Now look, I am a serious person. I made a good living for 50 years pontificating about God, Freedom, Immortality, and anything else you wish to mention. I blog, for God's sake, which means that I consider my opinions worthy of memorialization in the cloud. But when 90-year-old Capt. James T Kirk of the USS Enterprise goes up in a rocket, my heart flutters a little.
Beam me up, Scotty
Even for someone like me who was not a fanatic follower of Star Trek, some of the show's phrases have taken a place in the cultural history and memory of at least a certain demographic group. When I was blogging, I once entitled a post "Warp Speed, Mr. Sulu."
ReplyDeleteKirk went to space on a ship with earthlike gravity and a universe where 20th century English was the lingua franca and in a future where we all wore spandex
ReplyDeleteOddly enough (or not), Shatner's post-flight comments *almost* redeemed the whole narcissistic Bezos-exercise.
ReplyDelete“What you have given me is the most profound experience I can imagine,” Mr. Shatner told Mr. Bezos, waxing poetically about the “immeasurably small” line he witnessed between Earth and space, describing it as a fragile, underappreciated boundary between life and death.
“This air which is keeping us alive is thinner than your skin,” he continued.
and
During a live TV interview with a CNN reporter on the landing pad, Mr. Shatner said he felt his trip was more than tourism and something much deeper. “Everyone needs to have the philosophical understanding of what we’re doing to Earth,” he said.
Shatner's spontaneous and genuine speech comes from whole different world than Bezos' constipated realm:
It was unbelievable … To see the blue cover go whoop by. And now you’re staring into blackness. That’s the thing. The covering of blue, this sheet, this blanket, this comforter of blue that we have around us. We say, ‘Oh that’s blue sky.’ And then suddenly you shoot through it and all of a sudden, like you whip the sheet off you when you’re asleep, you’re looking into blackness.
"I'm so filled with emotion with what just happened,” Mr. Shatner said to Mr. Bezos on the ground, breaking into tears. "I hope I never recover from this," he added.
@ DDA
ReplyDeleteNot sure whom you're quoting, but they/he/she shd have written "waxing poetic" not "waxing poetically." This is one mistake that drives me nuts and that no native English speaker shd ever make.
I saw the Cage a week ago and it spooked me in the beginning. It had a good ending though. At the ending of every Star Trek OS show there is a picture of a green-skinned woman during the credits. I've always wondered which episode that she was originally in and what was her story in the OS? I was just too lazy to find out. Now I know.
ReplyDeleteLFC,
ReplyDeleteHere we go again.
Although I agree with you that the standard expression is “to wax poetic” and is more appealing than “to wax poetically,” technically, semantically and syntactically, the word “wax” is a verb, and may only be modified by an adverb. The word “poetic” is an adjective, never an adverb. The verb “wax” in this context means “to speak verbosely,” so it is a synonym for a manner of speaking. One would say, “He spoke very poetically,” not “He spoke very poetic.” Therefore, one “waxes poetically,” not “one waxes poetic." So, technically, syntactically and semantically, “to wax poetically” is the more correct expression.
'Never define a syntactic category semantically' is one of the first things you hear in Linguistics 101, and indeed a verb is an intrinsic syntactic category, not a semantic one. And verbal phrases can certainly be modified by elements other than an adverb - e.g., by a prepositional phrase. But point taken re: to wax poetically; I'm just being a pedant because I'm seemingly the only professional linguist/cognitive scientist here (not that it matters; I still remember the nonsense I had to endure on 'splitting infinitives' a few weeks back).
ReplyDelete@LFC I was cutting and pasting from the NYTimes. In their defense this was one of their live coverage, written in the moment columns. Although they have suffered in recent years from a dearth of copy-editing.
ReplyDeleteOf course it should be "wax poetic".
I think people get the order of things wrong. Since "wax poetic" is correct and "wax poetically" is incorrect one has evidence against whatever argument concludes the reverse. Of course, there are lots of places such an argument can wrong, whether it be the "rules" invoked or their applicability.
If we readers of, and commenters on this blog, all rather well-educated individuals, cannot agree on which of the two expressions. “to wax poetic” versus “to wax poetically,” is more grammatically correct, how can we ever agree on the best solutions to combat global warming; or to prevent the threats to our democracy posed by a crazed would-be autocrat and his demented followers; or the increasing economic gaps in our society; or …..
ReplyDeleteAnother Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI am not a professional linguist/cognitive scientist, but I believe your explanation of the meaning of "wax" is not quite correct. It seems to derive from Old English weaxan, with a meaning of "to grow increasingly" or "to become"; and by extension, more recently it has acquired the sense of "to speak or write (increasingly) in the manner specified." Hence, to "wax poetic" is to become "increasingly expansive and expressive (in speech)," where poetic is an adjective. Similarly, one may wax lyrical, wax eloquent, wax indignant, etc. So I would suggest that our contemporary use of these idiomatic expressions is not necessarily incompatible with commonplace syntactic rules, and "to wax poetically" would not be the more correct expression.
WRT being "well-educated"—too often that seems to equate to being "well-propagandized."
I googled "wax poetic or wax poetically" and everybody says "wax poetic" is correct.
ReplyDeleteI suppose everybody could be wrong, but...
Well, s. wallerstein, not "everybody" agrees that "wax poetic" is correct - DJL, who represents that he is a professional linguist, and I, do not agree.
ReplyDeleteHere's Webster's, which you cited in previous occasions favorably while arguing with me, so I assume that you accept the authority of Webster's.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wax
the word “wax” is a verb, and may only be modified by an adverb.
ReplyDeleteEh, I wouldn't feel confident about that point. ;)
I'm no linguist, but I'd say "wax poetic," as it, um..."sounds better"? - which is to say (I think), it seems like a very common informal expression, so the fussiness about "technicalities" somehow doesn't seem compelling. Language is just quirky like that sometimes; in some cases, but not others (I have no idea how to draw the boundary!), the logical application of rules is less compelling than just..."saying what people say."
Not saying I don't get the temptation to fuss about goofy technicalities! (I'm still trying to assure myself that it's okay to say I'll "lay low.")
If you wax poetic, don't you then inevitably wane prosaic?
ReplyDelete"If we readers of, and commenters on this blog, all rather well-educated individuals, cannot agree on which of the two expressions. “to wax poetic” versus “to wax poetically,” is more grammatically correct, how can we ever agree on the best solutions to combat global warming; or to prevent the threats to our democracy posed by a crazed would-be autocrat and his demented followers; or the increasing economic gaps in our society; or ….."
ReplyDeleteBecause leftist intellectual types are just generally unhappy and disagreeable individuals. :)
The ultimate answer to this linguistic quandary may be that both uses are correct, depending on the context. This turns on the fact that the verb “to wax” has two alternative meanings in the context of speech or writing.
ReplyDeleteThere is the meaning cited by s. wallerstein, in which “to wax” means “to become.” In this context, the proper expression would be, “He waxed poetic,” i.e. “He became poetic.”
There is, however, the alternative meaning of “to wax,” that is, “to become increasingly verbose.”
https://www.yourdictionary.com/wax-poetic
To become increasingly verbose.
verb
(often pejorative) To speak in an increasingly verbose manner, as if constructing poetry.
In this context, the adverbial form of “poetic” would be more correct, i.e., “He began to wax poetically,” i.e., “He began to speak verbosely and poetically.”
Given this distinction, which usage would be more appropriate to describe how William Shatner expressed himself upon returning to Earth from his sojourn on the Bezos space ship?
Those who have followed Mr. Shatner’s career are familiar with his tendency for verbosity, both in the characters he has portrayed on Star Trek and Boston Legal, and in his interviews.
Given Shatner’s tendency for verbosity, I would think that the assertion that “he waxed poetically” upon returning to Earth is the more accurate description.
Another Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteHow many sources did you have to check before you found the highly-respected yourdictionary.com?
(snicker)
Another Another Anonymous,
ReplyDelete1,319 sources, to be exact. But that does not detract from its accuracy.