Why ‘Only Misplaced’?



I was asked about the title of my blog.

There are two main drivers, and maybe one less obvious one.

Grammar

The title mainly derives from the ‘misplaced modifier’ principle – one of the many banes of an editor’s life. In that respect, it is partly a tribute to my editorial mentor, Michael Rose.

When I first began editorial work at CANS in the early 1980s, I thought that I wrote well and understood grammar. Michael knew better. One revelation among many was that ‘only’ should be placed as close as possible to the word it modified. So:
  • ·       Only John hit Fred once (we didn’t even touch him)
  • ·        John only hit Fred once (not sure who stabbed him but it wasn’t John)
  • ·        John hit only Fred once (he didn’t hit Mike and Alan)
  • ·        John hit Fred only once (not 72 times).

Of course you might get ‘Only John hit Fred and only once’ etc but hopefully you get the idea.

Pointing out to people with ‘YOLO’ on a T-shirt that it should be ‘YLOO’ doesn’t go down any better than correcting a greengrocer’s use of the apostrophe. The phrase ‘bucket of sick’ springs to mind. But, during many years of editing, I must have moved ‘only’ from one spot in a sentence to another many thousands of times, although I did relent for good writers where their sense was clear – at least I did if I was in a good mood.

Lost

The second driver for the title is a common domestic exchange that goes something like this.

·        Wife: What are you looking for?
·        Me: I cannot find x.
·        Wife: You have lost [the children], [your glasses], [a DIY tool]. Harumph.
·        Me: X is not lost. It is only misplaced.

Similar exchanges have echoed through many years.

A Deeper Meaning

Finally, there might be a minor driver behind the name of the blog. That certain, nagging feeling that you really should be elsewhere, living a different life.

Not that I would readily swap – greener grass and all that. But if there is a rich family out there that lost a child in Preston in the 1950s, do get in touch.

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