Twisted Spinster

Hey, I’m Grammar Bitch, not Grammar Trying-To-Be-Nice-About-It… Anyway, a common (because little known and thus little corrected) grammar mistake once more crops up: the use of “discreet” (which means “maintaining silence about something of a delicate nature” — def. further here) when what is meant is “discrete” (a word that means “apart or detached from others; separate; distinct“). Now, since the words are spelled almost the same, I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt (especially since the blogger in question is a Real Writer and so one assumes actually knows which word is which) and put this down to a simple typo, but it still drives me nuts, and makes me wish that people would just use one of the handy other words that mean the same thing. That’s what English does best — it provides us with choice, wonderful choice: multiple words for single concepts.

Speaking of failure to take advantage of our mother tongue, I hereby accuse the current run of Doctor Who of abusing the word “clever.” The show’s writers seem to think the word is just about the only one that exists to describe genius-level intelligence, when in fact “clever” is only supposed to refer to someone who is simply brighter than average. (A full definition can be found here.) In fact, a certain level of canniness — or “street-wised-ness,” if you will — is implied in the definition of clever, and it’s common knowledge that genius-level intelligence does not necessarily include this component. Many geniuses are in fact quite “unworldly,” to put it discreetly (heh), and the stereotype of the nutty professor didn’t come out of nowhere.

Also, the show undercuts its conception of geniuses as being “clever” in just about every episode that features a character that is supposed to be smart (in other words, just about every show), because invariably the “genius” in the episode does something, or a number of somethings, that no truly clever person would attempt. For example, in the two-parter “The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky” Luke Rattigan, the child genius character, rants about how much more “clever” he is than everyone else in a scene wherein he has just revealed that he has in fact been completely stupid about how his protegés would react to his bizarre plans. (On a side note, a drinking game on how often the word “clever” appears in these episodes would cause liver failure — I was almost surprised that the the Doctor referred to Luke’s school as a school for “geniuses” instead of “clever people.”) And the Doctor’s own grasp on common sense (which no true clever person can be without) often seems shaky, though he could be excused since he is, after all, an alien, and common sense for him might not be quite that of other people. But really, someone needs to send a memo to the writing staff of Doctor Who to let them know that words and phrases such as “smart” and “intelligent” are still at use among English speakers and they aren’t too difficult for the kiddies who watch the show to grasp, though I don’t know about the writers themselves.

“Clever” shows up on the episode I saw tonight, “The Unicorn and the Wasp,” though only once, I believe, so I don’t have to time my wine sips. Harder to accept is the assertion that Agatha Christie is apparently the greatest British mystery writer of all time, though I can accept she’s one of the most popular, and I can even believe that her works will last for ages beyond her time, though maybe not to the year 5 billion. Personally, though I enjoyed her books when I read them, I only read them once or at most twice. To tell the truth her stories left me a bit cold. On the other hand, I’ve read the mystery novels of her contemporary, Dorothy Sayers, countless times. But that’s just me. I have the feeling that Ms. Sayers’ works are rather beyond the folks who write for the BBC these days, and also she might be too uncomfortably theological for Mr. Davies and crew (in lieu of spoilers let’s just say it’s no surprise who is the most dastardly character in tonight’s episode).

Still, “The Unicorn and the Wasp” wasn’t bad, serving as a bit of fun fluff between the more serious eps of “The Doctor’s Daughter” (review coming up some day) and the following episode which is set on my dream planet (a giant haunted library — awesome, can’t wait, etc.). Fenella Woolgar (sp? too lazy to check names) was suitably homely/smart as the Agatha Christie, and all the other characters conformed completely to the British drawing room murder mystery as intended. The stuff about “we’re British, we carry on” got really tiresome, mostly because I don’t feel it’s a sentiment worth mocking as apparently the show’s writers and directors do, but I liked the way Donna — unlike all his other companions, at least in this incarnation of the series — ignored the Doctor’s admonishments to not attempt the slang of the time and stubbornly kept on using it.

More coming up! Including a review of “The Doctor’s Daughter,” which I am sure you are all (all three of you) waiting for with bated breath.