I was sitting in my recliner Thursday evening, working on The Dispatch crossword puzzle, part of my evening ritual, when I noticed something on the TV, which I had employed as background noise while pondering a six-letter word for “game quest.”
Let me pause here to say this: 2019 has been, on the balance, an awful, terrible year. I won’t miss it a bit.
I’ve have 60 new years. The current year is the worst, even worse than 2007 and I don’t have to tell anyone familiar with my story what happened that year.
Given its awfulness, 2019 could not be redeemed by what I saw on the TV as I looked up from my crossword puzzle, but it did give me a sense of optimism that things are on a modest upswing as we approach the new year.
The TV was tuned to ESPN and I noticed in the chyron at the bottom of the screen a wonderful thing. The chyron read “James aggravates groin injury in loss.”
For a brief moment, I thought, “Finally. My work here on earth is done!”
I realize I need to unpack this a bit for that reaction to make any sense.
First, I’m ambivalent about Lebron James and the NBA. James can win or lose and it makes no difference to me. I generally don’t take comfort in people being injured, either.
No, what sent my heart soaring was the verb employed in the chyron. It was, at long last, the correct verb.
For as long as I can remember, one of my pet peeves has been the word used to describe a situation where a player, still recovering from the effects of an injury, has a setback in that recovery. In other words, that player has “aggravated” his injury.
But that is hardly ever the verb used to express this idea.
Instead, there has been a world-wide conspiracy of sports writers and sports broadcasters for the past 40 years or so, to call refer to the player as having “reaggravated” the injury.
So, for the millionth time, I rise in righteous indignation to declare that “reaggravate” in not only stupid. It’s not even a real word.
Throughout my career, I’ve make this argument loudly from Mississippi to California to Arizona and back to Mississippi, purging it from the page of the newspapers where I worked, but understanding my influence ends there.
It had been a quixotic effort. Players kept reaggravating injuries, perhaps, I began to suspect, purely out of spite.
Then, out of nowhere, I look up from my crossword puzzle and see this wonderful line: “James aggravates groin injury in loss.”
It seemed something like poetry to me. I had to take a moment, I admit.
Maybe the proper use of the word “aggravate” is a sign given to this broken-down old newspaper hack that 2020 will be better, that there is hope for the future. Maybe the appearance of the correctly-worded chyron is evidence that the fever has broken and “reaggravate” will soon be relegated to the dustbin of the English language.
That may not be true, I realize, but a guy can dream.
Of course, there are many other battles left to fight. Future generations of literate people will have to carry the fight to kill the plague of “irregardless” and “firstly” and “orientate.”
As it is with my campaign against “reaggravate,” those will be a long, lonely battles, I fear.
But all of us should be prepared to do our part.
Let’s not reaggravate the problem by ignoring this duty in 2020.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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