Each week The Old Editor will attempt to address your entreaties for information and advice on grammar and usage, writing, writer-editor etiquette, and related subjects.
The Old Editor does not address marital and relationship matters, dietary questions, or automobile mechanics.
The question: Inquiries have been accumulating while The Old Editor has been at home, laid up with a digestive disorder. Among them:
(1) In regard to "Ms. Trump" versus "Mrs. Clinton" in The New York Times: "I bet it's because Clinton is a former first lady. Different style rule. @TheSlot @johnemcintyre —??"
(2) "I should like to know if 'Salad days' are grown in a garden, and if they are edible…"
(3) "A colleague and I wonder if there's a better expression than awful 'incentivize' or 'incent.' "
The Old Editor Answers:
(1) The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage's entry on courtesy titles says that the choice of Ms. Or Mrs. is the woman's and "reporters should seek her preference." Presumably The Times ascertained at some point that Hillary Clinton prefers to be referred to as Mrs. Clinton.
(2) The always-helpful Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable explains that one's salad days are "days of youthful inexperience, when people are very green," supplying the source from Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra: "My salad days, / When I was green in judgement, cold in blood."
(3) Someone desiring to spur you to greater efforts with the promise of a reward might attempt to encourage, motivate, rouse, stimulate, or galvanize you, but you will notice that the synonyms lack the specific promise of a reward. I speculate further that the sort of person who would use incentivize or incent is not likely to be motivated by considerations of gracefulness in language.
Now, if you will excuse me, it's back to my tea and toast.
Got a question for The Old Editor? Write to him at john.mcintyre@baltsun.com. Your name will not be used unless you specifically authorize it.