'Don't judge a book by it's cover' said the ad copy; do you dig fiber media ... feuilleton?

Time magazine's 19 April edition led with "No Easy Options," the story of an eruption of Iraqi insurgency. Sentence 1 said, "The mosques of Fallujah were silent last week." Sentence 2 said, "There were no clerics left to call the faithful to prayer." Sentence 3: "Some of the minarets that rise above the city were bullet ridden and broken...."

Be careful with--ridden. American Heritage Dictionary IV reminds us that the adjective means dominated, harassed, or obsessed by ... disease ridden, grief-ridden. Time's writer should have checked the entry next below and discovered riddle: "1. to pierce with numerous holes; perforate: riddle a target with bullets...." Needed in this citation is either bullet-riddled or riddled with bullets.

A full-page ad in The New York Times magazine dated 18 April told readers about an "Amazing treasure discovery over 1,670 years in the making."

The body copy urged the reader to "Hold the glory of Rome in the palm of your hands." Seems a recent construction project in Turkey had uncovered a batch of old silver coins, and research suggested they had been used to pay gladiators still standing after the dance. Now I could buy one!

But two jarring notes stayed my hand on its flight to my wallet: 1) The opening sentence declared, "The old saying 'don't judge a book by it's cover' s more than just idle advice." Indeed it is that it's should be its, honoring the rule that pronominal adjectives do not take an apostrophe. 2) The lede's third sentence assured the reader that s/he can "put the glory and splendor of Ancient Rome into the palm of your hands!"

Yes, Richard Brinsley Sheridan in his play "The Rivals" 1775 wrote, "My valor is certainly going ... I feel it oozing out ... at the palm of my hands!... " But the reader deserves prose that does not jink or judder; she should be offered the palms of your hands or the palm of your hand. Too ate for Sheridan, but not for the rest of us.

This interesting cutline from the Boston Globe (4 May) may or may not evoke an inquiry: "Maria Shriver above will host an NBC special about injured animal trainer Roy Horn (below)." Um, is Mr. Horn a trainer of injured animals or an animal trainer who has been injured? Sometimes the judiciously placed hyphen can be only huge....

Also from the Globe is this 7 May fragment: "Both NBC and Fox will air rival reality shows next season centering around young boxers training together...." Observations?

Ted Bernstein's evergreen "The Careful Writer" (New York, Atheneum, 1972) displays center around as follows: " 'The strikers are at odds over their actual grievances, but these appear to center around the vacation provision of the contract.' The verb center means to be collected or gathered to a point. Therefore, one may use center on, center in, or center at, but should not use center around. If one has a particular fancy for the word around, he should precede it with revolve, rotate, cluster, or some similar word."

An occasional romp through the pages of your favorite dictionary--and sometimes in one you peruse less frequently--can produce some enriching adds to your language larder. I recently paged through my Microsoft Encarta College Dictionary, energized in 2001 by St. Martin's Press. Found fancy feuilleton,--quelle delight!--while on a mission to confirm the existence of fiber media. Whoa. First, feuilleton; "n 1 a section of a European newspaper containing reviews, serial fiction, and articles of general interest; 2 an article, review, or other piece published in a feuilleton.... " Something like an editorial published on the editorial page.

Phrase fiber media does live and is defined as "n the media that use paper, e.g., newspapers and magazines, as opposed to online publishing." Online or on-line means connected via computer and its c.v. is overlong for use here.

Come 14 July, keep an eye out for Allan Metcalf's new "Presidential Voices: Speaking Styles from George Washington to George W. Bush"; publisher is Houghton Mifflin. Metcalf examines the hidden influence of speechwriters and the changing media on how presidents present themselves to voters. Paperback ... 352 pages ... US$12.95.