Thursday Grammar: Short Lived
[I have lately been noticing more and more of the most appalling errors in English grammar and usage. And not just from the president. Maybe I'm getting old and curmudgeonly. So that you are spared the embarrassment of the most egregious solecisms in a post-Bush era, I offer this weekly series as a service to you.]
The phrase “short lived” is pronounced with a long i. Short LIEved, is in “having a short life”, not LIH-ved, as in “living a short time”.
Next Week: Feelng Nonplussed
mlawski on Thu, 2nd Oct 2008 10:18 pmCite your sources, please. I sadly no longer have access to the OED, but my Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary lists “shawrt-lihved” first and “shawrt-layvd” second. Dictionary.com lists “shawrt-lyvvd” first but also includes “shawrt-lihved” as an acceptable pronunciation.
Matthew Wrather on Fri, 3rd Oct 2008 12:02 amMy sources are my strongly-held prejudices. The views of illiterates on pronunciation are unaccountable. Even if they write a dictionary.
Matthew Wrather on Fri, 3rd Oct 2008 12:28 amSorry, that was a little glib. Of course the OED agrees with me. Here is the entry, from my copy of the second edition (1991). I don’t own a third edition. I’m actually not sure it’s done.
short-lived (short lyevd) adj. also spelled short-lif’d. [f. short (adj) + live, LIFE + -ED(2). Often apprehended as f. lived pa. pple. of LIVE v. (cf. smooth-spoken) and pronounced (-livd)].
Which is to say, the OED makes the point I make, which is that the mispronunciation is due to an (erroneous) folk etymology.
As to citations, the phrase appears twice in Love’s Labors Lost, in the second and fourth acts, first literally — “Such short liu’d wits do wither as they grow” (2.1.54) — and then metaphorically, which the OED treats as a different sense in its definitions — “O short liu’d pride” (4.1.15).
There are senses having to do with metallurgy and radioactive isotopes. The unfortunate phrase “short-livedness” was committed to print in the 19th century.
NB on Fri, 3rd Oct 2008 1:22 amNot where I come from it isn’t.
Alec Harkness on Fri, 3rd Oct 2008 7:00 amI’ve gotta say, I’ve never heard “short-lived” pronounced to rhyme with “arrived”, and it’s a common phrase. Even the BBC pronounce it to rhyme with “give”
Consider “lived” as in the past tense of “to live”. It never rhymes with “arrived”. So I can legitimately say I lived well, or I lived long (and prospered). If I lived long, I was long-lived. If I didn’t live long, I was short-lived.
Hmmm, actually when I read that back I think I see the problem. “Long” and “short” are adjectives, not adverbs. My life can be long, but I cannot correctly live long.
This would suggest that the correct phrase would be “short lifed”, but I don’t think that’s correct either.
I think I may have over-thought myself…
The original point remains though. I have never heard it pronounced any other way.
Gab on Fri, 3rd Oct 2008 9:16 amMmm, grammar. Anyone ever hear the one about the panda?
Pianodan on Fri, 3rd Oct 2008 8:13 pmEveryone’s heard the one about the panda.
Mathias on Fri, 10th Oct 2008 10:25 pmThis is one of my pet peeves. Precisely because “long” and “short” are adjectives, they modify the noun “life”, not the verb “live”. I have heard it pronounced “lyevd”, and every time I do, it makes me smile :)
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: The Scariest Movie Ever? | Overthinking It on Thu, 30th Oct 2008 12:01 pm[...] few minutes, even managing to take down an enemy plane. His victory, however, is short lived (pronounced with a long I). The Baron fights back, and, soon, Snoopy is fighting for his life. A terrified Snoopy [...]
Chris Povall on Fri, 31st Oct 2008 6:32 amhttp://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?dict=CALD&key=73079&ph=on
UK Standard pronunciation of the word ’short lived’ rhymes with thought seived. Only in the US is pronunciation to rhyme with thought arrived.
Gab on Fri, 31st Oct 2008 9:27 amOh oh oh, and I just thought of another subject for one of these: “In spite” versus “despite.” I’ve even had English teachers that can’t help me with that one.
John E on Sun, 5th Apr 2009 1:53 amMany people are basing their opinions on the fact that “long” and “short” are adjectives and not adverbs. They are both. It is perfectly acceptable to ask someone how long they have lived in the city, for example. It is not necessary to ask them, “for what period of time…”
I can live with either pronunciation, because honestly I think the intention can either be “had a short life” or “lived for a short period of time.”
Now, of course, we must wonder if the rule about adjectives ending with -ed, i.e. blessed, learned, wretched, etc. Something to think about.
Brad on Tue, 2nd Jun 2009 12:06 pmOh prescriptivists, you guys kill me. Linguistics should be studied and discussed in a descriptive way. In other words, stop trying to tell people how to talk correctly. Language is constantly evolving.