Happy belated vernal equinox! Monday marked the official day, but we’re only a couple of days off, so there’s still plenty of time to celebrate.

But what is an equinox, why do people celebrate it, and what are they celebrating?

The equinox happens twice each year when the amount of daylight and nighttime are about equal in length. The first equinox (the vernal or spring equinox) occurs around March 21 (the date can vary slightly). It doesn’t only represent the first day of spring, it is symbolic of rebirth and fertility. The autumnal equinox occurs, you guessed it, at the beginning of autumn, around September 21 and it is has long been considered a time to give thanks for a plentiful harvest.

According to Dictionary.com, “…an equinox doesn’t last for a full 24 hours. Technically speaking, an equinox is one of the two specific moments in time when the sun is exactly above the celestial equator…the word equinox comes from the Latin aequinoctium, meaning ‘the time of equal days and nights,’ from equi-, meaning ‘equal,’ and nocti-, meaning ‘night.’”

The equinox has been celebrated by many different cultures for centuries. According to Parade.com, the Mayan people used to “…publicly gather on the equinox to watch the sun make shadows against the Pyramid of Kukulcan or El Castillo. The shadows are said to resemble a large, moving snake that descends down the pyramid throughout the afternoon as the sun moves.”

The vernal equinox is still celebrated as a secular holiday around the world. In Japan it has been a national holiday called Shunbun no Hi since 1948. Parade.com says, “People celebrate by cleaning their homes to signify a new start or rebirth, visiting their childhood homes, and/or visiting and cleaning off the gravesites of their beloved departed.”

In Iran, this secular holiday is known as Nowruz, or the Iranian or Persian New Year. It marks the first day of the month, known as Farvardin, on the Iranian calendar. The celebrations last 13 days, and people often celebrate by jumping over a bonfire or by lighting fireworks.

Likewise, the autumnal equinox is still celebrated in many countries. An article called The Coolest Fall Equinox Traditions from Around the Worldsays that in Lithuania, they celebrate with markets that sell products of the latest harvest. In China and Vietnam, they celebrate the abundance of the summer harvest.

These days, most people think of the vernal equinox as the beginning of spring: tulips and daffodils are blooming, the rain is falling, the weather is slowly warming up. That’s plenty to celebrate. Happy spring!

Donna Bradley Burcher |Technical Editor, Advisory | jack henry™

8985 Balboa Ave. | San Diego, CA 92123

Pronouns she/her/hers

Symitar Documentation Services

About Editor’s Corner

Editor’s Corner keeps your communication skills sharp by providing information on grammar, punctuation, JHA style, and all things English. As editors, we spend our days reading, researching, and revising other people’s writing. We love to spend a few extra minutes to share what we learn with you and keep it fun while we’re doing it.

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Hello, dear people!

Last time, we discussed the word adage, a saying that (over time) becomes an acceptable truth. Today I’m going to continue my list of literary terms and examples. The word of the day is allegory. From Merriam-Webster, we have these definitions:

1: the expression by means of symbolic fictional figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human existence

also: an instance (as in a story or painting) of such expression

2: a symbolic representation

Now, that sounds a little bit like an adage just reading the description. In some resources, they also compare allegories to fables and parables. The real distinction here is the mention of symbolic fictional figures and that an allegory can be part of a story or painting. Think: visual. You can see a painting and you can create visuals in your head while you are reading an allegorical story. I think two examples that help to define this word are the book Animal Farm (by George Orwell) and The Hunger Games trilogy of movies or books.

From Grammarly.com:

One of the most famous examples of allegory is Animal Farm, by George Orwell. On its surface, Animal Farm is a story about farm animals that rebel against their farmer. The underlying story, however, concerns Orwell’s disillusionment with the Bolshevik Revolution and is an indictment of the Russian government.

Similarly, there are numerous internet resources (and someone’s dissertation) on why The Hunger Games is a political allegory for the American Revolution (or French Revolution or the gladiator Spartacus uprising against the Romans). The primary message is that powerful people can do awful things, and that people must rebel to rebalance the scales.

I hope those examples help cement the concept of allegory in your noggins! I know that they did for me.

For more allegory examples and some notes on the different kinds of allegory you might find in books, movies, or songs, see SmartBlogger.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day, so today I thought I’d do an article on something Irish. My first thought was an article about different words the Irish use to talk to their beloved; but then I remembered that several of you asked for pronunciation guides for new or difficult to pronounce words. I looked for some of the words in the collection of Irish love language, but I didn’t find much help, so I moved on. I found something different to share with you instead! The following names and information are from an article “10 awesome Irish names you’re probably pronouncing wrong,” by Chantal Ford. Here you are:

Think your name is hard to pronounce properly? It’s about time you took Gaelic for a spin…

Traditional Irish names are notorious for appearing really difficult to pronounce, but, just like Ireland they’re beautiful, mysterious, and shrouded in mythology. Here are ten names to practice before you visit the Emerald Isle:

· Caoimhe

Pronounced: Key-va

Meaning: Gentle

· Niamh

Pronounced: Neev

Meaning: Radiant

· Seamus

Pronounced: Shay-muss

Meaning: Supplant (replace)

English version: James

· Sioban

Pronounced: Shiv-awn

Meaning: God is gracious

English version: Shevaun, Shavon, Chevonne

· Máirín

Pronounced: Maw-reen

Meaning: Star of the sea

English version: Maureen

· Tadgh

Pronounced: Tyge

Meaning: A poet

English version: Timothy

· Síle

Pronounced: Shee-la

Meaning: Musical

English version: Sheila

· Pádraig

Pronounced: Paw-drig or paw-rick

Meaning: Nobly born

English version: Patrick

· Aoife

Pronounced: Eee-fah

Meaning: Beauty, radiance

English version: Eva

· Eoghan

Pronounced: Ow-an

Meaning: Young fighter

English version: Owen

These names reminded me of a short (one-minute) Stephen Colbert conversation with Saoirse (Seer-sha) Ronan. She gives him a pronunciation lesson on some of the same names.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEgSU5RU2Xo

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Good morning, readers!

I received an email from one of you a few months ago, asking me for additional information on several terms, such as adage, idiom, fable, and others. You wanted to know if these terms could be used as synonyms in some cases, and what you might call these things as a group. As a group, I’m going to lump them together as “literary terms.” Now for the hard part: defining each term and providing examples. Here are the terms I’ll cover over the next few weeks:

• adage
• allegory
• aphorism
• fable
• idiom
• maxim
• parable
• proverb

I’ve listed them alphabetically, but since some of them are so similar to each other, I may skip ahead or backtrack when I get to certain definitions. Hold on to your hats! We’re going for a ride!

I’ll start with the word adage. An adage is a saying that typically embodies a common observation. According to yourdictionary.com, it is a “wise saying that, over time, becomes widely accepted as a general truth.” Adages are sometimes described as a short proverb. Our first examples of adages are from Aesop’s Fables:

• Things are not always what they seem.
• Appearances often are deceiving.
• Familiarity breeds contempt.
• Slow and steady wins the race.

Another good resource for adages is the bible. Here are a few from the yourdictionary.com website:

• A leopard cannot change his spots.
• This is nothing more than a drop in the bucket.
• There is no peace for the wicked.
• Pride goes before a fall.
• A soft answer turns away wrath.
• The truth shall set you free.

Next week, we’ll discuss allegories!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Good morning to you! It’s early here in San Diego, and I haven’t had my tea yet, but it looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day. if you’re ready, let’s jump right in.

We all want to sound like we know what we’re talking about. We want to sound authoritative—especially in professional environments. However, too often when writing, people believe that more words or bigger words will make them sound smarter, and they use these words and phrases at the risk of making their writing less clear.

One example of this is the simple phrase as well as. Many people use as well as and and interchangeably. However, they are not synonymous. I’ll give you an example of incorrect usage and some further explanation. This comes from the English Language Help Desk website:

Incorrect Example: Swedish is spoken in Sweden, as well as in parts of Finland.

Why is this incorrect? Because although you may not have learned this in school (I certainly didn’t!), the phrase as well as, places more emphasis on the phrase that comes before as well as. The phase used in the example actually means that Swedish is spoken not only in parts of Finland, but also in Sweden. (What a surprise!) To use as well as correctly in that sentence, it should read “Swedish is spoken in parts of Finland as well as in Sweden.”

On the other hand, the word and suggests that all words and phrases in a sentence are of equal importance. For example, “I love traveling and hiking.” I love them both equally.

And one last thing, when you do use as well as in a sentence, remember that the verb must agree with the noun proceeding it.

Correct example: Tea as well as coffee is popular in the UK.

Enjoy the rest of your day. 😊

Donna Bradley Burcher |Technical Editor, Advisory | jack henry™

8985 Balboa Ave. | San Diego, CA 92123

Pronouns she/her/hers

Symitar Documentation Services

About Editor’s Corner

Editor’s Corner keeps your communication skills sharp by providing information on grammar, punctuation, JHA style, and all things English. As editors, we spend our days reading, researching, and revising other people’s writing. We love to spend a few extra minutes to share what we learn with you and keep it fun while we’re doing it.

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Hello!

As promised last week, here is the second half of the alphabet (MZ) and examples of these letters being silent in certain words. For the full article you can see Every Letter Is Silent, Sometimes.

N

Like silent b‘s, silent n‘s tend to come at the ends of words and after m: autumn, column, damn, hymn, limn, solemn. While this might suggest to some that m is a little too accommodating, we would never anthropomorphize letters in such a way.

O

There is the flagrant excess of letters in enough, rough, and tough, where o is among several who have no place being there. Then there is the formerly mentioned ruffian colonel, in which neither o behaves properly and the second o doesn’t even bother to try. But in addition to those we then also have jeopardy, leopard, and people. We’ll let you draw your own conclusions about o.

P

P is silent before n in a selection of somewhat technical terms, such as pneumonia and pneumatic. And it’s silent before s in a different selection of words such as psalm, psyche, and psychology. It boldly says nothing in corps and coup and receipt. In some pronunciations of comptroller it somehow convinces m to join with it in dissembling; the two there impersonate n.

Q

Q tends to function wholly aboveboard as an upstanding member of the alphabet. Most of us are fortunate to encounter its dereliction in lacquer only occasionally.

R

R exists in forecastle [KC Pronounced fk-sel.] only to mock landlubbers. It exists in February only to make us suffer.

S

S is a mostly-reliable letter. Its failings are limited largely to aisle, apropos, debris, isle, and island. We cannot, however, overlook its participation in the hot mess that is bourgeois.

T

T refuses to be audible in ballet, castle, listen, and whistle. In asthma it conspires with h to shun its usual duties.

U

U may appear reasonable, but evidence to the contrary is not difficult to find: build, catalogue, dialogue, colleague, guard, guess, laugh, league, tongue. Note that the second and third of these words have attempted eviction and are meeting with significant success: catalog and dialog are both fully accepted variant spellings.

V

V is at this point the only letter that refuses to be unheard in any established word of the language. And yet a dark cloud gathers on the horizon: in late May 2017 a much-followed and likely sleep-addled Twitter user tweeted out what was clearly a partially developed composition. The internet seized on the enigmatic final wordcovfefeand discussed it ad nauseam. Of the myriad pronunciations suggested for this non-word, several of the strongest contenders had a silent v.

W

W yields all power to the r that follows it in wrack, wraith, wrangle, wrap, wreath, wren, wrench, wrestle, wrinkle, wrist, writ, write, wrong, and wrought. As if that lot were not enough, w with no apparent logic whatsoever sits idly silent in answer, sword, two, and who as well.

X

We will admit to some small appreciation of x‘s discretion in its orthographic indiscretion. Its silence seems perhaps calculated in faux and faux pas.

Y

We cannot blame y for its gratuitous presence in beyond. The letter may, in fact, believe itself to be essential in the word. It cannot be ignored, however, that the word would reasonably have its same pronunciation if it were spelled "beond," "beeond," or "be-ond."

Z

There will surely be attempts to blame the French, and yet the following have been fully established members of the English language for centuries now: chez, laissez-faire, and rendezvous. We cannot look the other way, Z.

And there you have it! English is a bit crazy and also completely fascinating. I hope you enjoy your day!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editors Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Good morning, folks!

I was looking around for something interesting to share with you today, and I found this article, Every Letter Is Silent, Sometimes. Now and then, Donna and I challenge you with frequently misspelled words or we discuss the oddities of English, but I don’t know that we’ve ever covered this topic. I had to read more to see if the folks at Merriam-Webster could prove that all 26 of our letters are occasionally hushed. I’m dividing the list in half so you can savor the silence over a couple of days.

A

The a in bread (as well as in tread) does nothing. You might as well spell it bred except that then it looks too much like the past tense of breed. So don’t do that. A is similarly indefensible in aisle and aesthetic.

B

Most silent b‘s come at the ends of words and just after m: bomb, climb, comb, crumb, dumb, lamb, limb, numb, plumb, thumb, tomb. Just when one starts to feel comfortable with the relative regularity of these, debt and subtle show up like a couple of toughs.

C

C may as well cede all power to s in words like science and scissors, but we’ll also point out that it’s not doing much of anything in acquire, indict, or muscle.

D

D is shirking its auditory duties in handkerchief and mostly doing the same in handsome. Its appearance in Wednesday can only be seen as some kind of cruel joke.

E

The word sleeve has an excessive number of e‘s. We’re saying it right now. Sleve or sleev would work fine, but English does not like to leave v‘s on the ends of words; it props them up with e‘s, as though they’d fall over otherwise. That v habit explains, then, words like leave and give, but there’s no excusing the e in words like imagine.

F

While some people do in fact pronounce the second f in fifth, the first pronunciation given in our dictionary is the one that omits it. Overall, however, f is to be commended for its performance generally. We’d give it an A, if we were on speaking terms with that letter.

G

G has no business being in sign nor phlegm, as far as the modern reader is concerned. It obviously doesn’t care. This callousness is also evident in that slew of gn- words: gnarl, gnash, gnat, gnaw, gnostic, gnu. It can be no surprise, then, that g also participates in the likes of such offenses as high, though, and through.

H

The h‘s at the beginning of heir, honest, and honor have nothing to say. Neither do the ones in rhyme and ghost. That h makes a contribution of a sort in the second syllable of rhythm only goes so far in repairing the letter’s record.

I

I doesn’t do a blessed thing in business, except to be impersonated by the u in the first syllable. It also does no discernible good in suit, which in a decent orthographic system would be spelled soot.

J

Some of you may be happy to know that we have at this point only one English word in which the j is silent: marijuana.

K

The silent k in an assortment of common words demonstrates a callousness for beginner spellers especially: knee, knife, knight, knit, knob, knock, knot, know, knuckle.

L

The most indecent of the silent l words is surely colonel. The word sounds identical to kernel, which is an honorable, respectfully spelled word. L is also silent in could, should, would, as well as in calf and half, and in chalk, talk, walk, and for many people in calm, palm, and psalm.

M

One can get through much of life never encountering m in its silent form. By the time a person is ready for a word like mnemonic they have likely come to accept the vagaries of silent letters.

There you have the first half of alphabet and the examples. Next time, we’ll finish the list with silent examples of N–Z. Once you’ve seen that, you’ll be ready for the next trivia night at your local TGIF!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Good morning, friends!

Recently, I took a DNA test. It was a gift from my husband for my birthday. We both took tests years ago, and my results were that I was a huge part (more than 60%) Indigenous American. Have you seen me? I am pretty darn white. Not only that, but my parents also told us kids we were Irish, Welsh, British, Slovak, and German. Anyway, there were some secret ingredients in me, but no Indigenous American according to 23 and Me.

It did get me thinking about family names in my past, though. And then I stumbled on this article at Trivia Genius. It’s about surnames. I’d love to share some of the information with you.

First, surname: this is also sometimes referred to as your family name. When you look around the world, however, not every country uses surnames like the United States. According to the article, many people in Mongolia don’t have surnames, in Hungary, what we would call the “last name” comes first. In Iceland, a surname can change with each passing generation.

The article is about the 20 most common surnames. Since China and India would fill all of the top spaces because of the populations, the article took a sampling across the world and provided these results.

Nguyen (24.5 million)

About 2,100 years ago, China conquered present-day Vietnam. At the time, the Vietnamese didn’t have surnames, which was a problem for the Chinese, who wanted to keep track of their new vassals. So they started handing out surnames. One of those names was Ruan, which would evolve into Nguyen. “It seems likely that some mid-level Chinese bureaucrat, in seeking to figure out who actually lived in his newly conquered Vietnamese territory, simply decided that everyone living there would also be named Ruan — which became Nguyen,” writes Dan Nosowitz at Atlas Obscura.

Johnson (3.1 million)

This surname owes its popularity to the New Testament. The given name John is one of the most popular in Christian world, and for good reason — the Bible is chock-full of beloved Johns: John the Apostle, John the Baptist, and John the Evangelist to name a few. The spread of Christianity helped make John one of the most popular first names in the western world. When patronymic surnames became popular in the Middle Ages, Johnson became an obvious frontrunner — and it hasn’t looked back. It’s now the second most common surname in the United States.

Ivanov (2.5 million)

A leading surname in Bulgaria — and a top contender in other Eastern European countries — is basically a Slavic version of “Johnson.” That’s because Ivan is a mere translation of John, both of which trace back to the Greek name Ioannes, meaning “graced by Yahweh.” Variants such as Ivanov and Ivanovich basically mean “Son of Ivan,” whereas Ivanova is the most common feminization.

Rodriguez (9.2 million)

For Spanish surnames, the suffix -ez is patronymic. That is, anytime you see a Spanish name ending in -ez, the name means “son of.” The surname Rodriguez, for example,merely means “Son of Rodrigo.” It derives from the old Germanic name Hrodric, which loosely means “powerful ruler.” Back in the day, anybody in the Rodriguez clan could claim that he or she was related to a political bigwig.

Ali (29.8 million)

Ali ibn Abi Talib is something like Madonna or Prince: He’s so popular, people just know him by his first name — Ali. Both the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Ali was also the religion’s fourth caliph (circa 656 CE), or successor, to Muhammad. His followers would become the first Shia Muslims, who now account for 10 percent of all Muslims. Ali’s place in Islamic history has turned his name, which means “lofty” or “sublime,” into one of the most common surnames in the Arabic world, primarily in Pakistan and Somalia.

This is just a sampling of the article. If you want to read more, click here. The history of these names is fascinating.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Hello, and happy Thursday! As promised, today I’m serving up the second half of English idioms from around the world. If you have a favorite idiom, send it my way. I’ll compile a list to share with everyone.

I hope you enjoy these lively expressions and the rest of your day!

· My teacher is sitting on my head (my teacher is putting pressure on me). INDIA. In super-multilingual India, it’s not unusual for people to translate idioms from one language to another. This one comes from Hindi. My teacher’s really sitting on my head. He’s given us three essays to write by Monday.

· What’s for ye’ll no go past ye (what will be will be, qué será será) SCOTLAND. Don’t be fretting now, love. What’s for ye’ll no go past ye.

· Go for/out for a rip (go out for a drive somewhere and have a great time, usually with beer involved) CANADA. A: Hey buddy, wanna go for a rip? Just got the keys to my new truck. B: Hell, yeah!

· Out of whack (misaligned, wonky, broken, askew). US. Looks like you put those shelves up in a hurry! They’re a bit out of whack. In the UK, skew-whiff has a similar meaning.

· Lekker (cool, tasty, sexually attractive). SOUTH AFRICA. This word comes from Dutch via Afrikaans. A: Did you see that guy at the bar? B: I know, man – so lekker!

· Get off the grass (an expression of surprise or disbelief). NEW ZEALAND. A: Guess what! Jill and I are getting married. B: Get off the grass! I bet she thought you’d never ask her!

· Y’daft apeth (you idiot, you fool). MANCHESTER Don’t just stand there, y’daft apeth! Help me! Daft is a synonym of stupid and apeth comes from ha’p’orth, an abbreviation of halfpennyworth, i.e., an insignificant amount.

· Go to see a man about a dog (go to the toilet). UK. A: Are you leaving already? We’ve just ordered dessert. B: No, I’ll be right back. Just going to see a man about a dog. A good example of British reticence when it comes to talking directly about anything vaguely awkward.

· What’s occurrin’? (How are you?) WALES. This is a typical way to greet someone in the country, a little like What’s up?

· Bob’s your uncle (that’s all there is to it/that’s all it takes) VARIOUS. It’s really easy to use. Just plug it in, push this button, and Bob’s your uncle!

Donna Bradley Burcher |Technical Editor, Advisory | jack henry™

8985 Balboa Ave. | San Diego, CA 92123

Pronouns she/her/hers

Symitar Documentation Services

About Editor’s Corner

Editor’s Corner keeps your communication skills sharp by providing information on grammar, punctuation, JHA style, and all things English. As editors, we spend our days reading, researching, and revising other people’s writing. We love to spend a few extra minutes to share what we learn with you and keep it fun while we’re doing it.

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Good morning, all. While happily scrolling through articles about language, I hippity-hopped down a rabbit hole about idioms, and I found a wonderful article called 21 Unusual English Expressions from Around the World. I love idioms—they bring language to life, and sometimes they reveal surprising secrets.

Today and Thursday, I want to share the idiom joy. Like many languages, English is spoken around the world, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that these English idioms are coined in some unexpected places. Not only do they come from the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, but some come from India and Singapore. I hope you get as much pleasure from these gems as I do. Since I’m sharing 20 of them (one was a bit too racy to include), I will give you half today and half next time. Enjoy!

· An omnishambles (something that has been managed or has turned out badly in every possible way) UK. First they mixed our rooms up, then the toilet flooded, and when we finally got to the beach it started raining. The entire holiday was an omnishambles!

· Go off like a frog in a sock (go berserk, go crazy). AUSTRALIA. Blimey, mate – if she sees the mess you’ve made, she’ll go off like a frog in a sock.

· A Bronx cheer (a loud sound, like blowing a raspberry, that expresses derision or contempt). NEW YORK. The crowd let out an enormous Bronx cheer when the quarterback fumbled the ball a second time.

· Catch no ball (I don’t understand) SINGAPORE. Tell me that again. Catch no ball, lah.

· Do the needful (do whatever you need to do to make it happen). INDIA. This plaintive little expression might come in handy if you ever need to deal with bureaucracy in India, where it’s often used in formal emails.

· The whole nine yards (everything available, everything possible, the whole way). US. The scholarship covers course fees, accommodation, even some living expenses – honestly, the whole nine yards!

· Donkeys’ years (a very long time). LONDON I haven’t seen Jeff in donkeys’ years. Although widely understood around the world, this expression really has nothing to do with the lifespan of donkeys at all. It’s actually an example of Cockney rhyming slang – donkey’s ears for years – that has been misinterpreted. [dbb – the origins of this one surprised me! My spouse sometimes uses this phrase, and he is from London where Cockney rhyming slang originates. Even he didn’t know this idiom
started out as rhyming slang.]

· I don’t give rocks (I don’t care at all). SOUTH AFRICA. I don’t give rocks what you think! I’m doing it anyway.

· Pack a sad (throw a tantrum). NEW ZEALAND. Don’t tease him like that or he’ll pack a sad. You know what he’s like.

· Put the heart crossways in someone (give someone a fright, a heart attack). IRELAND. Don’t be sneaking up on me like that, will you? You put the heart crossways in me.

Have a lovely day!

Donna Bradley Burcher |Technical Editor, Advisory | jack henry™

8985 Balboa Ave. | San Diego, CA 92123

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Symitar Documentation Services

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