Writers Tricks of the Trade Issue 2 Volume 9 | Page 17

the client last night until he signed the
deal.”) and pretty soon you’ll be “dining”
lobster Newburgh. Then, as your descent
continues, you’ll be saying, “Honey, why
don’t we just dine some hamburgers at
home tonight?”
MORGAN: Hmmm. Never thought of it like
that. I mean we all say ‘Wine and Dine,’
don’t we?
MIKE: That’s just it. Let’s take a look at
“wine”. Of course, this is a noun, pure and
simple, and is paired with dine because of
the cutesy-poo rhyme. It would be way too
pedestrian to say “drink and eat with”, so
they transform “wine and dine” into a sin-
gle transitive verb, not only because it’s
much cooler sounding, but because they’re
luring you into their web of language mis-
use. That’s as subversive as it gets.
makes me immediately think of ‘whine.’
That’s a verb. Of course, you wouldn’t
‘Whine and Dine’ someone. This is making
my head hurt.
MIKE: Look at it this way. As for me, I’d just
as soon forget the dining. Just “wine” me. Or
better yet, “Irish whiskey” me.
BOOKS BY MIKE
MORGAN: Well, it’s certainly confusing, at
best, but I can definitely see that wine is not
a verb. However, with our crazy language
where something can sound the same but
has different spelling and meaning, it
BOOKS BY MORGAN
W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE
P AGE 12
S UMMER 2019