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Show you have time to enumerate that we hae lost touch with besides review languge ers who can't read an irritation discussed earlier in the show LOS ANGELES Televi sum can be instructive, if one pays attention and watches the right shows For exam pie. a discourse on the proper care and use of the English language was pre sented on the Dick Cavett Show" last month on PBS Pay attention; TV can be instructive CAVETT . AND his guest, author Mary McCarthy stout guardians of the were betongue, both moaning a perceived lost reverence for language tion " Associated Press Writer . . . Miss McCarthy "Yes. well, we've lost the ability to find a word that fits." ft Which hand do the English use to stir their tea? 2. Why did the rooster refuse to fight? 3. What did one sandwich say Which the is See you can unscramble if What is black and white and red all over? 6. How does a witch tell time? T MOjew ipijM qsej jadeip qjiM num(s y pjjqSuiipoui am eu8ooq jo nj aj.nox,, uaipfip sew asn Aaqj 9 q f Z A L E M L T E R E K U E B X e miM Mis- his ilk "Well. she said, "I wonder how many people realized that that was a grammatical error Not grammatical, a usage error, sorry. 'Ilk' really means place, and it does not mean like him.' or 'of his stripe' or of that feather It means, it means place. Whew At least Funk and Wagnalls had made the ghastly error, too. Still, I was shaken. I decided to check the Oxford English Dictionary. which I keep around for just such emergencies. It said: these words. 5. and n. Breed; sort; class: Smith and others of his ilk " rudest bird? Cannibala in which she sionaries. wrote that something would not have happened if it had not been for the hero "and Desperate. I checked the dictionary Funk and Wag-nall- s Standard College Dictionary It said of "ilk". to the other? 4. That fear, she said, leads to "these ghastly things that " One dislike so much such ghastly thing she said, appeared in one of her books. Cavett nodded knowingly, apparently secure in the knowledge that he doesn't make the ghastly ilk mistake But I could claim no such security. I had made the ghastly ilk mistake, and in print, too. It was an awful realization. ft Riddles author continued 'Uggesting that people are afraid of the languge now I think they're all snarled up in it the w ay they're afraid of art. they have become afraid of Ian guage " 1 Cavett "The way we've really gotten out of touch or lost facility for language, lost maybe a reverence for uhm language Cavett "You say that we have gone farther and father from being in touch with language, and I did a week of shows on that subject, and I'd love to know all the ways by Peter J. Boyer 1. Miss McCarthy Well, re viewer are only the top of the iceberg, let's say I'hm, but uh, I'm afraid I don't really understand the ques- YES. THE point was dri ven home quite neatly The 0 J S W M H A H U "ilk, 1 same, identical; the this, that ilk. the very same person, thing, etc. a- lready mentioned 0 specified in a clause D or fol- lowing. T B Relieved. I redirected my attention toward the show They were still at it Cavett said : z uoods jaqpaiq " )j asneaag 'To eke out a living' is ' almost always used wrong He was right SH3MSNV qiunq wopeq$ 'xoqannf iauaq leogj sjawsuy Word Search Miss McCarthy "I think probably use it wrong " don't remember this one Cavett use it? Wordslink Find the word that best connects two on each line. For example: the I The I Salt "How would you Lake Miss McCarthy "Uhm, to eke out a living. I would think, would be to put together a living out of little tiny pieces " Cavett "Wrong It means . aso." Miss McCarthy "Oh " TV a man who a living as a teacher, ekes out a living by " giving piano lessons Miss McCarthy "Are you Cavett "So. cant make 13 Silver 14 Gold 15. Champion puoaas z Aiiunoa paads I z siawsuy r comfoioc vimiciv sure that's right " Cavett: "To add " "Did you Miss McCarthy " independently look this up AAnd on they went ltogether. it was a valuable learning experience, and underscored something I knew all along We can learn a lot from Dick Cavett And from others of his ilk (S 10. H M |