “down at the shore” is perfectly acceptable grammar. But a piece of Delaware Valley dialect refers to the New Jersey beaches by saying “down the shore” and omitting the preposition “at.” A colleague in TV news used to record a travelogue segment she called “Down the Shore.”

Philadelphians who watch WPVI are not amused by this adherence to proper grammar, writing to the TV station questioning why the anchors don’t speak – well – don’t speak Delaware Valley. In its defense, WPVI points out that saying “down at the shore” is grammatically correct.

For the most part, Philadelphians reaction to this defense was “fuggetaboutit.”

Sometimes it all comes down to a single word. Let’s write carefully out there people.