Hobbling and Cobbling

I could hardly believe my ears this morning when I heard a highly educated author being interviewed on NPR about a new book. A graduate of two prestigious Eastern universities, the author talked about “hobbling together” a political alliance.

She meant “cobbling together.”

Naturally, I hopped on the Web to see if anyone else was misusing this common expression. The following examples indicate that quite a few speakers are:

I could barely hobble together some clips from wagnaria some audio from hockey highlights and some sound effects in Imovie

That is the big flaw with my car – a VW. No cupholders except for one for the back seat. I’ve had to hobble together aftermarket bits to hold my coffee. 

I finally had the time to hobble together an open source version of the headless Raspberry Pi config interface I’ve been working on.

It’s not just the tweeters and the bloggers:

Eagan’s head coach Mike Taylor had to hobble together a line-up after losing both first line wings to injury the night before.

Global markets – USA: Bruised computer giants hobble together –(headline over a story about a Compaq-HP merger)

I even found the altered expression in printed books. Here’s one example:

The Babylonian cosmos, or at least the picture of it that scholars have managed to hobble together over the last two centuries, presents us with a scene by now quite familiar to the reader

Used figuratively, the expression “to cobble together” means “To put together or join roughly or clumsily, usually from bits and pieces of whatever materials are available.

The verb cobble, of unknown origin, already had the meaning of “to mend clumsily” or “to patch up” in the 15th century. In the 16th century it was used to describe the mending of shoes; a cobbler was a mender of shoes. Shakespeare plays with the word cobble in Act One, scene one of Julius Caesar(1599); a cheeky commoner offers to “cobble” a tribune.

Here are some examples of the expression being used correctly:

Freelancers cobble together part-time jobs to make ‘portfolio careers’

Adjunct Professors Try to Cobble Together a Full Workload

BJP hopes to cobble together alliance in TN

Lower Makefield officials cobble together $3.5M to pay judgment in eminent domain case involving golf course land

The expression “to hobble” means to fasten an animal’s feet together to prevent it from straying. Figuratively, it means to impede someone or something. For example, a lack of money could hobble a company’s efforts to bring out a new product.

Here are some examples from the web in which hobble is used correctly:

U.S. says global effort has hobbled a cybercrime ring

Lewisville zoning extension effort hobbled in N.C. House

Markets hobbled by low volatility

Teaching Your Horse to Stand Hobbled

If something is being put together from bits and pieces, it’s being cobbled together.

If something is being crippled, it’s being hobbled.

Phrasal Verbs with Stand

The comment of a new U.S. resident telling about how he obtained residency got me thinking about the difficulties that ESL learners must have with phrasal verbs built onstand:

A Vincentian priest at the parish stood in for me as a witness when I became a resident. With the help of several people in the church I got my work permit and became a citizen.”

The grammar is unexceptionable, but the expression “stood in for me” conveys an unintended meaning. The new resident means that the priest “sponsored” or “testified for” him, but the idiom “to stand in for” means “to take the place of someone”:

Paul Walker’s brothers stand in for actor’s final scenes for Fast & Furious 7 movie

Cyril Ramaphosa to stand in for Zuma at briefing

To convey the sense of sponsorship or testimony, one would say, “stand for witness,” “stand as witness,” or “stand up for”:

At their hurried marriage, only a little boy stood for witness.

I stand as witness for a sixteen-year-old boy I never met.

My sister stood up for me at my wedding.

“Stand up” can also mean, “fail to keep an appointment”: Her date stood her up at the last minute.

A person “stands for” office. Countries and people “stand by,” “stand with,” or “stand up for” their friends:

US says it will stand by allies against China

The state of South Carolina is now offering drivers licenses that read: “South Carolina Stands with Israel”

Students Stand Up for Football Coach Banned From Praying With Team

As a verb, “stand by” means “to wait in readiness.” The noun stand-by means “a state of readiness:

Police asked to stand by in case of trouble.
Canteens on Stand-By to Respond to Tropical Storm Debby
Egypt celebrates anniversary as army remains on stand-by
Emergency services on standby to treat fans in Manaus

“Stand by” also means, “to look on without intervening”:

Pakistani Woman Beaten To Death By Her Family As Police Stand By

We simply cannot afford to stand by while drugs, crime, corruption and terrorism devastate this already vulnerable region.

As an imperative, “Stand by” means “wait for further developments”:

We’re Experiencing Technical Difficulties – Please Stand By…

Many of these phrasal verbs are used with a literal meaning that is clear from the context:

Stand aside so I can stay on the sidewalk.
Stand up when the Queen enters the room.
Stand back so the water doesn’t hit you.

Here are a few more phrasal verbs built on stand:

stand on: maintain
“I stand on my decision.”

stand aside/stand back: get out of the way
If you can’t do the job as manager, stand aside/back and let me do it.

stand for: represent, tolerate
Superman stands for truth, justice, and the American Way.
The boss won’t stand for repeated tardiness.

stand out: be noticeable
Wear something plain so you won’t stand out.

stand up to: defend against, challenge, refuse to submit
Next time George tries to take your lunch money, stand up to him.

stand between: present a barrier
His mother claims she doesn’t want to stand between them, but every time they set a date, she gets sick.

stand down: leave the witness box; relax; withdraw.
The witness was told to stand down.
Police ordered to stand down as city burned.

stand off: keep at distance
The patrol stood off the enemy for three hours.

Phrasal verbs represent only a small number of idioms that employ the wordstand. A great many additional stand expressions remain to be discussed in another post.

To Do vs. To Make

Pointing out that some languages, like Russian, have only one verb to express the meanings of English make anddo, a reader requests a little guidance:

Please could you explain the difference between the verbs “to do” and “to make.” Is there some kind of formula or method?

Would that I could postulate some foolproof rule for knowing when to use doand when to use make. Some general guidelines do exist, but for many of the idioms, memorization is the ESL speaker’s only recourse.

Generally speaking, the verb do and its forms are used to talk about duties, jobs, or leisure activities:

England expects that every man will do his duty.
Who does your hair?
He’s doing time for assault.
She can’t do enough for that lay-about husband of hers.
Jake does the crossword every morning on the train.
Have you done your homework?

The verb make is used to talk about constructing, creating, or performing something:

The company has made an offer on a new building.
Excuse me while I make a phone call.
The child made a face behind the teacher’s back.
The builders are making progress on the house.
Time is running out; we must make a decision now.
We tried to move without making a noise.

It’s possible to use do with an adverb:

I hope he will do well there.
He did badly in his last job.

Make is usually followed by a noun:

make the bed
make amends
make a mistake
make a visit
make a speech

Exceptions are the idioms “to make nice” (behave in an agreeable manner), and “to make do” (get along with what one has”):

His mother told him to make nice with the neighbor’s children.
As we haven’t the money for a new car, we shall have to make do with this one.

A great many expressions that are used with make can be rephrased with verbs that correspond to the noun that follows make or with another verb:

to make a confession > to confess
to make a visit > to visit
to make a suggestion > to suggest
to make a face > to grimace
to make believe > to imagine

Awe and Awesome

Words, like human bodies, become enfeebled over time.Awe and awesome are two such words.

In the early Middle Ages, awemeant “immediate and active fear; terror, dread.” Becauseawe was frequently used to describe the fear inspired by the divine, it came to mean, “dread mingled with veneration.”

The adjective awesome was used to describe something that inspired a feeling of solemn and reverential wonder tinged with latent fear, the feeling that Ahab’s crew would have experienced as Moby Dick rose up out of the sea next to the Pequod, or that Moses thrilled to when the voice spoke from the burning bush.

In the 21st century, the adjective awesome is applied to just about anything:

10 Unexpectedly Awesome Cover Songs

How to Become More of an Awesome Person

What Are Some Really Awesome Ways to Use Chocolate Mint?

I Had Some Really Awesome Noodles Today

Clearly awesome has dwindled so far from its original meaning as to mean nothing at all.

Perhaps writers of such statements could pause and try to think of a word that still retains a distinctive meaning:

10 Unexpectedly Catchy Cover Songs

How to Become A More Likeable Person

What Are Some Really Inventive Ways to Use Chocolate Mint?

I Had Some Really Delicious Noodles Today

Unlike the adjective awesome, the noun awe continues to mean something.

In the expression “to be in awe of,” awe means “respectful admiration”:

Cricketer in awe of cataract surgeons

We are all in awe of the dedication and commitment of our polio eradication colleagues around the world.

The expression “in awe” conveys the experience of an emotion felt at seeing something fearful or sublime in nature:

We watched in awe as the Aurora Borealis danced around us, all alone in the Icelandic Countryside.

Photographer Kenneth Watkins watched in awe from just 30 yards away [as two male lions fought for mating rights].

But the expression “in awe” is also dwindling into meaninglessness:

Travellers in awe of new airport…

[The store clerk] watched in awe as she stacked up an enormous armload of music. 

I watched in awe as my friend ate her first push popsicle ever.

Finally, there is the military coinage “shock and awe” in which awe retains the meaning of fear or dread:

shock and awe: a military doctrine based on the use of overwhelming power and spectacular displays of force.

Even this fearsome expression is being used in various non-military contexts with descending coherence:

If organized labor were to throw its money and numbers behind a “shock-and-awe” effort to organize fast food workers across the country, they would no doubt emerge immensely strengthened.

Greek workers resist ‘shock and awe’ austerity measures 

The Shock and Awe of Ikea’s Employee Spying Program

[Employees] meet personal needs by using inappropriate openness to “shock and awe” co-workers. 

What he has done to date has left everybody in shock and awe.

This video left me in shock and awe.

Kids use the Walkman for the first time and react with shock and awe.