Grammar Moses: 'Dictionary Man' gets the last word - Daily Herald - Dictionary

I have many pen pals in my line of work and, of course, I quickly developed a running discourse with a guy who calls himself "The Dictionary Man."

Ted Utchen of Wheaton would write to me monthly at least, sometimes twice in the same week, with imponderables, injustices, tattles and helpful hints.

I wrote about Ted nine times -- meaning I skipped writing about his correspondences dozens of times over the years -- and recall leading one column with "Ted Utchen has a bee in his bonnet."

He usually did, but he was playful about it. He called me, variously, "Grammar Granny," "Mr. Grammarian," "St. Grammarian" and just plain "Grammar."

"It is now time for you to make a grand, glorious contribution to the understanding of our society," he wrote in 2019. "Explain the difference between 'farther' and 'further.'"

Ted was as practiced at tongue in cheek as I.

Sadly, Ted died March 4 after a brief illness. He was 91.

He earned the nickname "The Dictionary Man" because he bought and handed out softcover dictionaries to schoolchildren in DuPage County for nearly two decades.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

The retired attorney would impart to third-graders how to use a dictionary and why it was so important to learn the skill.

Ted was as old school about grammar as he was about how he represented himself in schools, right down to the shiny tie tack.

"If you spell all the words right, your teacher and your friends will think you're smart -- and that will be good for you," he would tell students.

Sage advice, indeed.

As far as I can tell, Ted's final letter to me came last Aug. 30. I've wondered from time to time since whether Ted had written me off or had found himself another hobby.

In Ted's honor, I'll answer that final missive.

"Dear Mr. Grammarian: Recently I wrote to you about the universal misuse of 'principal' and 'principle.' Now today I write to you about the same problem with 'who' and 'whom.' The problem here is simply that people pay insufficient attention to how they are writing when they write. Or perhaps they flunked fifth-grade English, who knows?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

"Now in today's Daily Herald you can read, 'The major lenders have undergone an evaluation of ... WHO they'll approve.' Now the error is that the verb 'approve' is taking an object, and it should have read 'WHOM they'll approve.'

"The problem we have here is that we pay little or no attention to such a detail when we listen to a person speak or read what is written. But you know I am going to say that we need to proofread before publishing, and then we might catch these mistakes."

Come to think of it, Ted, I couldn't say it any better. So you get the final word.

Rest in peace.

To glade

Many of us were wowed by Amanda Gorman's spellbinding recitation of her poem "The Hill We Climb" at President Joe Biden's inauguration.

Reader Don Booty was one of them.

"I'd be very interested if you could shed some light on Amanda Gorman's use of the word 'glade' in her brilliant poem," Booty wrote. "Every dictionary I have shows 'glade' to be a noun, yet she appears to be using it as a verb (the infinitive form no less). Can we attribute this to poetic license?"

Let's revisit the passage to which Booty refers:

If we're to live up to our own time,

then victory won't lie in the blade.

But in all the bridges we've made,

that is the promise to glade,

the hill we climb.

I have found no definitions for "glade" as a verb, either, Don.

But the more I think about your question, the more I think I understand Gorman's use.

The poem is about doing the hard work to create a better, more peaceful world.

What is more peaceful than a glade -- a bright clearing in a forest?

To turn a hill we climb into a place of serenity is ample reason for me to want to make a verb out of a noun.

Yes, it is a nice piece of poetic license -- that is, in the most literal sense, fooling with syntax to make a better poem.

This passage ends with the poem's only mention of its title, which I give a great deal of significance.

Of course, I have not interviewed Miss Gorman, so I don't know whether my analysis is on the mark.

Many a word has been given new spelling, pronunciation or meaning in a poet's search for perfection.

Plus -- bonus -- it rhymes.

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is vice president/managing editor of the Daily Herald. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com. Put Grammar Moses in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim at facebook.com/baumannjim.