Every once in a while, you hear something that just makes you cringe. Maybe, you hear it over and over, and it's a common mistake people make. Two such occurrences happened yesterday, and actually had a brief conversation about them over lunch hour Friday at the radio station with Mike Weaver and Adam Frankhauser. By the way, all the while eating delicious barbecue from Eddie B in Monmouth, who sets up his smoker in the alley around the corner from the radio station every Friday. Without further ado, three phrases that make my ears ring.
A Half a Chance
This is a phrase I hear quite often on a local radio station, by the DJ's giving a forecast. When reading a forecast, they say "a half a chance of rain". I am assuming they mean a 50% chance of rain, however the way they announce it makes no sense, because 50% is half of 100%. 100% means it's a sure thing, a guarantee, it does not mean a chance. A chance of rain could be 1%, or 10% or 40%. Everytime I hear this on the radio, I just want to scream at the speakers, that "half a chance" makes no sense, at least in regards to it actually being a 50% chance of rain, which is half of 100%, which isn't a chance. Anyways, onto soapbox #2.
A MUTE point
This doesn't bother me as much as a half a chance. Many people think that a MOOT point, is a MUTE point. I heard this on Friday on an agriculture talk show on our radio station, 1330 WRAM. It's a syndicated show out of Nebraska, I believe. A guest on the show, or a caller said mute point, but wasn't paying attention to the subject matter. Many people make this mistake. Moot, the correct way to say it, means open for discussion/debateable. Mute means nearly the opposite, silent/refraining from speech. So, just like a half a chance (in regards to a 50% chance of rain, which wouldn't make sense), the two have nearly exactly the opposite meanings. One is debateable, while the other, is refraining from a debate.
RBI's
When talking baseball and statistics, this is one common mispronounced saying I hear, even by veteran broadcasters on ESPN, and longtime baseball or softball coaches. Maybe this is a moot point, LOL. RBI stands for Runs Batted In, so the "R" is plural. It wouldn't make sense to say Runs Batted Ins. When I announce this statistic, I always say RBI, singular. A blurb on the Washington State University website (http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/rbi.html) has a quick paragraph on this very topic. I guess I would be guilty of saying POW's, and never put much thought into the words it consisted of, Prisoners of War, not Prisoner of Wars. But I talk baseball/softball all the time, and say RBI all the time, so it is top of mind.
“Moot” is a very old word related to “meeting,” specifically a meeting where serious matters are discussed. Oddly enough, a moot point can be a point worth discussing at a meeting (or in court)—an unresolved question—or it can be the opposite: a point already settled and not worth discussing further. At any rate, “mute point” is simply wrong, as is the less common “mood point.”
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