92. "Concerted effort"

  

A piccolo player, no matter how hard he tries, cannot make a "concerted effort." Only the orchestra can do that. The result is a "concert." The picture of it settles the meaning: people doing something together.

So Mayor Bloomberg can't make "a concerted effort to rebut criticism that he was ignoring the boroughs" (NYT, 1-20-11) and tennis player Vera Zvonareva can't make "a concerted effort to knock Clijsters off stride" (1-20-11). They're piccolo players and the editors of the New York Times are having them and a host of others do only what groups can do. Twenty-three times in the last 90 days. Worse, they're having some of them "make a more concerted effort." Trying harder.

I know, it's a very small thing. A little spot. But these editors have already shown that they take exactness and efficiency — cleanliness — so far down the scale of word use that it's surprising that they have let this spot stay. Is it too small?

Posted by H. R. Swardson at 9:48 AM 2 comments

dictionarieseditorsNew York Timesusagewords