Editor's Corner

You don’t need me to remind you that the English language provides many opportunities to misspell words. Because there are so many exceptions and so many words borrowed from other languages, spelling rules often don’t help much. But Dictionary.com can help! They took the 40 most misspelled words and broke them into eight categories to help us understand why we’re misspelling them.

Now we have no excuse for getting these 40 words wrong. Thanks, Dictionary.com!

Here’s your list of the 40 most misspelled words:

1. You’re using the wrong word.

· its/it’s

· your/ you’re

· there/their/they’re

· then/than

· affect/effect

· advice/advise

· capital/capitol

· conscious/conscience

· loose/lose

· principal/principle

2. You forgot double letters.

· accommodate

· committee

· embarrass

· interrupt

· misspell

· occurrence

· referred

· tomorrow

· vacuum

3. I before E, except after C

· Receive

4. I before E, except after C, except for these weird exceptions

· weird

· height

5. E, not A

· independent

6. S or C?

· license

· necessary

7. It’s actually two words.

· a lot

8. You just need to memorize it.

· definitely

· maintenance

· restaurant

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Yesterday, we covered a couple words from the Merriam-Webster article, “12 Words That Secretly Come from Body Parts.” Today I have a few more for your reading pleasure.

Cadet

Definition: a student at a military school who is preparing to be an officer

About the Word: There is nothing to suggest that the people who invented the English language (whoever they are) had any animus towards cadets, but it is still puzzling that the term for this aspiring officer should have come from a word meaning ‘small head’. Cadet comes to English from the French word capdet, which is itself descended from the Late Latin capitellum (which is the aforementioned word meaning ‘small head’). Make of it what you will.

Caprice

Definition: a sudden, impulsive, and apparently unmotivated change of mind

About the Word: The origins of caprice are both entertaining and somewhat quizzical. It comes from the Italian word capriccio, which itself is a combination of two distinct words. These words are capo (meaning head) and riccio (meaning hedgehog), in apparent reference to the quality of having one’s hair stand on end. As such, it would seem to be a better etymology for a word denoting terror rather than whimsy, but such are the caprices of language.

Courage

Definition: mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty

About the Word: Courage comes from the Old French word curage, which draws from the word cuer, meaning ‘heart.’ Another English word descended from cuer (albeit one that has wandered a bit farther afield) is cordial. Both it and courage ultimately can be traced back to the Latin cor, also meaning ‘heart.’ This proves that "You gotta have heart" is not just a line from a song in the Broadway play Damn Yankees, but is also a deeply profound etymological truism. Well, not really, but it does nicely show the connection between the heart and courage.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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Good morning, fellow travelers!

Sunday night I went to see The Flaming Lips in concert. It was absolutely the most entertaining concert I’ve ever attended. I’m not sure what was more amusing—having the singer come down into the audience riding a chariot driven by a unicorn, or when he got into a giant plastic ball and rolled into the audience. I’m still picking confetti out of my hair. Anyway, after an evening with The Flaming Lips, this article from Merriam-Webster, “12 Words That Secretly Come from Body Parts,” seemed like the perfect fit.

Here are a couple words to start your day with:

Sarcasm

Definition: a keen or bitter taunt: a cutting gibe or rebuke often delivered in a tone of contempt or disgust

About the Word: Sarcasm, that verbal flourish beloved by supercilious people the world over, has the sort of origin that makes other words jealous. It is descended ultimately from the ancient Greek word sarkazein, which means ‘to tear flesh like dogs’ (or also ‘to bite the lips in rage’ or ‘to speak bitterly’).

Disheveled

Definition: marked by disorder or disarray

About the Word: Some words travel far afield from their roots as they make their way through the millennia. Nice, for instance, is descended from the Latin word nescius, meaning ignorant. Others, such as disheveled, hew closer to their original meaning, while changing enough semantic content to keep things interesting. Disheveled comes from the past participle form of the Old French word descheveler, which means ‘to disarrange the hair.’

The Flaming Lips: Wayne Coyne, Riding the Audience in a Hamster Ball

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

JHA and Symitar folks, there are some updates in the May version of the JHA Style Guide for Technical Communication. I’m only listing two items that come up a lot, so please be sure to check out the What’s New in the Style Guide – May 2017 section in the style guide to see all the updates.

Sunset/End of Life

Unavailable/Dimmed/Grayed Out

Jackie Solano | Technical Editor | Symitar®

8985 Balboa Ave. | San Diego, CA 92123 | Ph. 619.542.6711 | Extension: 766711

Symitar Documentation Services

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Looking at my Editor’s Corner to-do list, I found this article from Daily Writing Tips that I thought was interesting and worth sharing. I believe I’ve talked about French and the word pendant meaning “hanging,” but this goes further into words derived from “pend.” I cut the article short by a sentence or two, so if you want the full meal deal, click the link above. Enjoy!

Pend, stemming from the Latin verb pendere, meaning “hang,” is used exclusively in legal terminology, as a verb meaning “be awaiting,” but it appears as the root of many other words referring to hanging or weight, which are listed and defined in this post.

Something that is pending is waiting to be resolved. A pendant is a fixture or ornament that hangs; the word can also refer to a certain type of rope used in sailing, is a British English variant of pennant (a small, tapering flag), and may also refer to something complementary or supplementary, such as a companion volume to a book. A compendium (“weigh together”), meanwhile, is a collection; it is frequently used in a literary sense.

To append (“weigh out”) is to attach something, and something attached to something else, such as a limb, is often referred to as an appendage. Supplemental content attached to the end of a book is called an appendix, and a vestigial organ of the body is so named because it hangs from the large intestine. (Its full name is vermiform appendix; the first word means “wormlike.”)

To depend (“hang from”) on someone or something is to rely on him, her, or it; the adjectival form is dependable, dependent is both an adjective and a noun, and dependence is the noun form. (Antonyms referring to freedom from reliance are independent and independence, while codependent, codependence, and codependency refer to control or manipulation of one person by another.)

To prepend (“weigh before”) is to consider. To expend (“weigh out”) is to pay; the adjectival form is expendable (though it can also be used as noun). Something impending (“hanging over”) is about to occur; the basic verb form is rare. A stipend (“weigh payment”) is money given as pay for short-term work, generally a modest amount not equivalent to a salary.

To suspend (“hang up”) is to hang something or cause someone to wait for something; the feeling that results is suspense, and the act is called suspension.

A pendulum is a weight that swings to and fro to regulate movement; it may also refer figuratively to movement from one position to its opposite. Something that swings heavily can be described as pendulous. Perpendicular (“hanging thoroughly”) means “projecting at right angles”.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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Jackie, my co-editor and friend, and I were talking about the term “doctor’s appointment.” We hear it all the time, but is it correct? Should it be “doctor appointment”? I’m afraid I don’t have an easy answer for you. The experts are all over the place on this one.

My first instinct was that “doctor’s appointment” is incorrect because the apostrophe denotes possession. I assumed it couldn’t be right because the appointment doesn’t belong to the doctor, it belongs to me. And I quickly found a resource that agrees with me: Everything Language and Grammar.

Though I love to be right, I know that one resource is not proof positive; and anyway, we started wondering whether the term might be possessive because the doctor also has an appointment with me, right? So, I kept looking and found an article on dictionarykiwi.com that substantiates the point of view that the appointment also belongs to the doctor. Dictionarykiwi is “created by the community,” so it’s not the most reputable resource, but the article makes a legitimate point.

I kept looking, hoping for something more conclusive, and I found a slightly confused pair of grammarians on A Way with Words,a radio program about language. They hemmed and hawed and finally determined that the term “doctor’s appointment” is used much more often than “doctor appointment.” They said that “doctor’s appointment” is a term that is “lexicalized,” meaning that usage becomes habit, and then we’re stuck with it, whether we like it or not. If you want to listen to their discussion, click here.

I found a few more articles, but they didn’t really offer anything new. Now we’re all confused, right? Well, here’s the upshot. Language evolves depending on common usage. Whether or not it’s correct, most people say and write “doctor’s appointment.” Because there is an ongoing argument about the correctness of the phrase, what you can do is simply avoid using it. You can say (or write) that you have an appointment with the doctor or that you have a medical appointment. That way, the sticklers who think it’s wrong have got nothing on you!

Donna Bradley Burcher | Senior Technical Editor | Symitar®

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

Yesterday I told you a little about nicknames and shared some Spanish nicknames with you. Today I have part of article from Mental Floss for you. (Click the link to read about all ten names.)

If that isn’t enough, I’ve also included a link to men’s and women’s nicknames so you can find something fitting to call your friends or foes.

Why is Hank from Henry?

The name Henry dates back to medieval England. (Curiously, at that time, Hank was a diminutive for John.) So how do we get Hank from Henry? Well, one theory says that Hendrick is the Dutch form of the English name Henry. Henk is the diminutive form of Hendrick, ergo, Hank from Henk. Hanks were hugely popular here in the States for many decades, though by the early ‘90s it no longer appeared in the top 1,000 names for baby boys. But Hank is making a comeback! In 2010, it cracked the top 1,000, settling at 806. By 2013, it was up to 626.

Why is Chuck from Charles?

"Dear Chuck" was an English term of endearment, and Shakespeare, in Macbeth, used the phrase to refer to Lady Macbeth. What’s this have to do with Charles? Not much, but it’s interesting. However, Charles in Middle English was Chukken and that’s probably where the nickname was born.

Why is Peggy from Margaret?

The name Margaret has a variety of different nicknames. Some are obvious, as in Meg, Mog, and Maggie, while others are downright strange, like Daisy. But it’s the Mog/Meg we want to concentrate on here as those nicknames later morphed into the rhymed forms Pog(gy) and Peg(gy). [KC – Daisy isn’t so strange when you consider that Marguerite is the French term for a daisy (and a girl named Margaret).]

Why is Ted from Edward?

The name Ted is yet another result of the Old English tradition of letter swapping. Since there were a limited number of first names in the Middle Ages, letter swapping allowed people to differentiate between people with the same name. It was common to replace the first letter of a name that began with a vowel, as in Edward, with an easier to pronounce consonant, such as T. Of course, Ted was already a popular nickname for Theodore, which makes it one of the only nicknames derived from two different first names. Can you name the others?

Why is Sally from Sarah?

Sally was primarily used as a nickname for Sarah in England and France. Like some English nicknames, Sally was derived by replacing the R in Sarah with an L. Same is true for Molly, a common nickname for Mary. Though Sally from Peanuts never ages, the name itself does and has declined in popularity in recent years. Today, most girls prefer the original Hebrew name Sarah.

Links to English names and nicknames:

· English names and nicknames for women

· English names and nicknames for men

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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I’m not sure how we got started, but the other day my dear amigo Javier and I started discussing nicknames. And not just regular nicknames, but Spanish nicknames. I was really excited, because to me, Spanish nicknames are so much more interesting than calling young Jim “Jimmy,” or referring to Margaret as “Margie” or “Maggie.” This is, however, a blog about English, so I will be certain to connect the dots somehow.

Let’s start with the word nickname. What does it mean? A nickname is “a familiar or humorous name given to a person or thing instead of or as well as the real name”. It could be a shorter version of your name (“Rob” instead of “Robert”), a bit of a tease (calling your short friend “Stilts”), or just a pet name (like “Bunny”—don’t ask).

Where did the word nickname come from? Did someone named Nick or Nicholas want to invent something for the dictionary? Not even close! It’s actually from very old words that were misheard or written incorrectly. Here is the etymology from the Online Etymology Dictionary:

nickname (n.)

mid-15c., misdivision of ekename (c. 1300), an eke name, literally "an additional name," from Old English eaca "an increase," related to eacian "to increase" (cognate with Old Norse auknafn, Swedish öknamn, Danish ögenavn.

I still have so much information for you! But let’s move back to the Spanish nicknames, and tomorrow I will share more with you about English. (And to Javier, ¡muchas gracias!)

Alberto, Robertoà Beto

Antonio à Toño

Dolores à Lola

Eduardo à Lalo

Francisco à Pancho

Guadalupe à Lupe

Guillermo à Memo

Isabel à Chabela

Jesús à Chuy

Jose à Pepe

Ignacioà Nacho

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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Do you have trouble remembering whether to include periods in abbreviations like ATM, NASA, and TGIF (or A.T.M., N.A.S.A., and T.G.I.F.)?

Good news! Our rule is much easier than you might think: Don’t use periods between each letter.

Acronyms vs. Initialisms

Much of the confusion comes from the fact that some abbreviations are pronounced as words (like NATO and UNICEF) and other abbreviations are pronounced as a series of letters (like FBI and CIA).

Many people use the word acronym to describe both types of abbreviations, but some sticklers distinguish between acronyms and initialisms.

The Oxford English Dictionary is very clear about this distinction:

· acronym: an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word (e.g., ASCII, NASA)

· initialism: an abbreviation consisting of initial letters pronounced separately (e.g., BBC)

Merriam-Webster (our dictionary of choice) is less decisive:

· acronym: a word formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term

· initialism: an acronym formed from initial letters; especially one that is pronounced as separate letters

Dictionary.com considers the two words to be synonyms, defining acronym as “an initialism” and vice versa.

For our purposes, the distinction doesn’t matter; we treat acronyms and initialisms exactly the same.

Chicago Manual of Style

Some style guides have complicated rules for dealing with abbreviations, taking into account how the word is pronounced, how long it is, and whether any two letters come from the same word (like the T and the V in MTV).

We follow The Chicago Manual of Style, which is clear on this point: “Use no periods with abbreviations that appear in full capitals.”

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

Symitar Documentation Services

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Happy Friday!

A few weeks ago, I wrote a couple of articles on shouting bloody murder or blue murder. While some of you suggested I make a trip to the massage therapist, others gave me meditation and relaxation techniques. Still others went the other direction and wanted to delve deeper into these terms. Nathan A. posed a question, wondering if those shouting terms were related to “cursing a blue streak.” I haven’t found anything yet in the book I’m reading (What the F: What Swearing Reveals About Our Language, Our Brains, and Ourselves), but I did find this article from The Word Detective.

Enjoy!

Human beings have identified a wide spectrum of colors (and catalog copywriters are constantly inventing new ones), but when it comes to popular figures of speech, “blue” takes the prize for both number and variety of senses. We speak, for example, of sadness or depression as “the blues,” although no one has ever come up with a convincing explanation why. “Blues” music does often center on depressing “blue” subjects (lover left, dog died, etc.), but that “blue” may actually be a reference to the genre’s use of “blue notes,” halfway between proper scale notes. Elsewhere, “blue blood” is said to signify royalty or high social class, but was originally just a reference to very light skin, which made the oxygen-rich blood in one’s veins visible under the skin. The opposite of the blue-blooded idle rich are, of course, “blue-collar” workers, so-called for the denim shirts that once were standard factory wear.

Some towns in the U.S. still enforce “blue laws” forbidding or restricting certain activities on Sundays, but the origin of the term has been lost in the mists of time along with the Puritans who concocted the laws. And, at the other end of the spectrum, we have the slightly antiquated (but equally mysterious) adjective “blue” meaning “obscene,” which dates to the 1820s (and thus predates “blue movies” by a century). It’s possible, however, that “blue” in the “porn” sense arose from the term “blue laws” being generalized to mean any kind of censorious legislation.

Meanwhile, as the stock exchange tumbles and staid “blue chip” stocks take a beating, it’s appropriate to note that “blue chip” meaning “top rank, best” comes from the highest denomination chips in the very un-staid game of poker, which are traditionally blue.

All of which brings us to “blue streak,” which means “with great intensity or speed” and originated in the U.S. in the early 18th century. In all likelihood, the term did arise by analogy to the speed and force of a bolt of lightning, especially in “talk a blue streak,” meaning to speak rapidly and excitedly. The “blue” in “curse a blue streak” probably also invokes “blue” in the sense of “obscene.” A similar phrase, “blue blazes” (“And the two Jacobs swore like blue blazes agin him,”1858), was originally a reference to the fires of Hell, where it is said that brimstone burns with a pale blue flame.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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