Turns of phrasestrictly editorial

November 6, 2006

I bumped into a phrase, came to a sudden stop, and now watch as instincts and inclinations and second guesses battle it out. The fighting's ugly. They're debating how best to juxtapose danger and corrupt and illegitimate. I've turned to intercessors.

Most prominent was the conviction that ideological movements of all sorts had revealed themselves to be highly dangerous, let alone corrupt and illegitimate, as bases of political regimes.

Garner says that let alone used to mean not to mention. (What on earth does "used to mean" mean? Does it no longer mean that? Does it mean something entirely different now?) Bernstein discusses it in relation to leave along, saying it can and should exclusively mean allow to go undisturbed. (This doesn't help at all.) Fowler 2 notes that it equates to not to mention, that it was once deemed colloquial by OED, and that it now has literary status. (This doesn't help much and I've never been impressed by ostensible status.)

Should things be left as they are? Might things be changed? No. Yes. In that order.

We will go with ...

Most prominent was the conviction that ideological movements of all sorts had revealed themselves to be highly dangerous—and often enough corrupt and illegitimate—as bases of political regimes.

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