“In fact, Trump appears to already be laying the rational for an election challenge — or at least the lack of a concession — if he loses next November.”
I’ll be honest. I want CNN to catch an error like this, and fix it, and quickly.
Rational is an adjective. It’s pronounced RASH-uh-null. It involves reason or sound judgment. You can talk about a rational way of approaching a problem. (Like Paul Simon retiring from touring, for example, to spend more time with his actual family, instead of with us.)
Rationale, on the other hand, is a noun. It’s from the French, so it’s pronounced rash-un-AL, rhymes with You can call me Al. It’s sort of a statement of principles; it’s a reasoning device. You can use a rationale to convince Paul Simon to start touring again.
(I am clearly not above using this blog to pursue my personal objectives. It’s emotional, I know — not entirely rational. But give me a compelling rationale to convince me otherwise.)
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P.S. Personal message to Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large: Chris … Shweethawt … This one first appeared on May 6, 2019. It was still there on Memorial Day weekend. I know there’s very little incentive for a major news organization to go back and fix errors in their archives, but this one embarrasses me.
English Is A Complicated Language 