Editor's Corner

Here I am up in the Pacific Northwest again, working from my parents’ home. Over the weekend, I was lucky enough to hang out with my friend Liesel, my favorite buddy from high-school swim team. We met near the ferry she takes to Whidbey Island, from Mukilteo. I looked up Mukilteo and found out that the name means “good camping ground.”

I thought I’d look up some other city names from the area and see what they mean. For the complete, unedited list, you can click here. And my apologies to anyone that doesn’t like the term “Indian”; this article is full of it.

· Cle Elum: Salish term meaning “swift water.”

· Enumclaw: This was a traditional campsite for the Duwamish Indians. Translations of “Enumclaw” range from “place of evil spirits” (probably a European misconception of Native sacred places), “thundering mountain,” and “loud, rattling noise.”

· Issaquah: The hunting and fishing ground of the Snoqualmie Indians. According to some accounts, the Indians called the area “Ishquoh” which may have meant “the sound of the birds.” When pronounced in Indian, the word has a glottal stop which English-speakers have difficulty with and so they pronounced it as “squak” In 1899, the town was officially designated as Issaquah.

· Newhalem: Based on a Salish word which means “goat snare.”

· Okanogan: Based on the Salish word “okanagen” which means “rendezvous.”

· Quilcene: This was originally the home of the Twana Indians who apparently called it Kwil-sid. The name may mean “salt water people.”

· Salkum: Probably means “boiling up,” which refers to a section on the Cowlitz River where the falls are located.

· Seattle: is named for Suquamish Chief Sealth.

· Sequim: Located in the homeland of the S’Klallam Indian tribe, the bay was called Such-e-kwai-ing which means “quiet water” and was then Anglicized into Sequim (which is pronounced “skiwm”.)

· Tacoma: The Salish-speaking Indians in the area referred to it as Shubahlup which means “the sheltered place.” American settlers later named it Tacoma which is supposedly from Takohoma which has been reported to mean “frozen waters,” or “nourishing breast,” or “near to heaven” which may refer to the nearby Mt. Rainier.

· Tenino: This name comes from the Chinook word which means “meeting place” in reference to it being a meeting ground and trading place. In addition, the Tenino are a Shaptian-speaking tribe related to the Umatilla and the Celilo.

· Twisp: Appears to be from the Chinook word “t-wapsp” which means “yellow jacket.”

· Walla Walla: Named for the Walla Walla Indian tribe, a Sahaptian-speaking group linguistically and culturally related to the Palouse and Wanapam. Walla Walla is often translated as “many waters.”

· Wapato: From the Chinook word “wapatoo” which means “potato” referring to the camas root which was commonly used for food.

Washington State Ferry in Mukilteo

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

One of our readers noticed that people have a tendency to mix up the words lightning and lightening. In todays post, I hope to enlighten you about the difference between the two words and provide a tip for spelling them correctly.

First, here are some definitions (from Merriam-Webster):

lightning: the flashing of light produced by a discharge of atmospheric electricity

lighten: to make light or clear : ILLUMINATE

With some commonly confused words, the similarities are coincidental. However, lightning and lightening are closely related. Both words come from the Middle English word lightenen (also spelled lihtenen). Its easy to see the connectiona flash of lightning lightens the sky.

I know that Editors Corner readers like mnemonics. I couldnt find any good ones for lightning and lightening, so I made my own. I hope it helps.

Tip: Lightning strikes quickly, so write lightning as quickly as possible (by leaving out the letter E).

The word lightening can also refer to reducing the weight of something. In this case, the similarity between light (not dark) and light (not heavy) does seem to be a coincidence.

Although both words come from Old English loht (also spelled lht), if you trace them farther back, light (meaning not dark) is similar to Latin lux (light), and light (meaning not heavy) is similar to Latin levare (to raise).

Ben Ritter | Technical Editor | Symitar
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The Crayola shade Dandelion is out and Bluetiful is in. Crayola recently announced the name of a new blue crayon called Bluetiful,and not everyone is happy about the new name because it isn’t a real word.

Bluetiful is a portmanteau of the words blue and beautiful.

Earlier this year, Crayola asked fans to vote for one of five possible names for the new crayon. The options were: Blue Moon Bliss, Bluetiful, Dreams Come Blue, Reach for the Stars, and Star Spangled Blue. Bluetiful was the winner.

Whether you love or hate the new name, it sure is a heck of a lot easier for kids to say than YInMn blue, which is the blue pigment that inspired the new crayon. YInMn blue is named after the elements that it contains: yttrium, indium, and manganese, and oxygen. Click here to learn more about YInMn blue.

If you are upset about the name of the new crayon, click here for a fun activity that, hopefully, makes you feel better.

Jackie Solano | Technical Editor | Symitar®

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I love words—all kinds of words. So I was delighted to find the following list of Shakespearean/Elizabethan swear words (late 1500s to mid-1600s) on Dictionary.com. Don’t worry; by today’s standards, they are all safe to use in public and in mixed company—not kind, but safe. In deference to time, I’ve cut the definitions down. Click this link to read a little more about each word.

Knave: The word knave was used to insult someone of the male gender. In Shakespeare’s time, the word was used to describe a liar, a cheat, or a con artist.

Cozen: To cozen someone was to cheat them. This may be an abbreviation of the phrase “to make a cousin of” which references a classic scam from Renaissance Europe.

Scumber (or scummer): This word is a substitute for the more common s-word.

Whelp: We know that whelp is a word for a puppy, but when applied to a human child, it was considered an insult.

Churl: This word is a derogatory synonym for peasant. It was very insulting in a time of lords and peasants (churl could be likened to the offensive phrase trailer trash—not cool).

Block: This word was used to imply that a person was as stupid as an inanimate object.

Pander and Bawd: These words were used to refer to male and female pimps (respectively).

Sblood: This Shakespearean phrase is short for God’s blood. It was especially offensive because it took the lord’s name in vain and brought “blood into the picture for extra effect.”

Jobbernowl: The knowl is the crown of the head, so this word meant something like stupid head or numbskull.

Scald: This word is a synonym of scurvy, a disease that resulted in swollen, bleeding gums and loose teeth; bruised skin; and a bunch of other nasty symptoms. Obviously, calling someone a scald was a pretty big insult.

Bedlamite: Bedlam was (and still is) the nickname for the Bethlehem Royal Hospital (now called Bethlem Royal Hospital). It’s the oldest and most famous psychiatric hospital (still in operation) in Europe, founded in 1247 to care for the poor and indigent. The hospital became known as Bedlam beginning in the 1600s, and it became infamous for its inhumane conditions and poor treatment of its patients and the mentally ill. The word bedlam (meaning “a scene of mad confusion”) dates back to the early 1600s and is associated with the hospital. The term bedlamite was used as an insult for anyone acting crazy.

For those who are interested, I found an article about Bethlem Royal Hospital called “10 Crazy Facts from Bedlam, History’s Most Notorious Asylum.” It’s a little long, so save it for after work. I can’t vouch for its accuracy, but I can vouch for its creepiness. I found it quite disturbing. Consider yourself warned.

Donna Bradley Burcher | Senior Technical Editor | Symitar®

8985 Balboa Ave. | San Diego, CA 92123 | Ph. 619.278.0432 | Extension: 765432

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Dear Editrix,

With all of these hurricanes lately, we’ve been hearing a lot about curfews. I know that a curfew requires us to be in our homes during certain hours, but I’m wondering where the word came from.

Tense in Texas

Dear Tense,

What an interesting question. Indeed, a curfew is “a regulation requiring people to remain indoors between specified hours, typically at night.” As far as the etymology of this word, it’s pretty darn cool. You picked a good one!

From the Online Etymology Dictionary:

curfew (n.)

early 14c., "evening signal, ringing of a bell at a fixed hour," from Anglo-French coeverfu (late 13c.), from Old French cuevrefeu, literally "cover fire" (Modern French couvre-feu), from cuevre, imperative of covrir "to cover" (see cover (v.)) + feu "fire" (see focus (n.)).

The medieval practice of ringing a bell at fixed time in the evening as an order to bank the hearths and prepare for sleep. The original purpose was to prevent conflagrations from untended fires. The modern extended sense of "periodic restriction of movement" had evolved by the 1800s.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
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As I mentioned the other day, my mom and I spent last week in New York City. I’m always on the lookout for new words or topics for the Editor’s Corner, and in the museums we visited, I came across several terms I hadn’t seen or heard before.

On our last day, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, when I saw the word “grisaille,” I imagined Snoop Dog saying, “fo’ shizzle, my grizzle,” and it made me laugh. (Translation: I concur, my gray painting.) I guessed that the word grisaille was based on the French word for gray (gris), which it is. Here’s a little more about the word from Merriam-Webster, along with a photo of the painting and the description next to the painting.

grisaille

noun

1a : painting in monochrome usually in shades of gray often as decoration to simulate sculptured relief or as underpainting for a glaze finish

b : a covering of a dark base in porcelain and enamelwork with varying thicknesses of white so as to produce a cameo effect with the dark color showing through

c : a coating of glasswork with white to produce an opalescent effect or as backing for a decorative pattern of colored glass

2: a fancy dress fabric originally of silk with a fine crosswise rib and a grayish color resulting from interweaving black-and-white threads

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

Because both of my parents are from Pennsylvania originally, I have always been aware that Pennsylvania is known as “The Keystone State.” I didn’t, however, know exactly what a keystone was. As I rode around Manhattan on a boat, the guide mentioned that the Statue of Liberty is holding a keystone in her arm: not a bible or a tablet, but a keystone.

It seemed like the perfect time to find out exactly what a keystone is, and why lovely Lady Liberty is holding one.

Here is an excerpt about it from a government site:

Liberty’s keystone-shaped tablet is cradled in the left arm. It is a representation of law written down for citizens of the nation to see and read. Upon it, “July 4, 1776” recognizes the date on which the American colonies declared their independence from England. The Roman numerals were incorporated into the design to acknowledge conceptual ties to the goddess of Liberty from the Roman era.

The keystone in architectural design is a critical component. The stone specifically cut into this shape supports all others within an arch. Therefore, the tablet pays homage to our republic’s keystone document: The Declaration of Independence. The declaration was initially read aloud to the general public in Pennsylvania, also known as the nation’s “Keystone State.”

And here are definitions of the literal and figurative keystones, along with a few more examples:

keystone

noun: keystone; plural noun: keystones

1. a central stone at the summit of an arch, locking the whole together.

2. the central principle or part of a policy, system, etc., on which all else depends.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma are interfering with Donna’s email, so I am playing carrier pigeon today. From Ms. Bradley-Burcher:

My friend, Eric N., called me a smart cookie the other day, and then he made me prove it by asking me where the idiom smart cookie comes from.

I found this explanation in the Online Etymology Dictionary:

1703, American English, from Dutch koekje "little cake," diminutive of koek "cake," from Middle Dutch koke (see cake (n.)). Slang application to persons attested since 1920. Phrase that’s the way the cookie crumbles "that’s the way things happen" is from 1957.

A website called “About English Idioms” says that starting in 1920, the term cookie was used to refer to a person or to “an alluring young woman.” The phrase smart cookie was first used in 1948 and it can refer to both men and women, as can the term tough cookie.

The writer of the article goes on to say that she’s never heard of anyone using the terms smart cookie or tough cookie in everyday speech. She’s obviously never met Eric!

Donna

My friend, Eric N., called me a smart cookie the other day, and then he made me prove it by asking me where the idiom smart cookie comes from.

I found this explanation in the Online Etymology Dictionary:

1703, American English, from Dutch koekje "little cake," diminutive of koek "cake," from Middle Dutch koke (see cake (n.)). Slang application to persons attested since 1920. Phrase that’s the way the cookie crumbles "that’s the way things happen" is from 1957.

A website called “About English Idioms” says that starting in 1920, the term cookie was used to refer to a person or to “an alluring young woman.” The phrase smart cookie was first used in 1948 and it can refer to both men and women, as can the term tough cookie.

The writer of the article goes on to say that she’s never heard of anyone using the terms smart cookie or tough cookie in everyday speech. She’s obviously never met Eric!

Donna Bradley Burcher | Senior Technical Editor | Symitar®

8985 Balboa Ave. | San Diego, CA 92123 | Ph. 619.278.0432 | Ext: 765432

My friend, Eric N., called me a smart cookie the other day, and then he made me prove it by asking me where the idiom smart cookie comes from.

I found this explanation in the Online Etymology Dictionary:

1703, American English, from Dutch koekje "little cake," diminutive of koek "cake," from Middle Dutch koke (see cake (n.)). Slang application to persons attested since 1920. Phrase that’s the way the cookie crumbles "that’s the way things happen" is from 1957.

A website called “About English Idioms” says that starting in 1920, the term cookie was used to refer to a person or to “an alluring young woman.” The phrase smart cookie was first used in 1948 and it can refer to both men and women, as can the term tough cookie.

The writer of the article goes on to say that she’s never heard of anyone using the terms smart cookie or tough cookie in everyday speech. She’s obviously never met Eric!

Donna Bradley Burcher | Senior Technical Editor | Symitar®

8985 Balboa Ave. | San Diego, CA 92123 | Ph. 619.278.0432 | Ext: 765432