A usage error borne of misunderstanding has nearly replaced correctness with a caricature. I am not referring to rending/rendering, made popular by fresh-faced local news reporters standing before “heart-rendering” scenes of depravity and destruction (rendering a heart, of course, would involve sketching it on paper or cooking it to release any fats contained within); rather it is the unfortunate substitution of tact for tack. To review:
- tact
- Acute sensitivity to what is proper and appropriate in dealing with others, including the ability to speak or act without offending.
- tack
- (too many definitions to list here, but we are interested in the nautical:) The act of changing from one position or direction to another.
- (and:) A course of action meant to minimize opposition to the attainment of a goal.
- (also:) An approach, especially one of a series of changing approaches.
Someone once asked, “What tact should we take in our argument?” and probably didn’t mean “What sensitivity should we take,” but rather “What approach/direction should we take?” Like -rendering, tact sounds bigger, slightly more impressive, and people speaking of tact are often assumed to have it. It is important to have tact when choosing a tack, in these days of office-bound arguments and limited nautical experience. By all means, use the words together. But please, take a tack with tact, and know the difference when you do so.
