Many users of the language indulge in what I call steroidal semantics: the hypercorrection of idioms, phrases, and forms long blessed by usage.
Instead of trusting established English usages, they rebuild them from turgid logic, and end up contorting or distorting them.
Take this example. A romantic partner is a “boyfriend” or “girlfriend,” not “man friend” or “woman friend.” The logic that an adult isn’t a boy or girl misses the point.
“Boyfriend” and “girlfriend” are the standard terms, regardless of age. And each is one word. Both are closed compounds.
Another symptom of steroidal semantics is the unnecessary and undesirable apostrophe before shortened names.
Don’t write ’Emeka or ’Laolu. These are not contractions, and they don’t need apostrophes.
If your full name is Olaolu, you’re Laolu. If your full name is Chukwuemeka or Nnaemeka, you’re Emeka. Leave the apostrophe out unless you’re making a stylistic statement, like the poet e.e. cummings.
The condition shows up too in hyphenated-name capitalization. It’s incorrect to lowercase the second element of a hyphenated name.
Write Justice Bola Okikiolu-Ighile, not Okikiolu-ighile. Both halves of the name take capitals.
Grammatical errors also reveal this overcorrection. Say “two plus two equals four,” not “two plus two equal four.”
The subject of the sentence is not “two and two,” but the math formula “2+2.” The formula is singular, so the verb should be too.
Plus signals a mathematical operation, and the operation—not the individual numbers—is the subject.
Writers and lawyers caught in steroidal semantics forget that usage sometimes outweighs or overwhelms logic.
“Birth anniversary” and “birthday anniversary” are unnecessary, clunky alternatives to the simple and correct “birthday.”
They’re semantics on steroids. Consult any good dictionary. “Birthday” means both the day of one’s birth and the anniversary of one’s birth.
Finally, beware of phrases like “typo error” or “typo-error.” “Typo” already means “typographical error.” So just say “typo”.
If in doubt, check the dictionary. Trust me: it won’t bite. It might even cure your steroidal semantics.
