#186 Beforecast

Maybe people really don’t think before they open up their wordhole. They never seem to actually say what they mean any more. Like the whole acronym and initial redundancy controversy. Personal Identification Number became PIN became PIN number. Vehicle identification Number became VIN became VIN numbers posted at dealership. Automated Teller Machines became ATM became slide your card into the ATM machine. Card reader terminals at gas stations and supermarkets started asking you to “swipe your card.” Why should I swipe it? I already have it. I should swipe someone else’s card. I remember the first time I read that on a card reader when I worked in a store. I took the customer’s bankcard, went to the bankcard terminal at the register, pressed start and the digital readout said “swipe customer card.” I thought the transaction had been declined so I wouldn’t give the customer her card back. A fracas ensued.
The newest in the long line of acronymic redundancies, or as I like to call them acrodundancies, is the term “hiv virus.” Oh yeah, the human immunodeficiency virus virus. You are invited to a fundraiser for the eradication of the HIV virus. RSVP please. The aids syndrome will be addressed as well.
Or this. The other day I was watching the news. The anchor said, “and here’s Andy Wappler with the forecast.” Andy Wappler and his pinpoint Doppler then got right into it. “Here’s today’s forecast,” he said, “currently it’s 35 degrees and freezing rain.” I actually started to pull my hair out. Maybe the Wappler Doppler thing set me on edge. But “currently” is not a forecast. A forecast is a prediction of what is going to happen, or at the very least what they sort of think is going to happen—in the future. Currently is now. I suppose I should be glad they didn’t say presently when they meant now but it would have been more accurate in the context of the word forecast. The weather will presently be snowy. Or it will presently be snowing. At present it is raining. Not, it is presently raining.
But really, the reason I tune in to the weather forecast is for exactly that. The forecast. What is it going to be later? Come on, give me your best guess, show me a satellite picture and let ME extrapolate. But don’t waste a lot of time telling me what it is currently. I don’t need to know current. I am in it. I can go outside and feel the locally dense fog on my face or judge for myself whether, in fact, the rain is freezing or just awful darn cold, or if the ambient temperature makes my nipples hard enough scratch glass.
I guess I’ll have to accept it when it comes to correct word usage the forecast calls for pain.
America, ya gotta love it.