Wayside and Waste Side

One of the many meanings of the English noun way is, “a thoroughfare used or designed for traveling or transportation from place to place.”

Roman legions travelled along the Appian Way.

Shakespeare’s Autolycus sang,

Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way,
And merrily hent the stile-a:
A merry heart goes all the day,
Your sad tires in a mile-a. –The Winter’s Tale, IV.3.

Even now we drive along highways and perhaps hike along byways. The land that runs along these “ways” is called the wayside.

The expression “to fall by the wayside” probably came into English from the parable of the sower:

A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. –Luke 8:5, KJV.

The idea is that anyone or anything that “falls by the wayside” has failed to accomplish its purpose.

Nowadays, speakers who don’t seem to know the word wayside talk about “falling by the waste side.” Like those who still say wayside, they are referring to the area along a road or highway, but–doubtless because of all the litter that accumulates there–the eggcorn “waste side” makes sense to them. The expression has made its appearance in pop lyrics:

When you got big dreams, keep your eyes on the prize
Don’t fall to the waste side, reach for the sky

Don’t bother wasting my time, you’re falling down by the
waste side.
Falling down by the waste side

It’s not just songwriters who are mixed up:

Senator [Royce] West added that, “It was not his intent or those members who have coauthored SB 1419 and those who lent their efforts to the creation of this bill, to attempt to maintain or increase the pool of eligible applicants for admissions, admit them, and then have them fall by the waste side.” –From the Office of State Senator Royce West, District 23 (Texas).

Note: Carpenters aptly talk about the “waste side” of a saw blade. It’s the side away from a section of wood being cut.

Taken Aback

A reader encountering the expression “taken aback” looked it up in the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, where he found this example of usage:

“I was a little taken aback at the directness of the question.”

However, he also found “taken aback by” and “taken aback that” in other printed sources. He wants to know what rule, if any, determines what word should follow the expression.

“Taken aback” is used as an adjective meaning “shocked, amazed, astounded.” In modern usage, it is frequently followed by an adjective complement.

Note: An adjective complement is a clause or phrase that adds to the meaning of an adjective or modifies it. The adjective complement always follows the adjective it complements and is a noun clause or a prepositional phrase.

A web search yields numerous examples of “taken aback” followed by a noun clause beginning with that:

New Jersey imam “taken aback” that his mosque was under surveillance

Which actress thinks you’re taken aback that she’s ‘easygoing but not necessarily stupid’?

I’m a little taken aback that you have reg priced a Hasbro F/X star wars lightsaber at 48.00 then put it at 50% off.

I was taken aback that this kind of diatribe could actually make [its] way to the general public.

When “taken aback” is followed by a prepositional phrase, the usual preposition used is by, although both with and at are seen.

The adverb aback has been in the language since Old English times. Two of its meanings are “in a backward direction” and “behind.” As an adverb with the figurative meaning of “in the past,” aback still occurs in regional dialect:

“Weren’t it you I saw ride that grey mare over on Wondala a couple of years aback?”(OED example: A. Agar Queensland Ringer (2008) v. 40).“

 
The earliest OED example of “taken aback” to mean “surprised,” “shocked,” or “disconcerted” is dated 1751. This sense arose from a sailing term:

taken aback: (transitive verb in the passive) Of a sail: to be suddenly pressed back against the mast, preventing forward progress, either through bad steering or a change in the wind. Of a ship, etc.: to be caught in this way.

A person who is “taken aback” is momentarily “thrown off course” by some event or remark.

Of the 18 examples offered in the OED for both the literal and figurative use of the expression, only four are followed by a prepositional phrase, two of which are governed by with and two of which begin with by. Other dictionaries offer usage examples with the preposition at, but a search on the Google Ngram Viewer suggests that by is by far the most common choice.

Personal and Personally

Among the most popular words in common discourse these days are personal and personally. A web search for personal brings up more than 900 million hits. Overused crazy, with 274 million, doesn’t come close.

Bloggers and commenters usepersonal and personally with abandon:

In my personal opinion, the reading comprehension section is the most difficult to study for and to succeed in.

I personally don’t know why she went out with him in the first place.

I personally find myself to be quite hilarious.

This is just my own personal opinion so I am sorry if I offended you.

Various businesses offer customers “personal diets,” “personal checks,” and “personal financial plans.”

Experts of this and that encourage people to develop “personal strengths” and “personal styles.”

So, when are the words personal and personally called for, and when are they redundant or incorrect?

1. Personally is used correctly when a person does something that ordinarily would be done by a minion:

Eric Holder Personally Signed warrant to search James Rosen’s emails.
Danny Zarka is first in line to collect his PS3 in Sydney, which was handed to him personally by Sony’s local managing director.

2. Personally is redundant when used to modify an action that requires the presence of the person doing it:

My son shook hands personally with Tony Danza. (The speaker’s son had to be present to shake hands.)

3. The expressions “my personal opinion” and “I personally think” are not only redundant, they weaken whatever statement they relate to and do nothing to mitigate the person’s responsibility for the opinion.

Note: The only time “I personally” makes sense is when the speaker has acted in contradiction of his own views. For example, “I voted to permit drilling, but I personally believe that fracking causes dangerous earth disturbances.”

4. The phrase “my own personal opinion” piles redundancy upon redundancy. The adjective personal means “individual, private, one’s own.” The adjectiveown means “possessed or owned by the person or thing indicated by the preceding noun, pronoun, or possessive adjective.” It is sufficient to say “in my opinion.”

5. Personal is sometimes used where the word personalized would be more appropriate. A “personal trainer” makes sense. In the context of “personal trainer,” “personal assistant,” or “personal maid,” the personal designates an employee attached to someone in a close or exclusive subordinate capacity.

In the case of “personal diets,” “personal checks,” and “personal financial plans,” however, the sense is that the diets, checks, and financial plans will be designed to meet individual requirements, hence personalized: “Identifiable as belonging to a particular person or organization, especially by being marked with a name or set of initials. Also: designed or produced to meet individual requirements; customized.

Try to vs. Try and

A reader asks,

Would you consider a post on the difference between “try and [do something]” and “try to [do something]? [...] I hear and read more people using “try and [do something]” but that doesn’t seem as logical as “try to [do something].  Is there a difference between the two terms?  If not, is one to be preferred? 

I’m always amused when objections to idioms are raised on grounds of logic. “Try and” followed by a coordinate verb is an idiom; idioms don’t have to be logical.

Nevertheless, a lot of speakers object to the use of “try and do” instead of “try to do.” What do the authorities think?

Merriam-Webster is unambiguously supportive:

Almost all disparaging criticism of “try and” comes from American critics; British commentators have generally been tolerant. There appears to be no rational basis for hostility to the expression and no need to avoid it in appropriate surroundings.

The OED includes an entry for “try and,” but still labels it as a colloquialism.

OxfordDictionaries observes that “In practice there is little discernible difference in meaning, although there is a difference in formality, with try tobeing regarded as more formal than try and.”

Even M-W, with the reference to “appropriate surroundings” implies that “try to” is preferable for formal use.

But is there, as our reader asks, a difference between such wordings as, “Try and stop complaining” and “Try to stop complaining”?

Fowler discerned a difference:

Though “try to do” can always be substituted for “try and do,” the latter has a shade of meaning that justifies its existence; in exhortations it implies encouragement–the effort will succeed–; in promises it implies assurance–the effort shall succeed. It is an idiom that should be not discountenanced, but used when it comes natural.

A Columbo episode has the title “Try and Catch Me.” A rebellious teenager might respond to a request by saying, “Try and make me.” In discussing a modern painting, art critic Sister Wendy says, “I’ll try and make sense of it.” In each of these examples, the and conveys something to would not. Perhaps we can add “effort” to Fowler’s “exhortation and promises.”

How correct is Fowler’s statement that “try to do can always be substituted for try and do”? As a rule, it has its pitfalls. For example, consider the following headline and sentence:

Two Judges Try and Fail to Shut Down Union Rights

It’s better to try and regret, than not to try and regret.

In the first example, changing the “try and” to “try to” would leave the reader wondering why the judges tried to fail in their purpose: “Two judges try to fail to shut down union rights.”

Changing “try and” to “try to” in the second example would result in the sentence, “It’s better to try to regret, than not to try to regret.” The original sentence, however, means something very different: “It’s better to try [to do something] and regret [having tried], than not to try [doing something] and [then] regret [not having tried].”

The note at OxfordDictionaries includes an explanation as to why “try and” remains questionable in formal usage despite its ubiquity in conversation:

The construction try and is grammatically odd…in that it cannot be inflected for tense (e.g. sentences like she tried and fix it or they are trying and renew their visa are not acceptable, while their equivalents she tried to fix it or they are trying to renew their visa undoubtedly are). For this reason try and is best regarded as a fixed idiom used only in its infinitive and imperative form.

Careful writers will continue to scrutinize their use of “try and” in formal contexts, but they can still feel free in conversation and dialogue to follow Fowler’s advice about using it “when it comes natural.”