Disusage presents the contradictions and foibles of usage manuals, style guides, and the quirky folks who love them. This week: the celestial and earthly roots of “disaster.”

disaster. n. s. [desastre, French]
1. The blast or stroke of an unfavourable planet.
           “Stars shone with trains of fire, dews of blood fall;
           Disasters veil’d the sun; and the moist star
           Upon whose influence Neptune’s empire Stands
            Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse.” Shakesp. Hamlet.
2. Misfortune; grief; mishap; misery; calamity.
           “This day black omens threat the brightest fair,
           That e’er deserv’d a watchful spirit’s care,
           Some dire disaster, or by force or flight;
           But what, or where, the fates have wrapt in night.” Pope
—from Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language, 1755

disaster. (?), n. [F. désastre; pref. dés- (L. dis-) + astre star, fr. L. astrum; a word of astrological origin.]
1. An unpropitious or baleful aspect of a planet or star; malevolent influence of a heavenly body; hence, an ill portent. [Obs.] “Disasters in the sun.” Shak.
2. An adverse or unfortunate event, esp. a sudden and extraordinary misfortune; a calamity; a serious mishap. “But noble souls, through dust and heat, Rise from disaster and defeat The stronger.” Longfellow.
—from Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

“Disaster: something wrong with the stars.”
—from “English: An Ode,” by Robert Hass.

“In every phase and aspect of a disaster — causes, vulnerability, preparedness, results and response, and reconstruction — the contours of disaster and the difference between who lives and who dies is to a greater or lesser extent a social calculus.”
—from “There's No Such Thing as Natural Disaster,” by Neil Smith.

Have an aspect of usage you want examined? Email me.

Disusage presents the contradictions and foibles of usage manuals, style guides, and the quirky folks who love them. This week: making use of “usage.”

usage, use, user. Those who write usage or user when they mean no more than use must be presumed to do so for one of two bad reasons: that they prefer either the longer word to the shorter (see LONG VARIANTS) or the unusual one to the common (see WORKING AND STYLISH WORDS). Usage implies a manner of using (e.g. harsh usage), especially of habitual or customary practice creating a right or standard (modern English usage). An example of its misuse is There is a serious shortage of X-ray films due to increasing usage in all countries. User is a legal word for use (exercise of a right) and should be left to the lawyers.
—Fowler’s Modern English Usage, 2nd edition, 1965

Definition of USAGE

1 a : firmly established and generally accepted practice or procedure

   b : a uniform certain reasonable lawful practice existing in a particular locality or occupation and binding persons entering into transactions chiefly on the basis of presumed familiarity

   c : the way in which words and phrases are actually used (as in a particular form or sense) in a language community

2 a : the action, amount, or mode of using <a decreased usage of electricity>
   b : manner of treating

—Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition 

“No matter what Merriam-Webster says I will continue to keen histrionically about ‘usage.’ Just say use, I say.”
—Internet user Olli Baker, commenting on “When Words Were Worth Fighting Over,” an article by Geoff Nunberg on NPR’s website.

Have an aspect of usage you want examined? Email me.

Image: historic photo from the New York City Municipal Archive, via the Atlantic