Posing under false pretexts, or pretenses?

JUNE CASAGRANDE

Since I began writing this column, people in my office regularly turn

to me with language questions that crop up in the day-to-day business

of working at a newspaper. (Shh. Don’t tell them why that’s a bad

idea.)

I almost always answer, which is bad, because I’m usually guessing

and passing off the speculation as certainty. Hey, it’s their fault

for trusting me.

But I couldn’t even fake a decent answer to a recent

noodle-scratcher posed by a reporter here. A press release she

received reported that a contest winner was lured to the office where

he would receive his prize “on the pretext that he would be

participating in a final interview session for the award.”

Pretext? Shouldn’t it be pretense, my colleague asked.

“Uh, um, yeah. Pretense definitely sounds better,” is basically

what I said, unable to admit I was too clueless to take a position.

Whenever you hear that pseudo-certain waver in someone’s voice --

that little-girl-whistling-in-the-dark-to-assure-

herself-she’s-not-afraid voice -- run like mad to the nearest

dictionary because you can be sure that you’re not in good hands.

Webster’s New World College Dictionary put me in my place.

According to Webster’s, the words are very similar, but “pretext”

seems the better choice.

Pretext: “a false reason or motive put forth to hide a real one.”

The first few definitions for pretense seem to have more to do

with being pretentious, for example, “a claim, esp. an unsupported

one, as to some distinction or accomplishment.” The word I’ll use to

help me remember this is “poser.” Poser is how we cool people say

someone’s a phony or fraud. Hey, I even thought of a little mnemonic

device to help: “the poser is tense.” Kind of like I was during the

original conversation during which I posed as someone qualified to

speak on the subject. “The poser is tense because she’s afraid she’ll

be exposed as a poser.”

Only in the fifth definition for pretense do we get to the overlap

with pretext: “a false reason or plea; pretext.”

Speaking of phonies, I recently made the always-regrettable

mistake of watching television news and came across this little

doozy.

On a trailer promoting a segment on CBS Evening News on

professionals with fake academic credentials, big, bold letters

splattered across my TV warned of “phoney degrees.”

Phoney.

I would expect such a mistake from a little tiny news agency, say

a small newspaper with a staff of six reporters in some coastal

community. But the CBS Evening News? That’s pretty bad.

Technically, the dictionary does permit “phoney” as an alternate

spelling of “phony,” but come on.

I guess there are some posers up in the big leagues, too.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

june.casagrande@latimes.com.