And, in addition to a number of typos, she suggested changing one of the sentences which, for whatever reason, we had cobbled together. We readily admit that her suggestion was an excellent one as the sentence was indeed one of the most awkward we had seen of late.

While correcting that column, we were reminded that we had, quite a while ago now, gotten some feedback on a previous "language" column that we had done. Fortunately, a search through our trusty filing system produced that input which we will endeavor to pass on this week.

In response to our previous column, in which we talked about the book, Eats, Shoots and Leaves, former Cooperstonian Gus Chiarello, who now lives in the Washington D.C. area with his wife Jill and their children, Frances and Gus, was kind enough to send us a copy of an article by George Will about the book which appeared in the May, 24, 2004 edition of The Washington Post.

In it, Mr. Will laments: "Neither the elegant semicolon nor the dashing dash is of use to people whose preferred literary style is 'CU B4 8?' and whose idea of Edwardian prolixity is 'Saw Jim--he looks gr8--have you seen him--what time is the thing 2morrow.'" We gather that we should thank our lucky stars that we have never actually gotten anything written quite like Mr. Will's examples.

Gus also added: "Somewhat in response to your article on phrases and punctuation, I have never understood the trite phrase, especially when inserted in a conversation, 'To be honest with you.' It implies that, heretofore in the conversation, the speaker was something other than honest. Given the frequency with which I hear this phrase, could this a signal that integrity has fallen by the wayside in society?

I think this particular phrase is a generation removed from, 'To be frank with you,' which of course simply means something to the effect, 'I will no longer choose words that augment my expressions, and will instead choose common parlance to insure that the meaning of what I am saying is understood.' Just a thought on what I think is a very interesting subject."

We also heard from Suzanne Dean who sent us her list of words which she thinks are loosely, and we assume too often, used in conversation today. Her list includes "Exactly," "Sounds good," "There ya go" and "very" used with something that can't be any more than it is already.

Former Cooperstonian Bill Herman wrote us that he enjoyed our comments about the use and abuse of the English language. He included a delightful language joke which, unfortunately, we can not share in this column. At least we don't think we can talk about "scrod" as being the plural past perfect of any verb. Bill did, however, also send a number of examples of what we think are newspaper headlines that have all sorts of room for interpretation. We pass them on for what they are worth.

Crack Found on Governor's Daughter

Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says

Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers

Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus?

Prostitutes Appeal to Pope

Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over

Teacher Strikes Idle Kids

Miners Refuse to Work after Death

Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant

War Dims Hope for Peace

If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile

Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures

Enfield Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide

Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges

Man Struck By Lightning Faces Battery Charge

New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group

Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft

Kids Make Nutritious Snacks

Chef Throws His Heart into Helping Feed Needy

Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half

Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors

Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead

In closing, we thank Gus, Suzanne and Bill for their input. We always enjoy taking a look, serious or otherwise, at the problems which seem to be inherent in the English language. We are always reminded of the he-we's favorite mixed metaphor in which "the hand that rocked the cradle, kicked the bucket."

We remain,

In these Otsego hills,

Where nature smiles,

The Ellsworths

NOTE: The Ellsworths may be reached by mail at 105 Pioneer Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326, by telephone at 607-547-8124 or by e-mail at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com. They look forward to hearing from you.