More on Larry's avoidance of the King's English

In an aforementioned interview of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Larry King asked of Mr. Starr: "When you are playing (the drums), do you know how good they're singing?" King was referring to Starr's fellow Beatles.

Good is an adjective meaning excellent, pleasant, in fine condition, having admirable moral values. When it is used, it must be referring to a noun in the sentence. Larry has "good" referring to the verb phrase "...they're singing?"

Mr. King meant to say: "Do you know how well they're singing?" Well meaning done excellently, or even done in a good manner.

A note: well may also act as an adjective meaning: healthy, in a good state, satisfying, making it confusingly like good. Thus, you must watch your syntax, where the words are placed in the sentence. Not knowing your grammatical "geography" can get you lost.

Oh well! Speaking good English is not always so easy, even when you've been at it for some time.

Larry King, Inept Euphemism

Larry King recently interviewed Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr in connection to a Cirque de Soleil promotion featuring the Beatles music. The interview fascinated and went well until Mr. King asked of McCartney: Where were you when John (Lennon) passed?

My wife and I both looked at each other having a fixed memory of the tragedy and wondered aloud the reason King, quite often trenchant in his observations, chose to used a euphemism, for as most people know Lennon was murdered.

A Euphemism is the substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener; or in the case of doublespeak, to make it less troublesome for the speaker (Concise Oxford Dictionary).

How would King have offended McCartney or Starr by using the literal word? While the event was unpleasant, it occurred many years ago; shouldn't we speak literally in some cases, less history be ill-served, less the victim himself be ill-served? Were not his companions ill-served. McCartney looked oddly at King seeming to ask for a more relevant word.

At times, we must speak literally. Too much use of euphemism can make reality oblique, dull its telling edges. History is a serious subject providing us perspective. John Lennon did not "pass" so much as he was "taken." We say that a life is taken, using the passive voice to ease our pain. Hurricanes take lives, automobile accidents take lives, disease takes lives. Yet when another human takes a life, it's called murder, a useful, sober, and in this case, an historically accurate word.

Being satisfied without being bad

Recently, I asked my wife if she would like another mojito, a delicious Cuban cocktail made of rum and limes. She replied to me: "I'm good." She meant, "No, thanks. I'm satisfied"; or, "No thanks. I'm effectively full." She did not mean to suggest that she is a decent person, or a well-behaved person, or even that she is in fine condition. (see below). Admittedly the odds favored my wife and many others using this perfectly useful word according to Project Gutenberg, (ranked number 98), yet, we are hopeful, under conditions other than rejecting a delicious cocktail.

Grammatically, when one says (as many today do say) "I'm good," they are literally arrogating to themselves high compliments of decency, being well-behaved, being moral, enjoyable, healthful (that is, good for your health...), even if their intent is an idiomatic "No thank you." My wife is certainly all of the virtues ascribed to "good," a fact that has well-complemented our partnership and my affection for her, but really, to reject a perfectly good drink while arrogating to yourself the virtues of "good," is not seemly, even if an accepted idiom.

I (subject) am (linking verb) good. (predicate adjective).

good: adj. excellent; pleasant; pleasurable; decent; valid; well-behaved; in fine condition, useful, healthful, beneficial, competent, skilled; positive; having admirable moral values

While we understand the idiomatic intent of my wife's response, some idioms I will not abide. "I'm good" is one such idiom. How about the simple: "I'm satisfied," or "I'm content." Literal meanings are not always to be avoided. The point: Do not use idioms as a shorthand always when a literal response will suffice. Sometimes, literalness is good. That is: useful and beneficial.