Persons and People

Funny how I’ve read or heard the phrase, “Missing Persons”, and never thought critically, why it isn’t, “Missing People”, which is totally sane.

An article on labor problems in London said, “More than 150 people were injured, mostly police officers and 67 persons were arrested.” Why were the injured called “people” and the arrested called “persons” ? Either one would have been acceptable, but using both raises that question.

When in doubt, you will probably not go wrong using people as the plural of person. Persons, especially popular with lawyers and journalists, can seem stilted at times, although it has a proper user.

Persons emphasizes individuals. It applies to a specific but not large number: “The group honored seven persons.”

The entry continues with more elegant detail that I omit to avoid infringement and as encouragement for the reader to buy the book credited below.

The Penguin Dictionary of American English Usage and Style

I’ve come to be friends with a resident of San Francisco who, although not a native, has lived in SF longer than my native SF self has been alive. Paul Lovinger is a gifted journalist, author, editor and musician.

His dictionary of style is a fun book to read as well as being a writers resource to understanding American English language idioms and often misunderstood usages.

When I received my paper back copy, I found myself drawn to the Whom and Who, section.

Where is your proof ? Please don't tell me it’s in the pudding

My friend Rob is annoyed when people fail to quote the entirety of a saying, thus not only attenuating the wisdom contained, but often distorting it.

That’s the case here, according the dictionary of usage:

The proverb about proof and pudding perplexes people. Some, it seems would search through the pudding for the proof, however messy it would be to do so.

Suffer me to quote the text slightly out of order:

Proof means test in that context.

The full saying is:

The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

When using this proverb, and likely any other, one must only recreate the entire saying, or quote.

Good Writing is Good

Putting complex ideas, events, or flow charts into the written word is a science and an art. Having been exposed to the necessity and power of charting while doing a stint as a consultant, brought that wisdom home to me.

While my current duties are primarily as a programmer, I’ve found that I must also be a part time project manager. At least half of the emails I send are unofficial work products, sent to my bosses. Updates about complex processing pipelines and summaries of the state of affairs.

While writing emails to stake holders, I take care to craft unambiguous sentences. Much like I try to do when writing computer programs. The English language has the means to express compactly and accurately most messages, if care is taken to learn the subtleties of the medium.

Full Credit

If you’d like to learn more about the English language and in particular nuggets like when to use who and whom, or emigrate vs immigrate, then you’ll want to purchase this book:

The Penguin Dictionary of American English Usage and Style: a readable reference book, illuminating thousands of traps that snare writers and speakers, by Paul W. Lovinger

ISBN 0-670-89166-5