That’s the whole gambit.
From across the room, I throw a slipper at the TV. No, no I don’t. Is this a case of remarkable self-discipline? Of mature emotional control? Of respect for basic norms of civil behaviour?
No. I’m not wearing slippers.
Instead, I throw a dirty look at the talking head. Whole gambit indeed. Here’s what Merriam-Webster has to say about gambit:
If I may summarize/paraphrase/editorialize: A gambit is a move in a game. The game of chess, the game of conversation, the game of life. Note the absence of any scintilla of meaning related to full range or scope. There’s a reason for that and it’s pretty simple: There’s another word for that concept. Here again is Merriam-Webster, this time on gamut:
1: the whole series of recognized musical notes
2: an entire range or series
Gambit for gamut. You can see how the one word could come to be used for the other, especially if people know them only through the spoken word. On the other hand, the substitutions all go the one way. I’m pretty sure that I’ve never heard anyone use gamut for gambit.
His chessboard gamuts were legendary.
In academic circles, she had a reputation for witty gamuts.
Their actions were not off-the-cuff;
on the contrary, they were clearly well-considered gamuts.
Yeah no.
Now that we’re here, let’s go all the way and straighten out this business of adding “whole” or “entire” to a word that already includes that idea.
Her songs cover the whole gamut of country music.
Their tactics represent the entire gamut of political tricks.
A whole whole series? An entire entire range? Yeah no. Gamut: That’s it, that’s all (literally), at least this year. Who knows what usage Merriam-Webster will document next year?
In the meantime, in the here-and-now, to the talking heads on TV, I say this: With respect to gamut, it’s your gambit. Just make your calculations carefully: Next time I might be wearing slippers. That’s my whole gamut gambit.
Isabel-take your editor’s hat off for a moment and remember that repetition is sometimes used for emphasis, as in “whole gamut”. In other cases it is just a lack of knowing basic English.
John – Yeah, I’ll give you the emphasis possibility. This is one of the ways the language changes – it starts so innocently! 🙂
I would need the gamut of slippers in a footwear store to throw at the TV or at the computer monitor for the sorts of mistaken use of words you illustrate that assault my ears almost daily. More galling is the sorry fact that many of these come from the lips of news reporters, who used to revere language even when they innovated in their use of words and occasionally coined a new one.
Laurna – 🙂 You alert me to the fact that I’ve never seen “gamut” used to market anything, to my memory. Get your gamut of cutlery/soups/t-shirts here! What fun that would be.
Isabel
So the whole gamut of your repertoire includes dirty looks and slippers…and you chose the dirty look to throw rather than the slipper. Sounds risky!
Tom
Tom – 🙂 I like to think I have more gambits than just two, but I agree that any response can be dangerous.