You Don’t Say

One of the reasons I love my Studio City neighborhood is the access I have to transportation. An entrance to the 101 (Hollywood) Freeway is four blocks away, and I can walk to Ventura Boulevard to catch the Metro Rapid bus. Best of all, the Metro Red Line (subway) is only a 10-minute walk from my home.

Since I work in Downtown LA, riding the Metro Red Line makes a lot of sense for me. I get to read, I save money on gas, and I limit the wear and tear on my car.

Last week, while I was reducing my carbon footprint by riding Metro, I heard this announcement on the train:

As a reminder, smoking, drinking, eating, or playing loud music are not permitted aboard the train or on station platforms.

Hmm. Let me think about that. Does the annoucement mean I have a choice of which prohibited behavior to engage in–smoking, drinking, eating, or playing loud music? Surely it was not Metro’s intention to offer us a choice of behavior to refrain from. But the compound subject of the announcement I heard is constructed with the conjunction or, and or implies a choice.

I think the announcement should have said:

As a reminder, smoking, drinking, eating, and playing loud music are not permitted aboard the train or on station platforms.

That’s better; now the message is clear. I can’t do any of those things. While we’re at it, let’s ban grammatically mangled Metro announcements too.

I work on the 18th floor of a 29-story tower in downtown Los Angeles. We have regular fire drills, and recently we had an earthquake drill. During the fire drills, we evacuate five floors down. For earthquake drills, we “duck and cover.” During a real emergency, however, it may be necessary for us to evacuate the building and proceed to a designated safe area off the property.

So I was happy to notice that a “Safe Refuge Area Map” had been taped to the cabinet over the sink in the little coffee room around the corner from my cubicle. The map shows the location of the safe refuge. Now each time I get a cup of coffee, I’m reminded that if there’s a need to evacuate the building, I should proceed to a nearby parking lot.

Is it hitting below the belt to criticize good intentions, especially when the safety of others is concerned?

So let’s call this an observation rather than a criticism when I say that the term safe refuge is a redundancy.

Refuge means “shelter or protection from danger or distress” or a place that provides this shelter or protection. In other words, a safe place. By definition, a place can’t be a refuge if it’s not safe.

I wonder if the folks who produced the map had this discussion and decided to be redundant for the sake of emphasis. Or maybe they thought people might not understand what the term refuge meant, hence the descriptive safe. Perhaps they considered safe area or safe zone but decided on refuge because the term implies something more comprehensive.

I’m glad the “Safe Area Refuge Map” is taped on the cabinet in the coffee room. In the event of an evacuation, I’ll be happy to know where to go, whatever the place is called.

I don’t get much exercise during the week. Sure, there’s a treadmill in the exercise room of my condo building, but spending an hour on a treadmill is my idea of exercise hell because I get bored. So, most weekend mornings, after I have coffee and read the paper, I head out for an hour’s walk through my Studio City neighborhood. I try to focus and keep a strong, steady pace that will get my heart rate going.

Staying focused is a challenge, however, when I notice a sign like this one in front of the Sterling Salon and Spa on Ventura Boulevard:

Complementary valet parking

Complementary? With an “e?”

If the good folks at Sterling offer free valet parking to their customers, and I assume that ’s what the sign is meant to convey, then someone made a Spelling 101 mistake. When something is given free as a courtesy or favor, the correct word is complimentary, with an “i.” (Complimentary can also mean flattering, as in “After a visit to Sterling Salon, I received many complimentary comments about my hair style.”)

Complementary, with the “e,” has several different meanings, none of which mean free. A common usage of complementary is to describe things that fit together to form a whole or that fill out or complete something:

The Internet hasn’t killed the television–yet. In fact, according to a new study from Nielsen’s newly-formed TV/Internet Panel, television viewing and using the Internet are complementary activities. (from BizReport)

Come on, Sterling Salon and Spa. Keep your verbiage as well-groomed as your customers’ hair. You got it right on your Web site where you suggest we book a “complimentary consultation.” Fix that valet parking sign. Use nail polish or lipstick if necessary, but change that “e” to an “i.”

Better yet, keep things simpler–change complementary to free.

Barack Obama must have felt a flush of exhiliration when he stepped onto the stage in Chicago to give his first news conference as president-elect. His first words when he saw the roomful of reporters were “Oh, wow.” Aside from his comment about Nancy Reagan’s seances, he didn’t stumble, at least not politically.

But he did cause me to wince a couple of times when he mixed up his pronouns.

Here’s how Obama responded when he was asked about a planned meeting with President Bush:

“Well, President Bush graciously invited Michelle and I to meet with him and First Lady Laura Bush. We are gratified by the invitation.”

“Michelle and I“? Wrong. It should have been “Michelle and me.”

Quick review:

• I is a subject pronoun (Michelle and I are going to the White House).
• Me is an object pronoun (President Bush invited Michelle and me to the White House).

Obama’s mistake is all too common. People are always mixing up their pronouns, especially in spoken language. Obama never would have said “President Bush invited I to meet him….”Yet he stumbled over the compound object when he included Michelle.

Responding to the same question, Obama went on the say, “I’m sure that in addition to a tour of the White House, there is going to be a substantive conversation between myself and the president.”

“Between myself and the president”? Poor choice.

In the first place, don’t use a reflexive pronoun like myself by itself. A reflexive pronoun needs a partner in the form of a noun or other pronoun: Despite the recession, I’m going to treat myself to a new pair of shoes.

Second, don’t use myself in place of I or me. There’s nothing immodest about correctly using the pronouns I and me.  But there’s nothing modest–in fact, there’s something peculiar–about using myself as a substitute for I or me.

And remember mom’s admonishment to put the other person first? In this case, that would have been the right thing to do. Obama should have said, “…there’s going to be a substantive conversation between the president and me.”