In an article in today’s NY Times, there is a quote in reference to Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination that she has “a tough road to hoe.” To me, it is impossible to “hoe” a “road” unless you are prostituting yourself. Other words like trick and john come to mind as well. While the original saying “A tough row to hoe” makes sense from a gardening perspective, the way it is currently being used is flat out wrong and should be stopped.
2 thoughts on “Misuse of Language”
i’m so sorry to call you on this..but, you’re talking about using words correctly so i’m hazarding a guess that you’re the type of person who would like to know that “quote” is actually a verb, not a noun. so, technically, it should say ‘there is a quotation…’ again — sorry, but isn’t it better to be right?
Savala – thank you for “calling me” on my own misuse of language. You are correct, I DID want to know that I was wrong. I will almost definitely remember this from now own. Thanks for posting.
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