Grammar Moses: To be, or not to be: that is a dilemma

To be, or not to be: that is both the question and Hamlet's dilemma.

As the Danish prince contemplates suicide in his soliloquy, he weighs two lousy options: to continue to live and suffer the pain of love, the betrayal of his mother and the hatred for his father's murderer (his uncle and new stepdad); or to die and risk the uncertainties of death and the possibility of dreaming about all of the above for eternity.

He faces what, in his mind, are two untenable choices.

And that is the definition of a "dilemma."

Here are a few things that are not dilemmas:

• Choosing between a slab of chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream and a double cheeseburger might seem a dilemma to a nutritionist, but it's a win-win to me.

• Choosing from among Jimmy Butler, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, James Harden and Kyrie Irving to play on your team against your high school buddies. A dilemma (see prefix di-) is a choice between two bad things -- not between a half dozen amazing things.

• Choosing between a ticket to "Hamilton" or a speeding ticket requires no hand-wringing whatsoever, unless you're a devout anti-Federalist or you're trying to score a date with a cute bailiff.

Making a difficult choice among several bad things would be better described as a "quandary," a "predicament" or a "pickle." All carry an element of anxiety.

Making a choice from among amazing basketball players or chocolate cake or cheeseburgers would be best described as "toss-ups."

I apologize if that last term got a little too technical.

In or into?

Larry Boisen of Lake Zurich tells me that Americans have a bad habit of using "in" when "into" is the correct word.

"You don't look in a mirror. 'In' is synonymous with 'inside,'" he wrote. "If you say you looked for a hammer in the garage, that means you were inside the garage looking around. If you say that you looked into the garage and saw that your wife's car was still there, that means you opened the door and peeked 'into' the garage."

Correctamundo.

Stay close

Kim Killackey of Mundelein was at Denver International Airport and shot a photo of an interesting fire door, if there can be such a thing.

Husband Shawn said, "If it's a fire door, I don't think I want it kept 'close,' but I can keep it 'closed' if that's what they mean," Shawn wrote.

I would want to keep a fire door close only for the instant it took me to use it and get the heck away from the fire.

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is vice president/managing editor of the Daily Herald. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com. Put Grammar Moses in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim at facebook.com/baumannjim.