continuity of parks

dumb = (1) unable to speak; or (2) stupid. Although sense 1, the traditional usage, has long been considered preferable {deaf and dumb}, sense 2 has predominated in such a way as to make the term a disparaging one. Today, "mute" is the generally preferred term for one who cannot speak. The origin of using "dumb" to mean "stupid" is invidious. In law, a person who was mute (and usually deaf, too) was automatically deemed an idiot (not my word -- it can be found in scholarly texts). The usage is centuries old.

dwell. Of the two past-tense forms, "dwelled" and "dwelt," the former appears almost twice as often as the latter in print sources today, but the old style is far from archaic -- e.g.: "Written in her childhood voice, it is a laugh-out-loud peek into the lives of those who dwelt there [Mooreland, Indiana] in the 1960s and '70s." Beverly Beyette, "World View, Direct from Rural Indiana," Chicago Trib., 2 Oct. 2002, Tempo §, at 6.

dying; dyeing. "Dying" corresponds to the verb "die" (= to expire), "dyeing" to the verb "dye" (= to color with a dye). "Dyeing" is often mistakenly written "dying."

dynamic, n. This vogue word for "strong force" or "underlying cause" is generally best avoided.

each . . . apiece. This construction is redundant -- e.g.: "The 33 largest American plantations each receive more than $1 million apiece [delete 'apiece'] in higher sales prices." Stephen Moore, "Corporate Welfare for Select Few Hurting Others," Houston Chron., 6 Apr. 1995, at A33.

each and every. This emphatic (and trite) phrase, like "each" or "every" alone, requires a singular verb -- e.g.: "Each and every one of them are [read 'is'] devoted." Robert D. Signoracci, "Outgoing Mayor Thanks Cohoes," Times Union (Albany), 26 Dec. 1999, at B4.

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Quotation of the Day: "Finding something to say is ordinarily the great problem of all of us who are called upon to write, whether in school or elsewhere. It is not merely that we have nothing to express, for most of us are talking a great part of the time, but that we feel the greater importance of the written word, and do not readily satisfy ourselves that our thoughts and feelings are of sufficient importance to make it worth while putting them down in writing." Lewis Worthington Smith & James E. Thomas, A Modern Composition and Rhetoric 3 (1900-1901).