Once again our maverick McCain refused to abide by the dictates of the English language. He committed an impressive number of rhetorical mistakes tonight, given the amount of time he spent repeatedly calling the audience of undecided voters “my friends.”

He may have been in the presence of purported friends, but McCain sure couldn’t get his subjects and verbs to agree. Early in the debate, he said Americans know that the “home values of retirees continues to decline.” If we’re talking about values, plural, we need a plural verb, continue. Later, the old guy said, “My efforts and my judgment, I think, is something I’m willing to stand on.” Again we’ve got multiple subjects in need of a plural verb, are. When McCain did use are, it didn’t work. He said, “The security of your young men and women who are serving in the military are my first priority.” To determine the subject, disregard the remainder of the prepositional phrase, “of your young men and women who are serving in the military.” The subject is security, which is singular. The security of our young people is my first priority, McCain should’ve said.

The Mav made a few poor word choices, too. At one point he said, “With the plan that I have, that will do that.” Eek! Three thats and no clear subject. He should’ve said, “Under my plan, I will do that,” or “we will correct that.”

He poured on the empathy while addressing one audience member, saying, “I can see why you feel that cynicism and mistrust.”

In some cases, the prefix dis- differs in meaning substantially from the prefix mis-. Disbelief, for example, means shocked incredulity, while misbelief describes an erroneous belief.

In other cases, the difference lies in a nuance. Disinformation, for instance, means deliberately false information, while misinformation means incorrect information, implying no hint of malice. (Media-hating Gov. Palin would accuse that lefty press of disseminating disinformation.)

Mistrust and distrust are similar in meaning. But distrust would’ve been a better word choice for The Mav. Mistrust implies an uncertainly or uneasiness, which works OK. Distrust, though, implies suspicion or wariness based on an informed judgment, such as a lengthy track record. If you want suspicion to be part of the mix — and there is ample suspicion about the reasons for our financial woes — use distrust. It’s especially apt if that suspicion is based on a clear, upsetting track record, such as repeated cases of mismanagement and greed on Wall Street.

The Mav talked about hostile foreign leaders, saying “we can effectively abridge their behavior.” To abridge means to shorten by omissions while retaining the basic contents. Hence, the appeal of abridged textbooks (and the fright of unabridged ones.)

You can alter behavior. You can curb aggression. You even can shorten a protracted war. But you cannot abridge someone’s behavior. Hate to break it to ya, Mav. We know it sounded smart in your head.