replacing the etymologically correct minuscule with miniscule. The term “malapropism” refers to the unintentionally comic misuse of a word, especially by confusing it with a similar-sounding one. Learn how your comment data is processed. To be quite honest if you are not running the gamut each time you rehearse, perform, compose or orchestrate then you are not giving your whole self to the task. It’s also used commonly in political debates. a conversation or debate), or a strategy to gain the upper hand.. Ken’s idea of an effective conversational gambit was "Do you come here often?" Biden projected 46th President. If it doesn’t pick up soon, I have a sneaking suspicion that the next person to face running the gauntlet will be myself and going from experience, should one survive the lunging Batons, Bows, Drumsticks and anything pointy. (1805), a novel by Isaac D’Israeli, father of the British statesman Benjamin Disraeli: “He runs through the whole gamut of the heart, from bass to treble.”. If I don’t put a disclaimer, people will make fun of my now ugly grammar. By night, I'm still a writer and editor. CORRECT : Their experiences ran the gamut from “sadistic preferential” pedophiles, to serial killers who were depressive or enraged…. That's the word's metaphorical use. Interestingly, “run the gamete” is almost as popular as “run the gambit” in general online searches, and one of the examples we’ve found even uses the expression correctly: “Hotels run the gamete” is a Nov. 3, 2005, headline in USA Today about Caribbean procreation vacations that include romantic dinners, spa treatments, and island potions said to increase the chances of a pregnancy. To say that something includes all the items within a prescribed group or type, you would say that it runs the gamut. Gamut is defined as a complete range, as would the case when you talk about a “color gamut” in computer graphics. That makes sense. Describe 2020 In Just One Word? Unfortunately my attempt at humour was met with a couple of sharp intakes of breath and has resulted in a sudden drop new Musicians joining UK Orchestras. What is not acceptable is mixing up “running the gauntlet” with “running the gamut.”. As an etymology note at Merriam-Webster Online explains, the term comes from a musical scale developed in the 11th century by the musician and monk Guido d’Arezzo: “Guido called the first line of his bass staff gamma and the first note in his scale ut, which meant that gamma ut was the term for a note written on the first staff line. Object found in Utah desert, recant All rights reserved. Gambit often appears in the phrase "opening gambit," where it means "first move." The following examples are from printed books. CORRECT : Treatment ran the gamut from kindness to torture. monolith What is the correct expression when you mean to say that something encompasses the full range? I do wonder if there was a deliberate mistake thrown in as we’ve spent an otherwise enlightening few hours in the company of an esteemed author and wordsmith. “Villa options run the gambit from deluxe pads to rustic fincas” (from the July, 18, 2015, issue of the Guardian). Well done. : (, So, if I told an ally in a competition that I’m going to “run the gambit” would that be grammatically correct if I meant “I’m going to try to gain an early advantage?”. The word gambit is derived from the Italian word gambetto which means tripping up. All Right Reserved. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); And from that grammatical error rose the subject of today’s post. Q: I keep hearing “gamut” misused, as in “run the gambit,” which doesn’t make sense. “Any error in the following example?” 'Nip it in the butt' or 'Nip it in the bud'. I am sure I have only read “run the full gamut”, at least that is the phrase that is at the forefront of my mind. How to use a word that (literally) drives some pe... Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words? Mabel the Cat picked up the gauntlet: decked out in her best beret, she faced her audience and began to moonwalk. Hi, I'm Michael. If you "run the gauntlet" you endure a trial or ordeal. Enter your email address to subscribe to the blog by email. INCORRECT: Their experiences ran the gauntlet from “sadistic preferential” pedophiles, to serial killers who were depressive or enraged… Bill Riveron, The Trojan Killer, AuthorHouse, 2011. It expanded to cover all the notes of Guido’s scale, then all the notes in the range of an instrument, and, eventually, an entire range of any sort.”. It’s a corrupted form of the Swedish word gatlopp, which was borrowed into English with the meaning “military punishment in which the offender runs between rows of men who beat him in passing.”, Early spellings of gatlopp in English were gantelope and gantlope. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? So such sources of “evolution” are no longer legitimate. Medieval custom took those protective gloves pretty seriously: to "throw down the gauntlet" was to issue a challenge; to "pick up the gauntlet" was to accept one. What does the gamut mean? Posted by Michael Kwan | Feb 10, 2011 | Freelance Life, Grammar & Idioms | 5. I would have said gauntlet, shows what I know. Interestingly enough, the word “gamut” is rarely used outside of this context. Here concludes the story of gambit, gamut, and gauntlet. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Writers and educated users should be educating people away from their mistakes (cf DWT), not embracing and imitating them. The original name of the punishment in English was gantlope, from the Swedish gatlopp (from gata, meaning "road," and lop, meaning "course"). A gambit is a risky opening action or comment that is designed to put one at an advantage. Learn a new word every day. The phrase "run the ____" is frequently completed with another g-word, but to communicate an entirely different meaning. Required fields are marked *. 2 : an entire range or series ran the gamut from praise to contempt. Supposedly, today the general population is not illiterate and we have thousands of alleged professionals writing, editing, and generally using language. A 2005 entry by the linguist Ben Zimmer on the Eggcorn Database cites “run the gambit” and includes several more examples.
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