I'm only one chapter into a book of literary criticism and I've already encountered the words "dominant" and "everyday" used as nouns, as in "our national dominant" and "in our everyday."
Our dominant what? Our everyday what? The answer is nothing: it's simply "our dominant" and "our everyday."
I have grown accustomed to the use of "imaginary" as a noun, although it still rankles. Now I'm expected to swallow "everyday" as a noun? Why is this necessary? In my everyday life, I do not require "everyday" to serve as a noun. It's a perfectly good adjective or, when separated into two words, a very nice adverbial phrase. It's already working hard enough; why make it carry more than it can bear?
The book also asks me to accept "abyssalized" and "reconstellating," which I find unattractive but interesting. I wouldn't use them every day and I don't see them becoming a dominant part of my vocabulary, but I suppose they have their place.
But if noun forms of "everyday" and "dominant" have their place, I only hope that place is far, far away, in the distant.
1 comment:
I can't stand it when people use "journal" as a verb!
Same with "myspace" or "facebook."
That drives me nuts!
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