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

Symitar Technical Publications Writing and Editing Requests

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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

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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

A few weeks ago, I sent out information from an email I received from GrammarBook.com. Just recently, I received another great article on a peeve of mine: made up words. I love the fun we can have with English and some of the contests that you see about making up words, but that’s not really what I’m talking about.

I’m talking about an almost systematic invention of new words that we already have a good word for. For example, using architect as a verb instead of the word design. (“He architected a new plan for the bread maker’s workflow.” Ick!) Another example is using conversate, when we have this really cool word already that means to talk, speak, chat, or engage in conversation, and that word is converse.

Anyway, before I start irritating myself, here is the article I want to share with you.

Putting Out the Patrol for Made-Up Words

Estimates of English’s total word count vary, but linguists agree the number ranks near the top of the world’s vocabularies. A May newsletter article cited English as having as many as 300,000 distinctly usable words.

With so many residents in a vernacular, impostors posing as real words are bound to slip in. They start as mistakes but last long enough to wiggle into pockets of speech. Before long, they spread out, gaining confidence and popularity until they set their sights on the real prize: placement in a dictionary.

While casual conversation provides the most refuge for these con artists, their common usage still often lets them cross into composition’s more-managed domain.

Here are but a few made-up words we and our readers have singled out as guilty from the line-up of suspects:

A few of these invaders, such as irregardless and preventative, have already cleared the fence, crossed their covert tunnels, and arrived safely in dictionaries. That alone does not validate them, nor does it mean we should permit them into our writing.

You also probably noted several made-up words in the list include the suffix -ate. This is a common ploy some words will use to create more versions of themselves.

The suffix -ize operates much the same way. In addition to incentivize, keep an eye on words such as actualize, collectivize, intellectualize, and normalize. Some words, such as finalize, prioritize, memorize, and ostracize, need their three-letter caboose to deliver their meaning, but most -ize words are pitching tents where houses are built.

Made-up words present another call for us to lead the way in upholding concise, grammatical writing. By remaining vigilant, we can help halt the advance of the pretenders.

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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Hello, everyone! It’s only been a week since I’ve written to you, but it has been a whirlwind of a time. I just arrived home from an exciting week in New York City with my mom. We walked, bussed, boated, “Lyfted,” and took the subway all over the place! Oh yes, we also ran in Central Park (not from anyone, mind you).

Here’s a look at the skyline from our boat tour around Manhattan:

And your word of the day, from the Museum of Modern Art, is odalisque. According to Merriam-Webster, an odalisque is “a female slave or concubine in a harem.” At the museum, it was used to describe different sculptures and paintings of reclining nude females. No pictures of those for you!

One more thing: before I left, I caused some uproar among folks by sending out an article on spatulas. Who knew that would be so exciting? Since I’m just getting back in the groove today, here is a little something I found for you at the Museum of Modern Art design store. I don’t think it’s a flipper or a turner or a spatula. I think, like one of our Editor’s Corner readers, they called it a “spoonula” or something. I did not buy one.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

Have you ever looked at a cloud and seen an animal? Looked at the moon and seen a face? Looked at a semicolon and a parenthesis and seen someone winking at you? 😉

The human brain has a tendency to find familiar shapes (especially faces) in random patterns, and there’s a word for that: pareidolia.

Wikimedia Commons

Merriam-Webster defines pareidolia (pronounced "pair-eye-dole-ia") as "the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern."

Psychiatrist Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum coined the German word Pareidolie in 1866. It made its way into English two years later.

Pareidolia comes from Greek para- ("beside") + eídōlon ("image, reflection"). Eídōlon is also the root of the word idol (meaning "a likeness of something").

Wikimedia Commons

Why do humans see faces where they don’t exist? One theory is that making fast (but sometimes inaccurate) visual judgments helps us survive.

Imagine that you’re hiking and you see a snake lying across the trail. You stop dead in your tracks.

Wikimedia Commons

But as you carefully inch closer, you realize it’s not a snake at all; it’s just a stick.

Being startled by a harmless stick might make you feel silly, but ignoring a real snake could be much worse.

Differentiating a happy friend from an angry foe is useful in the same way—even if it means occasionally mistaking a wooden crate for a smiling person.

Wikimedia Commons

Ben Ritter | Technical Editor | Symitar®
8985 Balboa Avenue | San Diego, CA 92123
619-682-3391 | or ext. 763391 | www.Symitar.com

Symitar Documentation Services

NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
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