![]() Then there is the hotel developer in Chinatown, another loyal contributor, who collected three Liu commendations within six months. In New York City, most city officials, a couple times a month, honor community organizations with special suitable-for-framing commendations, praising them for “distinguished leadership” or “dedicated service.” This week’s grab bag of grammar, style and other missteps, compiled with help from colleagues and readers. The passage more honored in the breach than the observance, from “Hamlet,” refers to a custom that is more honorably ignored than followed Use it in almost the opposite sense, referring to a good custom that, unfortunately, is often breached. ![]() So the phrase is properly applied to a bad custom or rule that should be ignored. Hamlet means that it is more honorable to breach, or violate, the custom of carousing than to observe it. The principle of “shared governance” is the least well understood aspect of academic freedom, and as a result, it is honored chiefly in the breach. But his orders - to treat the press with respect - often appear honored in the breach. In late November, Commissioner Raymond W. But we continue to struggle with “honor’d in the breach.” A couple of recent missteps, with an explanation below: We have mostly steered clear of that pitfall lately. (That error may have been abetted by the British television series whose title played on the phrase.) In fact, Hamlet says “manner,” meaning More honor’d in the breach than the observance.Īs The Times’s stylebook says and we’ve noted before, one of these lines is frequently rendered as “to the manor born,” on the mistaken assumption that it refers to an aristocratic home. Two popular and much-mangled Shakespearean allusions springįrom a single passage in “Hamlet” (Act 1, scene iv), where Hamlet expresses disgust with the custom of drunken revelry practiced by his uncle Claudius: Still, if we can’t help ourselves, we should at least make sure we’re quoting correctly, and that the allusion means what we think it means. “To be or not to be” may be the weariest of clichés, but no one will give it the rest it has earned.
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