I was thinking about a couple of words this morning. There is often a discrepency among people as to the correct way to phrase the concept of taking information for granted. In common language, it seems that people choose to say "I assumed this was true." Many Grammar Fantatics will argue that this is grammatically incorrect because to "assume" literally means to "take on", as in responsibility. They will say that the correct word to use here is "presume." I have no issues with this argument, other than that it is a hard habit to break. I like the word presume. It sounds almost old fashioned and makes me purse my mouth in a way that seems to me to be almost British in nature. But as I thought more and more about this, I came to the conclusion that I might also be okay with using the word "assume" as it is, because the way in which it is most often used seems to say, "i am taking on the responsibility of taking for granted that this information is true." When one assumes that something happened, or that something is true, they are taking responsibility for thinking that, and will generally be held accountable for any results of their assumptions. In this way I think that both words are appropriate linguistically, and therefore have resolved to be more forgiving of this apparent faux pas and might even let myself use "assume" from time to time.
Did you know that you can buy an entire chicken at the grocery story for less than $6? Well, you can. And if you are willing to put up with a little home butchering, it can make enough food to last you almost a week. I bought a chicken last weekend for our Sunday meal, and used the last of it just yesterday. This is a huge help when you are trying to mitigate the expensive cost of meat in your grocery budget. First, it needs a little work. I roasted the chicken for our weekend dinner, and I always butterfly it because it cooks faster that way. I'm not going to sugarcoat it--butterflying a chicken is kind of gross. Really gross, actually. But if you can overcome your squeamishness, it cooks great. There are a lot of great tutorials for doing this on YouTube, but here is how I did it. Step 1: Remove the giblets (the heart, neck, and gizzard). This is disgusting because you must reach into a dead animal and pull out its organs. But once they are out, you can throw them away, ...
Yeah but you missed that the definition(s) of "presume" sometimes characterize how the assumption is made.
ReplyDelete1: to undertake without leave or clear justification : dare
2: to expect or assume especially with confidence
3: to suppose to be true without proof
4: to take for granted
As grammar continues to be seen as a hindrance to communication it becomes even more important for people like you, put in place to serve as guardians over grammar and syntax, to maintain proper usage of words.
There may come a day when english speakers tire of having a small and ineffectual pool of words to describe life, and at that point your work would take on a newfound appreciation.
Hmm. I missed this post somewhere along the way. But you know, I've often wondered why we have "assume" and "presume," two words which are often used interchangeably. At first I was right with you on your explanation of why assume would be wrong. Then, when you refuted yourself, I was right there with you again. You're one smart cookie. And I'm back to square one.
ReplyDeleteAnd might I please point out my overt and complete envy of the fact that you have a boyfriend who reads and comments - thoughtfully, even - on your writings. Never in my life in all the many boyfriends I've had (and that's actually been quite a few) or even the many more boys I've liked, have I been able to wrangle a readership out of any of them, even the supposedly intellectual ones. Dating someone who reads my writing (because he wants to, not because I ask him to) is a MUST on my next-time-around list. You're lucky. I hope you know it.