proper use of resonate

The caption for the CBS video is a bit unclear: “Katie Couric talks to Barack Obama’s senior advisor Valerie Jarrett about why she supports Obama’s campaign and the public’s perception of Michelle Obama.”

As it stands, this sentence implies that Ms. Jarrett talks about why she supports Obama’s campaign and why she supports the public’s perception of Michelle Obama. On the contrary, the advisor asserts that the public has a distorted view of the potential First Lady. The caption should read: “Katie Couric talks to Barack Obama’s senior advisor Valerie Jarrett about why she supports Obama’s campaign and how the public perceives Michelle Obama.” Or, more telling yet, “…and how the public misperceives Michelle Obama.”

Unfortunately, Jarrett doesn’t appear to have a stronger grasp of language. She tells Couric, “All different kinds of people resonate with Michelle when they have a chance to spend some time with her.”

Does this sound wrong to your ear? It should.

To resonate means to resound, to amplify vocal sound by the sympathetic vibration of air in certain cavities and bony structures. It is a technical term from physics that has become a buzzword. Many of us use it too freely.

Some linguists discourage the word altogether. Professor R. L. Trask insists, “Don’t use it.” But it is a common enough word that it can be used acceptably — if sparingly — to mean “to relate harmoniously, to strike a chord.” Just be sure the subject is the message that strikes a chord, not the person, and certainly not the audience, as Jarrett put it.

The next sentence she uttered was also problematic. “I don’t pay attention to the polls,” Jarrett told Couric, “I mean, I really pay attention to the audiences that react to her.” What the senior advisor meant to say is she pays attention to how audiences respond to Michelle Obama.

As we established in the Aug. 11 post about President Bush, a reaction is a sudden response to a stimulus. Of course, if audience members do indeed shriek, faint and vomit at the sight of Michelle, I’d pay attention to those reactions, too. Forget the polls: We’ve got people puking!