Because I can.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 11:08PM The true conundrum of the chicken/egg debate is this: We tend to refer to it as "chicken and egg," as in, "It's a chicken-and-egg question, Larry." What we should say is, "It's a chicken-or-egg question, Larry." (Note the hyphenation, as we now have a compound adjective, describing "question.")
No wonder it's taken scientists so long to reach a conclusion! I've made the mistake myself, right here on my own blog. (Of course I'm not going to link you to it. I'm not quite that gracious.)
The issue here is that if we are choosing between two items, the conjunction should be "or" instead of "and." The word "and" is inclusive: peanut butter and jelly*. The word "or" means you have to pick one or the other: coffee or tea. (I'm not throwing myself into the mix, no. It's late, it's hot--and I'm kind of crabby.)
Another common misuse is to refer to something as a "life-and-death situation." Nope. You have to pick one. That's kind of the point, yes?
At least Larry and the scientists no longer have to worry about which came first; the chicken or the egg. Evidently, it was the chicken. (Kudos to MSN for getting the grammar correct.)
As for the rest of us, we'll have to identify a new euphemism to describe a philosophical stalemate. Project kick-off meetings will never be the same....
* Although I prefer honey with my peanut butter.
Reader Comments (3)
"Would you like a peanut-butter-or-jelly sandwich?" Does "peanut butter" get a hyphen? Because I like a peanut-butter sandwich myself. And I know for a fact that Ruby of Max & Ruby fame eats jelly sandwiches. Oh how I know.
Let's just make it all one word, as I am fond of doing with oft-repeated phrases: peanutbuttersandwich. "Jelly sandwich" must remain two words, because only a cartoon bunny could eat that and not be grossed out. Hmmm..."grossed-out"? Ay, ay, ay!
(I will NOT, however, shorten it to PBS. No, no, no, no, no. NO!)
thankyouverymuch. :)