Grammar Moses: Someday I'd like to be a ... dontist?

If a medical professional who straightens teeth is an orthodontist and a medical professional who treats gums is a periodontist and a medical professional who treats abscesses is an endodontist, why isn't a medical professional who treats teeth a "dontist?"

Marty Robinson came up with that imponderable after reading last week's column about "abdominal" and "tendinitis."

I don't know, Marty. But I do know that it would have sounded even funnier to all of the stop-motion elves in Santa's workshop had Hermey the elf (the only one with hair on his head) proclaimed, "Someday, I'd like to be a dontist."

Heroics and heroism

Jamie Smith wrote to say that she has seen evidence of late that we don't have a good grasp of the difference between "heroics" and "heroism."

I searched through stories published this year and haven't found any misuse yet, but I might have missed something.

"Heroism" is just what you think it is: great bravery. The adjective "heroic" also is just what you think it is: something that exhibits heroism.

Here's where we run into trouble: The noun "heroics" is something quite different.

You'll see it used a lot in the sports pages - almost exclusively and quite correctly, from my research.

It's defined as "behavior or talk that is bold or dramatic, especially excessively or unexpectedly so."

Heroism is not required when you hit for the cycle or strike out 10 hitters in a row, but they're heroics just the same.

I am among many, though, who feel that the word "hero" is thrown around willy-nilly.

I don't believe going an entire day without chocolate is a good example of bravery, although it requires a resolve that is not within my reach.

I don't think going to the dentist is heroic, either, though I've seen my share of histrionics (heroics always carry a positive connotation) in neighboring dentist chairs. "Heroism" is exhibited by those who put others first to such a degree that they put themselves in extreme jeopardy. There is a selflessness factor.

Man, why didn't I write this for Memorial Day?

Table stakes

Someone - I can't remember who - asked me to provide a definition of "table stakes."

I think I know why.

Someone close to me refers to an assumed minimum level of job performance (such as a .175 batting average for a White Sox player or holding the door open for your grandma before you walk into Golden Corral) as "table stakes."

That is an emerging casual definition of it. But a table stake in gambling is the bet you make before the deal in poker that can't be changed.

Abbreviate and multiply

Jeff Reiter asked why, especially in an area of the newspaper that is so abbreviated and condensed, do we call runs batted in "RBIs" and not "RBI"?

"In the box scores, where every space is precious, being correct would have a payoff!" he wrote.

Good point, Jeff. Let's ask William Barr, Jeff Sessions and Loretta Lynch - you know, the last three AGs.

Runs batted in, attorneys general, prisoners of war and weapons of mass destruction all follow the convention of pluralizing acronyms to make clear we're talking about more than one of them. And clarity is king.

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. You also can friend or follow Jim at face-book.com/baumannjim.