COMMONLY MISUSED ENGLISH WORDS, PHRASES & TENSES 10

April 1, 2021

(1) TODAY’S WORD: “BEHOOVE (BEHOVE)”

2) NBB INFOTAINMENT: “MR. FIX-IT” BY DENNIS BROWN

Greetings, folks!

Welcome to this Edition of NBB’s “COMMONLY MISUSED ENGLISH WORDS, PHRASES, & TENSES” series. The word of the day is BEHOOVE, which is also spelt and said as BEHOVE (with single ‘o’). A phrase with it goes thus: IT BEHOOVES (BEHOVES) ME, YOU, THEM, OR US…” to do ‘X,’ ‘Y,’ or ‘Z.’ In other words, it behooves SOMEONE to do SOMETHING, whatever the ‘X’ ‘Y’ or ‘Z’ stands for.

Behoove means to be ESSENTIAL or DUTIFUL or NECESSARY or IMPORTANT, or PROPER, or even OBLIGATORY to do something. Example: It’s Adamu who insisted that we must use Emma for the project despite our objection. And, now Emma has duped us; and it behooves Adamu to refund our money.

Mind you, the definition of ‘behoove/behove’ is not the main purpose of this blog, no sir, no ma’am! If you use the word, I believe that you, most likely, know the meaning. Hence, a common error that I have observed in phrases or sentences with the word is my issue here. And, my thematic question is: Do you say “It behooves Adamu to refund our money,” or do you say “It behooves ON Adamu to refund our money?”

Most often, I hear people say “It behooves ON Adamu to refund our money,” and, this is NOT CORRECT. There is no need for the word ‘on’, after ‘behoove.’ The proper usage is: “It behooves Adamu to refund our money.” This blog was inspired this morning when I heard this error again on TV.

I trust, that you trust, that I ain’t bullshitting ya, meeeeeeeeeen!!!

NBB INFOTAINMENT: “MR. FIX-IT” BY DENNIS BROWN:

You know, I may not be perfect, and it’s okay by me, since no mortal is. Nevertheless, with this little series on COMMONLY MISUSED ENGLISH WORDS, PHRASES, AND TENSES, I try my best to FIX some of the common everyday errors in English grammar. It does not necessarily behoove me to complement my effort with music, but, hey, it gladdens my heart to do so, and who am I to say ‘no’ to the feelings of my heart. And, to complement my grammatical fixing job today, I bring you “Mr. Fix-it,” a song by Jamaican “Lovers Rock” Reggae artist, Dennis Brown.

Dennis Brown’s first recorded single song was “No Man is an Island,” released when he was only 12 years of age, late in 1969. Before that, he already had “Lips of Wine,” but it was never recorded. Thereafter, Brown had tons of hit songs, including “Money In My Pocket,” which was released in 1972 at his age of 16, and it later established his international reputation. “Mr. Fix it” was also published in the 1970s. Brown was born on February 1, 1957 in Kingston Jamaica, and he died on July 1, 1999.

Whereas I try to fix some English common grammar errors on this series, this song of Dennis Brown’s says that Dennis was a fixer of lovers’ problems. Basically, if you were lonely due to a fallout with your lover, or you’re being mistreated by your lover; not to worry, just pick up your doggone phone and give him a shout, and he would be right there to fix your problem. Mind you, Dennis the lover-boy was not a “battyman,” so he was only talking to women, and definitely not men…if you catch my drift, meeeeeeeeen!!! 😁😁

And now, here is Dennis Brown with “Mr. Fix-it” for ya!!!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRoQD6MF5mc

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