Pennies for Palates

Imagine a professional in any field of endeavor and then imagine that professional chronically misspelling a key word in their trade language.  The offender would be dismissed as an amateur that had somehow infiltrated the ranks and everybody would continue about their business. 

However, in the realm of wine there is a frequent misuse and misspelling of a word that goes unchecked, the user continuing along their merry way without repercussion.

I feel like a young, curmudgeonly William Safire even though, with a book editor for a wife and a brother-in-law who is a professional writer, I get my own share of gentle nudges based on my assault of the English language – passive voice, the possessive and a couple of other bugaboos.

Yet, I can no longer cast a blind eye to the misuse of the word “palate” and the mistaken twins of, “pallet” and “palette.”

This misuse is a noxious and pervasive stinkweed in a field of online wine writing that goes largely unchecked allowing the offender to continue blithely unawares.  It’s everywhere.  And, it’s more omnipresent than another frequent misuse of a word:  compliment and complement.

Want proof?  Sequentially Google, “wine palate,” “wine palette” and “wine pallet.”  You’ll quickly see how insidious the incorrect usage of “palette” and “pallet” truly are.

What started out as a muse for me is now feeling like a compulsion to take on as a pet project.  Of course, instituting the grammar Gestapo is not akin to a resveratrol fueled cure for the gout, but, hey, we all want to make our mark on the world.

With that, I am now enacting a 30-day amnesty on the use of the incorrect word for palate and thereafter I will be setting up a donation mechanism, 100 pennies per offense. 

It’ll work something like this:  When the incorrect use of the word “palate” is seen online, the reader will contact the offender, indicate that they have been cited by “Pennies for Palates” and then direct them to a page where they can make a $1 donation.  It is like a swear jar on a large scale.  All proceeds will be donated to a still to be determined charitable cause – perhaps the Sonoma County Wine Library.

Please join me as a lieutenant in the fight for protecting the sanctity of the word “palate.”  In doing so, consider the following, “We tasted next to a pallet of wine.  The bouquet offered up a wonderful palette of aromas and the palate offered up more of the same.”  Or, “We tasted next to a palate of wine.  The bouquet offered up a wonderful pallet of aromas and the palette offered more of the same.”

Thank you, in advance, for joining me in a worthy cause.