As I write these articles week after week, I have always needed a critic and editor. My wife usually reviews the article on Wednesdays, so I can submit a revised copy on Thursdays. I require someone who will provide more than a cursory look. As with most copyreaders of articles and books, Patti provides an in-depth review of the structure and logic, checks sentence structure and style, and assesses general consistency. You might be able to tell when she has not reviewed the article, as I tend to give a more cursory edit before submitting.
Cursory means rapidly and often superficially performed or produced. After the fire it was discovered that only a cursory inspection of the building’s electrical wiring was conducted.
Cursory was first used in English in the early 1600s. The word comes from the Latin cursorius, which described things that were swift or related to running. The Latin noun cursor, means runner. Eventually, the Latin cursorius moved from actual running to running over something quickly. This led to the English meaning of cursory as doing something too fast and without care.
If you are old enough to remember using a slide rule, you might recall the transparent sliding marker with a hairline. It was used to run back and forth across the length of the ruler over the various scales to pinpoint a specific number. The slide rule developers named it a cursor. Early computer engineers borrowed the term cursor for the visual cue that indicated position on computer screens. The cursor ran or moved across a line of text or display-grid to show the active position. Today it is hard to do anything on a computer without using the cursor. The mouse was developed to allow the cursor to move in unlimited directions.
Superficial, shallow, and cursory all imply lacking in depth.
Superficial suggests a concern with surface aspects or obvious features. He was not impressed with the home inspector they had hired as she only provided a superficial examination of the house.
Shallow is used in a more derogatory manner in implying lack of depth in knowledge, reasoning, emotions, or character. She was giving up on the dating scene because all of the men she met were shallow creeps.
Cursory indicates a lack of thoroughness or a neglect of details. The band cancelled the concert because the venue manager only gave the contract a cursory reading, thus missing some details, which implied his lack of trustworthiness for major items in the contract.
We have been taking an international flight to Japan at least once a year for the past 5 years. When going through airport security I have yet to encounter a procedure that gives a cursory check of carry-on baggage. With the aid of cabinet x-ray machines, flat shadow images of the inside contents are produced on a screen. Some airports use computed tomography scanners to take 3D X-ray pictures from many angles. Security staff can turn the 3D image around to look closely inside bags without opening it. This system is anything but cursory.
Cursory can be used in a positive and negative way. A cursory review of an article can be careless, missing small errors, and lazy. However, a cursory reading can be efficient, establish main idea flow, and be quite practical at times.
Once Patti has reviewed the article in a non-cursory manner and suggested changes, which I usually adapt, I do give a final cursory reading of my edited copy before emailing off to the publishers.
Columnist John Kreutzwieser loves to research words and has an interest in the usage, origin, and relevance of words for society today. Greek and Latin form the basis of many words, with ancient Hebrew shedding light on word usage.
John would like to know if anyone has a sincere interest in a relevant word that he could possibly research for an upcoming column. If so, please send your requests to wordwisdom2021@gmail.com. Words will be selected according to relevance and research criteria. We cannot confirm that all words will be used.
