Rick GoldsteinMar 14

#CrankyOldMan Peeve of the Day:
Heard a NYT nterviewer used the expression “taking a different tact” to mean “using a different approach”. I'm generally a fan of linguistic descriptivism over prescriptivism, and there is no loss of meaning here, so I shouldn't care.

But the word is TACK, as in “direction of sail across/into the wind”, not TACT, as in “speaking to avoid insult”.

Ok, I'm done. Sorry for the interruption. Carry on.

#language #meaning #screamingintothevoid

Show threadRichard Paul
@rickgoldstein Unless they’re generally an idiot. Then you can rage away.
Mar 14 at 9:05pmWeb
Show threadRick GoldsteinMar 15
@Spacehistory Nah. It was a good interview on substance.