Post by Odysseus on Sept 22, 2020 5:05:44 GMT
I believe I write tolerably well, although I have never been a fan of grammatical analysis. I generally regard the over-application of grammatical rules to inhibit free and natural speech and writing.
However, I have found I make an exception for the abuse of the word concerning.
I first ran across the misuse of this term back in the 90's, when a fellow semi-professional worker in high tech used it in this form:
"That is concerning."
My immediate response was, "Huh? Concerning what?". Unfortunately due to my allergy to grammatical terms I couldn't come up with a textbook example of how his use of the word was wrong; just that it made no sense to me the way he used it.
I told him the proper way to use it could have been, "That is a matter of concern", while realizing this could be considered a bit awkward and stilted. But I simply had never heard the term used that way before.
So... recently this whole matter has been rattling around my brain for the past 25 years or so, and it came to sort of a head.
Google to the rescue, and I found a good web page that discusses the whole issue that I found to be so concerning. (See what I did there?).
In a nutshell, the issue is use of the present participle of the verb concern as an adjective, concerning. About that Merriam-Webster says this:
The use of concerning as an adjective, meaning "giving cause for concern," is decried by some as being a misuse of the present participle of the verb concern. However, there are countless precedents in the English language of a verb's present participle being used as an adjective: troubling, alarming, caring, to name a few. So what's the concern over the participle adjective concerning?
First, a refresher on participles. There's the present participle, which has the ending -ing, and the past participle, usually ending in -d or -ed. The present participle is sometimes used as an adjective for something that causes a certain feeling or emotion to overcome a person or animal—for example, when a person describes a clown as "frightening," that person is saying that the clown is making them afraid. On the other hand, the past participle is used as an adjective to describe a person or animal that has been caused to experience a certain feeling or emotion, as in "the frightened dog," which means someone or something (probably a clown) has made the dog afraid. Both participles are from the transitive sense of the verb frighten. (Transitive verbs have objects; the implied person and the stated dog in our examples are the objects that are frightened.)
Concern is also a transitive verb relating to feeling or emotion, as in "The child's behavior concerns the parents" (the object being "parents"). It is from its past participle that we get the adjective concerned, as in "concerned parents." By rule, the present participle can also be applied as an adjective—and it has been since the 17th century, when it appears with the meaning "important," in constructions such as "a very concerning question to ponder." A century later, concerning could also mean "giving cause for concern." Inexplicably, the adjective falls into disuse by the 20th century. By that century's end, however, it experiences a revival—to the chagrin of those who strive for clarity.
The objection to the adjective relates chiefly to statements like "The text message was concerning" that become cliff-hangers for those expecting an object to follow the verb. "Concerning what?," they ask (often with an exclamation point added for emphasis and in frustration). In addition, they might point out that concerning is being mistakenly used for disconcerting, meaning "disturbing" or "upsetting." (It's likely that rewording our example to "a concerning text message" would have avoided this chiding altogether.)
Concerning could very well be considered an eggcorn of disconcerting. In statements like "The text message contained some concerning content" or "It's concerning that the building failed inspection," it certainly can be argued that disconcerting is being misinterpreted as concerning. However, usage evidence shows a trend of people using the adjective concerning, meaning "giving cause for concern," without concern of being criticized.
Concern is also a transitive verb relating to feeling or emotion, as in "The child's behavior concerns the parents" (the object being "parents"). It is from its past participle that we get the adjective concerned, as in "concerned parents." By rule, the present participle can also be applied as an adjective—and it has been since the 17th century, when it appears with the meaning "important," in constructions such as "a very concerning question to ponder." A century later, concerning could also mean "giving cause for concern." Inexplicably, the adjective falls into disuse by the 20th century. By that century's end, however, it experiences a revival—to the chagrin of those who strive for clarity.
The objection to the adjective relates chiefly to statements like "The text message was concerning" that become cliff-hangers for those expecting an object to follow the verb. "Concerning what?," they ask (often with an exclamation point added for emphasis and in frustration). In addition, they might point out that concerning is being mistakenly used for disconcerting, meaning "disturbing" or "upsetting." (It's likely that rewording our example to "a concerning text message" would have avoided this chiding altogether.)
Concerning could very well be considered an eggcorn of disconcerting. In statements like "The text message contained some concerning content" or "It's concerning that the building failed inspection," it certainly can be argued that disconcerting is being misinterpreted as concerning. However, usage evidence shows a trend of people using the adjective concerning, meaning "giving cause for concern," without concern of being criticized.
Now that introduced a new term for me, "eggcorn". Again, according to M-W:
: a word or phrase that sounds like and is mistakenly used in a seemingly logical or plausible way for another word or phrase either on its own or as part of a set expression.
In any case, it is interesting (or, a matter of interest) that apparently "concerning" as an adjective was accepted usage a couple hundred years ago. It fell out of fashion, and has only recently been revived. I guess my discomfort with it is due to the fact that language very much is a living thing, and when various usages fall out of general as well as specific usage, for long periods of time far exceeding one's own lifespan, it's difficult for some (like me) to welcome them back with open arms. In part because I never knew they ever were acceptable.
Is this concerning? Yes, I guess. YMMV.
