Grammar Moses: Negative self-esteem can't hurt you if it doesn't exist

Paul Reardon of South Elgin told me that while he is not a professional writer, he finds that looking closely at grammar makes him a better one.

That closer look prompted him to ask me what I thought about this headline: "Georgia authorities say officer shot and killed by suspect who fled scene, remains on the loose".

(I put the period outside the quotation marks because there was no period in the headline.)

"It is obvious that the individual who is on the loose could not be the officer who was killed," Paul wrote. "But I read the statement several times to make sure I understood it. I believe the actual written statement's phrasing means that the officer is on the loose."

Paul is onto something here.

There are many things wrong with the headline: The cop is on the loose; the perp escaped and is on the loose; and what's with that comma?

Headline writers struggle every day with tough headline counts - that is, trying to say a lot in tight spaces. God himself would have difficulty writing a really good one-column headline.

In this case, the story was auto-ingested by a robot to our website from a wire service, so no one on my team touched it.

Yes, that really happens.

To eliminate the confusion over who is on the loose and remove the duplication in having an escapee being on the loose, I would recast the headline as: "Georgia authorities say person who shot and killed officer remains on the loose".

Got milk?

Many of us have a negative self-image, but can one have negative self-esteem?

I heard someone talking on the radio about having "negative self-esteem."

I say no.

Some of you will rail on me for picking nits here, but "self-image" is how you feel about or see yourself. The term carries no specific positive or negative connotation. It falls on a spectrum from self-loathing to self-love, with ambivalence at the zero point.

"Self-esteem," the dictionary says, is confidence in one's worth or abilities.

It is a specifically positive thing.

You can have greater self-esteem than your sister, and your self-esteem can grow or shrink based on how well you score, say, on the SAT.

But you can't have negative self-esteem.

Compare self-esteem to a glass of milk. Some days you'll be filled to the brim with self-esteem. Other days, your glass might be drained. But when it's empty, it's empty. You can't have negative milk.

Make sense?

Soundalikes

Many moons ago, Jeanne Christian of Huntley wrote to ask me to address one of her pet peeves: when people use the word "tenant" when they mean "tenet."

These words aren't exactly homophones, but when spoken fast or slurred they do sound similar.

As Jeanne notes, a "tenant" is one who occupies land or a building. A "tenet" is a principle, doctrine or belief held as truth.

What brought me to drag Jeanne's comment from the bottom of my reader mailbag was hearing someone during a meeting use "jive" when "jibe" was intended.

If two things "jibe," they agree.

"Jive" has a variety of definitions. As a noun, it's a dance or a form of slang. As a verb, it's to talk nonsense.

I'm not jiving you.

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is vice president/managing editor of the Daily Herald. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com. Put Grammar Moses in the subject line.