Discussion Groups / English Usage / November 2006

Common terms.

What about it?

  ************* DAVE HATUNEN (hatunen@cox.net) *************
   *       Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow         *
   * My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Sloppy form.  First, the man may be in "a" condition, but--unless we
are referring to his physical fitness--he is not "in condition."
Second, the condition he is in is that his life is threatened: it is
not the condition that is doing the threatening.  If we were doing this
strictly, it would be "The man remains in a life-threatened condition."

That said, the form is common usage, approaching idiom (save for the
neglected indefinite article).  Like many horrors of the modern tongue,
large and small, it arises from the desire for a set phrase that can be
unthinkingly dropped into a sentence on the theory that it's close
enough for folk music.  Something like "but the man's life remains in
[optional adjective] danger" might require an extra 0.31 seconds of
thought, and that, apparently, cannot be tolerated in the Age of Haste.

Don't worry. He probably won't kill too many people, given the state he
is in.

--
Regards
John
for mail: my initials plus a u e
at tpg dot com dot au