What you don't know makes you look dumb

I've been asked to write a new blog post, so I'll comment on something that just came to my attention--flagrant and widespread use of the phrase "in lieu of." A friend corrected a telemarketer's use of the phrase, and in turn a friend of hers unearthed a lively Yahoo! Answers debate on the meaning of it, in which nearly everyone was enthusiastically wrong. The person who first asked about the meaning of the phrase went to great lengths to inform everyone that she was a well-educated graduate from NYU, where apparently they encourage the use of Yahoo! Answers over the creaking apparatus of reference books.

"Lieu" is the French word for "place." "In lieu of" means "in place of," or "instead of." The most common (correct) usage of this phrase is in obituary notices, where people who would send flowers are asked to instead donate to a pet cause or charity of the deceased. "In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Animal Humane Society."

Somehow--in a development no doubt involving my favorite bugbears: middle management, political representatives of largely suburban districts, and high school principals--people have been led to believe that "in lieu of" means the same thing as "in light of," or "because of," as in "In lieu of recent events, we will be closing all the schools in Bloomington for the next two days." I came across a confident online assertion that whatever "lieu" might mean in French, "in our lexicon" it means "because of."

Wrong and wrong. For one thing a "lexicon" is a the vocabulary of a language, more specifically an alphabetical list of words, aka the dictionary. You'll never find a dictionary stating that "in lieu of" means "because of." Furthermore getting something wrong again and again, however persistently, will never make a wrong usage right, just more common. When using a foreign phrase, or even one with just one foreign word in it, it's best to look it up. Or, in lieu of using foreign phrases you don't know, use correct English ones you do know.

And to my friend--good on you for correcting the telemarketer, who was very likely reading from a script written by her better-paid, dumbass manager.

Next time: "Grizzly vs. Grisly: A Whole 'Nother Animal."