I was not a practicing Catholic any longer by the time I was twenty-five. I was “living in sin,” meaning I was not married to my partner at the time. I was not going to Confession to confess my sins, and I certainly didn’t feel the need for absolution. I didn’t accept any longer the fact that a man had come to earth to die under torture by the Romans to be resurrected and give me a channel to be okay with the Creator.

I don’t have an Easter Message for you, but Mike does…

… or are they?

There is a good argument that they mean exactly the same thing. With this premise, one can ask: Is one inappropriate or affected, out of use or archaic? For instance, “use” and “utilize” seem to mean the same thing but the use of “utilize” goes along with affected speech. Just ask Coturnix, he hates “utilize” and I agree.

But I’m not sure if “amongst” is an affectation where it is usually used, as much as it is a dialectical difference. In South African English, “amongst” seems commoner than “among” (and “commoner” is more common than “more common” by the way). This does not mean amongst is unaffected among friends. That would depend on where one lives.

I assume that Among and Amongst have the same meaning. Feel free to disagree in the comments below. However, I can also contradict myself and argue that Amongst may be a viable non-affected choice in some cases. In particular, “among” feels better when we are among people (among friends, among colleageus, among the Hmong) whilst “amongst” is better if we are amongst something inanimate. “As Tarquin stood amongst the great trees of the dark forest…”

What do you think?

CBS News is reporting that veteran newsman and “60 Minutes” star interviewer Mike Wallace has died at age 93.

Details of his passing aren’t yet clear, but on the CBS website colleague Morley Safer is remembering the journalist’s 65 years from Wallace’s first appearance on the network to his last, a “60 Minutes” interview with Roger Clemens.

source

The Washington Post reports that Mike Walace has died.

Mike Wallace didn’t interview people. He interrogated them. He cross-examined them. Sometimes he eviscerated them.

His reputation was so fearsome that it was often said that the scariest words in the English language were “Mike Wallace is here to see you.”

He retired as a regular correspondent in 2006, but continued to work after that, interviewing Mitt Romney, Roger Klemens, and Jack Kevorkian in 2007. Wallace was the first reporter hired when the “60 minutes” staff was first put together in 1968.