Ask the English Teacher

What kind or Which kind?

Carla writes:
I have a question. Which are the differences between which kind, and what kind? I think the correct way is which kind. Also, interesting or intresting?

This was such a good question I really had to think about it for a few days. It seems to me that they're largely interchangeable--but not completely.

You can say "Which kind of ice cream would you like?" or "What kind of ice cream..." No real difference.

But a classic song is titled "What Kind of Fool Am I?" and it would sound odd as "Which Kind"! Same with "What kind of monster would do such a thing to a harmless puppy?"

The difference is that the last two questions are rhetorical--we don't really want someone to answer by saying what kind fool I am, or to name the kind of monster. We're really making a statement in the form of a question: I'm a fool. He's a monster.

So if you're asking a rhetorical question, use "What kind." If you really want to know the answer, use "Which kind" or "What kind."

As for your second question, it's interesting. That's two e's, so you can remind yourself of the correct spelling by telling yourself, "I can spell interesting with e's."

Crapspeak

Usually I post only visitors' question and my answers, but this story in The Globe and Mail is worth reading: Going forward, rise up against crapspeak. Here's an except, but you should read the whole thing:

More evidence that the worm turns: A positive rebellion is under way in Britain against the worst excesses of crapspeak, that cleverly metaphorical slang that corporate types and bureaucrats like to speak. (You know the guy who must always say “challenges” instead of problems, or “stakeholders” instead of customers; he's proficient in crapspeak.)

Recently, a decree went around to local authorities in England and Wales – town and county councils, mostly – from the body that governs them, forbidding use of a long list of popular crapspeak terms. The Local Government Association sent out a list last week of 100 “non-words” for councils to avoid.

According to The Associated Press, the list exhorted government officials to replace “revenue stream” with income and to avoid cryptic code words such as “coterminosity,” meaning an overlap of administrations.

“Stakeholder engagement” can easily be replaced by “talking to people,” the chairman of the association said.

Almost simultaneously, a writer for the BBC's online magazine posted a rant about the mindless cheeriness of the most popular catchphrases in business.

Lucy Kellaway is on a campaign against “going forward” in particular, which, as we have noted, is used by every inarticulate person who wants to make some reference to the future. She accuses business folk, with their optimistic blue-skying and reaching out, and leveraging, all their synergies and passionate commitments to visions, of being brainlessly upbeat.

“All the celebrating, the reaching out, the sharing, and the championing, in fact, grind one down,” she writes. “The reality is that business is the most brutal it has been for half a century.”

The rest of the Kellaway article is here, and you should read it also.

Whether you're a native English speaker, or learning English as a second or third language, you need to think about this problem. Yes, "crapspeak" is a rude word. But it's also an accurate word.