Sanitized, Skunked and Still Wrong

A word that is sanitized ›refers to usage that at one time were verboten but now have become acceptable. In most cases, the formerly “correct” usage now sounds either too formal or just plan weird. Like ›can be skunked, sanitized and still wrong. This ›has not always been the case, but it is now acceptable to use like as a synonym for such as. For example, ›he plays basketball like a professional athlete.

A word that is skunked is when ›certain grammatical constructions should be avoided. The word only falls into this category. ›This adverb has to be placed directly in front of the word it is modifying. For instance, ›America only had only one more metal than Norway. The first only is crossed out because it is wrong.

A word that is still wrong is when ›certain grammatical mistakes are commonly made in spoken but not written English. The sports conditional is an example of this, and it is ›not exclusively found in sports context. The sports conditional is when ›athletes, fans and commentators drawn to phrase would have in considering scenarios that didn't happen. For example, ›[If King would have made that shot, the Bobcats would have won the game.] If King had made the shot, the Bobcats would have won the game. The sentence in brackets is wrong.

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