A Small Point of Usage Concerning Those “Alternative Facts”

Kellyanne Conways factual sidestepping reflects a common grammatical confusion.
Kellyanne Conway’s factual sidestepping reflects a common grammatical confusion.PHOTOGRAPH BY MANUEL BALCE CENETA / AP

Never pass up a teaching moment.

Recently, some of my friends have spoken of “alternate facts,” and others of “alternative facts.”

There is traditionally a difference between the adjectives “alternate” and “alternative.” “Alternate,” as in, say, “alternate fact checker,” refers to a fact checker who takes turns with another fact checker: six months on, six months off. Think of the verb “to alternate”: “to perform by turns or in succession.”

“Alternative fact checker” would be a fact checker who was brought in instead of another fact checker. He or she would represent a choice. An alternative fact checker might wear a nose ring or a funky hat, or have special knowledge of a foreign culture, but the main thing is that he or she would get the job done.

I used to be a stickler for this point of usage, always changing “alternate route” to “alternative route,” although the shorter version is more often seen on road signs (“USE ALTERNATE ROUTE”). A writer of fantasy or science fiction might refer to an “alternate reality” (or parallel universe), and I would routinely change it to “alternative reality.” Not long ago, a writer objected to this, on the ground that “alternate reality” is common usage, and I caved. To paraphrase Noah Webster, there is no fighting common usage.

This week’s issue contains a piece by Raffi Khatchadourian about creating the technology for movies that allow a viewer to choose what a character does, thus altering the outcome of the story. It uses the phrases “alternate reality” and “alternate world.” In fact, the piece is titled “Alternate Endings.”

Language authorities would disapprove. How were we to know that the phrase “alternative facts” would come under such scrutiny over the weekend?

To clarify, if such a thing is possible: according to Webster’s, a fact is “something that has actual existence.” “Alternate facts” would refer to two facts in rotation with each other. They would still be facts. “Alternative facts” do not share that quality. They do not have actual existence. Alternative facts are delusions.

At least Kellyanne Conway got the usage right.


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