Editor's Corner

Good morning, fellow travelers!

I only have two more Valentine’s Day-related phrases for you from my buddy Ron:

• Love is like the wind
• Valentine’s Day Sucks

I think you can see which camp he’s in when it comes to this day. He said he was joking about “Valentine’s Day Sucks,” but when I first read his email, I thought both of these phrases were jokes.

“Love is like the wind”? I was thinking I’d never heard that. And I was also thinking, “If love is like the wind and your mate eats a lot of beans, well that’s a bad thing, isn’t it?” I searched for this phrase, and at first I was coming up empty.

I tried it again, and this time I found a person’s name associated with “love is like the wind.” (I keep singing the 1980’s song Ride Like the Wind when I read this phrase, and it’s throwing me off. It wasn’t Christopher Cross.)

“Love is like the wind” is from an American author, Nicholas Sparks. You may recognize him from his 23 bestsellers, or perhaps the movie The Notebook. When you read the full line, and his explanation, it makes more sense.

“Love is like the wind, you can’t see it, but you can feel it." Which is why I believe you can never say that love is not around you, you have to believe that it’s surrounding you and have faith that you are loved and are willing to love back.

My maturity level is not the highest at times. I keep reading that as “Love is like the wind, you can’t see it, but you can smell it.” Maybe that’s because I married a man with a bean intolerance?

Happy (early) Valentine’s Day!

And Sylvie sends big kisses to everyone!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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

Good morning, dear humans!

Today I’m gearing up to share another love-related idiom with you, though I don’t remember if Ron sent me this one, or if I found it while searching for answers. Today’s idiom is “love is blind.” The meaning of this is that love makes you unable to see someone’s faults. I like this because Chaucer used something similar in The Merchant’s Tale, near the year 1405. Just be glad we don’t write our documentation in old English:

For loue is blynd alday and may nat see.

For almost 200 years, it sat on the sidelines and wasn’t recorded in any documents. And then came Shakespeare. That dude could make a line sing. He liked this phrase so much, he used it in several plays, including Two Gentlemen of Verona, Henry V, and this example from The Merchant Of Venice, 1596:

JESSICA: Here, catch this casket; it is worth the pains.
I am glad ’tis night, you do not look on me,
For I am much ashamed of my exchange:
But love is blind and lovers cannot see
The pretty follies that themselves commit;
For if they could, Cupid himself would blush
To see me thus transformed to a boy.

A little more from this article from Phrases tells us:
Modern-day research supports the view that the blindness of love is not just a figurative matter. A research study in 2004 by University College London found that feelings of love suppressed the activity of the areas of the brain that control critical thought.

As we approach the dreaded day where Cupid draws back his bow (and let’s his arrow go), be careful out there and keep your eyes open! Here’s a little gift for you from Sam Cooke.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

Good morning, little chickadees.

Today’s love-related idiom (or more accurately, phrase) is “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” Unlike many idioms I look into, this phrase appears throughout history, with varied wording from different sources. The first article that I looked at said that Plato used this phrase in ancient Greece, but then the article didn’t pinpoint the use. Essentially it means what it says: the longer you are away from someone that you love, the stronger your love becomes.

Here is some information that I found in Your Dictionary.

Some research states the phrase was first published in 1602 as the first line of an anonymous poem in Francis Davison’s anthology Poetical Rhapsody, although this has been disputed.

Similar sentiments, if not the actual phrasing, were found in Thomas Overbuy’s work Characters published in 1616—“Absence doth sharpen love, presence strengthens it”—and James Howell’s Familiar Letters in 1650: "Distance sometimes endears friendship, and absence sweetens it.” This tends to happen with the creation of poetry, storytelling, and lyrics. Since the human experience is a shared one, it’s only natural that our expressions of emotion will overlap with one another.

However, many believe that it was Thomas Haynes Bayly who brought the notion to life in his poem titled Isle of Beauty which appeared in his two-volume work Songs, Ballads, and Other Poems in 1844. He wrote:

"What would not I give to wander
Where my old companions dwell?
Absence makes the heart grow fonder;
Isle of Beauty, fare thee well!"

Later on, people started making fun of the idea, starting in the 1930s with the song titled “Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder (for Somebody Else). The song has been covered by many people through the years.

Modern magazines have also written about the difficulty of “long-distance” relationships. The little bit of romance in me chooses to focus on Bayly’s poem.

Have a sweet day!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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

I recently received an email from a former JH employee. We were in the same department when he retired, and we have a common love of the English language. Ron is the supplier of the Richard Lederer articles I share with you.

Ron asked me to do some research and a little series on several phrases around Valentine’s Day. I know, to some, the day doesn’t matter. To others, it’s a sweet romantic day for special dinners, flowers, and ooh la la. And still others find it an awful day to be alone. I’m just going to delve into these phrases and I hope these idioms give you a little cheer.

Today’s phrase is “wearing your heart on your sleeve.”

No, this is not an idea for a Halloween costume. To “wear your heart on your sleeve” means that you express your emotions openly. For example, I would be a horrible poker player because I wear my heart on my sleeve. You can tell exactly what I’m feeling or thinking, just by looking at my face; there’s no hiding.

So where did this phrase come from?

According to Grammar Monster:

This idiom originates from jousting tournaments by medieval knights, probably around the 14th century. Back then, it was customary for a knight to dedicate his performance to a specific lady. To show he was her "champion," the knight would wear a personal item (usually a scarf) around his arm. This would be a public display of his romantic intentions towards the lady. This is why "sleeve" is chosen in the proverb. As for "heart," the heart has long been a symbol of emotion, particularly love.

Forget red roses! I could definitely get behind some jousting!

More love phrases coming your way soon!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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

A couple of weeks ago, one of you said that you were talking to your kids and said, “Well that really opens up a can of worms.” Your children responded dumbfounded with, “What!?” I agree with your kids that it is such an odd turn of phrase. Then today, as my husband was performing a demo, he responded to a client’s question with, “Answering that now would really open a can of worms.”

Okay. I give in. Let’s talk about it today!

From Merriam-Webster, to open a can of worms means:

To create a complicated situation in which doing something to correct a problem leads to many more problems.

Example: Our boss is reluctant to change the policy now because she doesn’t want to open a can of worms.

But where does the phrase come from? Worms are good creatures. Why put them in a can?

Nobody knows the exact origin of the phrase, but most people think it comes from the United States, around 1950. Back in the ’50s, if you wanted to go fishing, you’d get up early, drive to your favorite spot, and take your fishing pole along with a metal can full of worms.

The website Today I Found Out says:

The fisher folk… (W)ould set the metal can down and open it. What was inside was alive and if the top was left open for too long or the can was tipped over, well, your biggest problem would no longer be catching fish. It would be catching your bait that’s wriggling away.

The articles I read both launched into an extensive discussion of Pandora’s box and how the Greek story has a similar message as “opening a can of worms.” I’ll try to give you the concise version of Pandora.

The Greek gods were fighting, as they often did. Zeus ended up having Hephaestus, the craftsman, create the first woman out of dirt and water. All of the other gods gave her a flourish or two and sent her to earth. Her name was Pandora. (In Greek, pan means “all” and dora means “gift,” so Pandora was all of the gods’ gifts.)

Pandora was also given a box (which was actually a jar) and she was told never to open the jar. Of course, there’s no story if she obeys, so she opened the box, and all the evil things in the world came out: sickness, suffering, death, squirrels, etc. In the version I learned as a kid, there was a question about whether “hope” flew out of the jar—since some people look at hope as positive, but others see it as negative, since it can string you along in bad circumstances.

And there you have it, how Pandora’s gift jar and a can of worms seem like a great thing at first, but when opened, you unleash many other problems.

Hmm…did they have pull tops like this in the 1950s, or is this a “modern” can of worms?

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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

Hello, folks!

As I wandered through the results of “Where does the phrase pear-shaped come from,” I had a couple other phrases to check out. The submitter asked about other phrases meaning “things gone wrong,” “getting off-track,” “unexpected,” “uncontrollable.” One of these other terms she mentioned was “going off the rails.”

The following information is from The Grammarist. I’ve condensed it a bit, but you can see the full article on the web page.

When something or someone is described as “off the rails,” it means that they have deviated from what’s usually considered normal or expected for the situation. You can use this phrase to describe situations or individuals who have gone awry or lost control.

To get to the roots of the phrase “off the rails,” you have to go back to the 1800s and the world of rail transportation, aka trains. When a train goes off the rails or is “derailed,” it veers off its intended track, leading to accidents, delays or general chaos.

Origin of Off the Rails

Off the rails usage trend.

[KC –I wonder why it suddenly made a resurgence in the 2000s?]

Additional terms that mean the same thing as “off the rails:”

· Astray

· Chaotic

· Disorderly

· Frenzied

· Messy

· Muddled

· Out of control

· Unhinged

· Unruly

Examples, courtesy of AI:

• “After losing his job, he started acting completely off the rails and was getting into trouble with the law."
• "The meeting quickly went off the rails when the heated debate turned personal."
• "The project was running smoothly until the key investor pulled out, sending everything off the rails."
• "The movie started well but then took a strange turn, ending up completely off the rails in the final act."

Happy Tuesday!
Here’s hoping your train stays on its rails and that you have a smooth ride.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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

Good morning, language lovers!

Several months ago, one of you wrote in about the idiom “gone pear-shaped,” and explained how it was from pottery. The meaning of “gone pear-shaped” is that something has gone wrong. It makes sense that it might come from pottery. Goodness knows, I’ve tried to throw a pot, spun the wheel, and ended up with a mug that has a heavy bottom. (Or a vase that’s more of a weapon, or a bowl that is an inch thick at the bottom, with “walls” a quarter-inch thick. Yep, I am sold on “pear-shaped” as describing a situation that has turned out badly.)

I’ve heard people describe women as pear-shaped, in fact just the other day I was watching a show about medieval women’s clothes and the professor said that people considered pear-shaped sexy, so you want it to look like you’re packing heat in the back. (For your off-work time, if you are interested, this historian is hilarious: Eleanor Janega).

I didn’t want to offend anyone with the phrase “pear shaped,” though, so I thought I better check on the pottery comparison and where the phrase comes from.

I found that the actual history of the phrase is unclear. Here is what my searches turned up:

1. Aviation. From the Royal Air Force. [KC – This is the most popular explanation, but sources disagree about what represents a pear-shaped failure.] Pilots used “pear-shaped” to describe a poorly executed maneuver. Instead of flying in a smooth loop or roll, the pilot’s attempt was wonky. Others say it is from crashing the plane “nose first.”
2. Pottery. As described above. An item intended to be well-balanced and symmetrical ends lopsided and bottom-heavy.
3. Ballooning: Some believe it could be related to hot air balloons, where an improperly inflated balloon might resemble a pear shape and not function as intended.

From the Free Dictionary, here is a definition and some examples.

To fail or fall apart.

• The deal went pear-shaped because of disagreements over the distribution of royalties.
• Molly’s surprise party went pear-shaped after someone in the office accidentally told her about it.
• The event will definitely go pear-shaped if our chief donor backs out!

As for the origin, the pottery history gets my vote. I’ve lived it too many times over the years.

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! Today’s article is a gift I borrowed from Richard Lederer, the original San Diego verbivore. This is an excerpt from his article from December 7, 2024. For the full version, see:

True confessions of a dyed-in-the-wool verbivore

Carnivores eat meat. Herbivores consume plants. Verbivores devour words. I am such a creature. My whole life I have feasted on words — ogled their appetizing shapes, colors, and textures; swished them around in my mouth; lingered over their many tastes; and felt their juices run down my chin. During my adventures as a fly-by-the-roof-of-the-mouth user-friendly wizard of idiom, I have met thousands of other wordaholics, logolepts, and verbivores — folks who also eat their words. What is there about words that makes a language person love them so?

…Some word people of etymological persuasion are intrigued by the birth and life of words and phrases. They love the fact that when a candidate for office went to the Forum in ancient Roman times, he wore a bleached white toga to symbolize his humility, purity of motive, and candor. The original Latin root, “candidatus”, meant “one who wears white,” from the belief that white was the color of purity and probity. The Latin verb “candere” “to shine, to glow,” parents the English words “candid,” “candor,” “candle,” and “incandescent.”

While many fabrics and garments are colored or printed after they are woven, wool is sometimes dyed before it is ever woven or made into cloth. The color of that wool is through- and-through and impossible to remove completely. So when we say someone is a “dyed-in-the- wool” conservative, liberal, environmentalist, animal-rights supporter, Padres fan, etc., we mean that their beliefs are steadfast and permanent….

Then there are the grammarians, who enjoy trying to transmute the briar patch of pronoun cases, subject-verb agreement, sequence of tenses, and the indicative and subjunctive moods into a manageable garden of delight. Such devotees of correct usage often explore the nuances of confusing word pairs — “lay” vs. “lie” (“lay” means ”to put”; “lie” means “to repose”), and “podium” vs. “lectern” (you stand on a podium; you stand behind a lectern). Other wordaholics experience the joy of lex by prowling the lunatic fringes of language. These recreational word players ponder why we drive in a parkway and park in a driveway and our nose can run and our feet can smell.

Finally, there are the legions of pundits, punheads, and pun pals….

When I say “language,” I mean by and large that glorious, uproarious, notorious, victorious, outrageous, courageous, contagious, stupendous, tremendous, end-over-endous adventure we call the English language. That’s because in matters verbal, I am unabashedly lexist. Just as many would say the Italians do food well and the French do style and fashion well, I believe we English speakers and writers do language well. One might say we do it lexicellently.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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Dear Editrix,

Have you ever done an article on the phrase, “wracking my brain?”

Sincerely,

Curious Accountant

Dear Curious,

No, I haven’t covered this phrase before, and it looks like there is a lot to cover, so let’s see what English has to offer!

There are two spellings: rack and wrack. While they have been used interchangeably since the 1800s, they are actually different words with different histories. Here is a little information from Merriam-Webster:

…(R)ack is thought to be from the Middle Dutch word recken, meaning “to stretch,” and wrack comes from the Middle English word for a shipwreck, wrak—and (they) do retain different meanings. However, wrack has so often been used as a variant spelling of rack, especially when used in the phrases “(w)rack one’s brain” and “(w)racked with pain,” that many dictionaries now list it as a variant.

M-W says that some style guides, like the New York Times, now say “go with rack,” which will avoid confusion; but then M-W provides information for how to sort between the two, in case you are a stickler (like many of us old-timey editors are). M-W also provides contradictory rules from various style guides. Here is the general set of rules, based on the terms’ etymologies:

Rack and wrack are often confused, and there are some ways in which one may easily distinguish between the two words. When employing one of them as a noun, you are almost certainly looking for rack. You hang your clothes on a rack, eat a rack of lamb, and, if you are a medieval torture enthusiast, attach someone to a rack to be stretched until bones are broken or joints dislocated.

Some guides have expressed the opinion that since the verb rack comes from an instrument that stretches people (not in a fun way), this word should be used in settings which are related to strain, torture, and stress. And since wrack comes from a background of nautical destruction, this word should be used to indicate either wreckage (storm-wracked) or destruction (wrack and ruin).

If you are one who wants to speed up the change of the language, the article recommends just using the spelling rack for all meanings. I just wanted to give you the history of each so you can make a well-informed decision when you talk about torture or the Titanic.

Hmmm…I don’t think this is what Nordstrom
had in mind when the named their second business.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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

I was looking at some of the questions that I have from you readers, which sit in my file for times like this (when I have a moment to do some research). The questions of the day are:

What do these phrases mean? Where are they from?

• Knock on wood
• Touch wood

From Wikipedia:

Knocking on wood (also phrased touching wood) is an apotropaic [KC – “protective magic”] tradition of literally touching, tapping, or knocking on wood, or merely stating that one is doing or intending to do so, to avoid "tempting fate" after making a favorable prediction or boast, or a declaration concerning one’s own death or another unfavorable situation. [KC – I had to laugh at this, “one’s own death or another unfavorable situation,” you know, like a hangnail or running out of toilet paper.]

Here is where I found widely different answers about where the phrase originated and who uses it. Religious sites give credit to Christianity and the “wood” is related to the crucifix. Then, as with numerous Christian customs, historians go back further and relate touching wood to paganism. Two or three of the articles specifically mention Celtic people touching wood to call on the spirits of the trees.

There were a couple of articles, including the one in Wikipedia, that said the phrase is still used in modern language because of a kind of tag called “Tiggy Touchwood,” in which players are safe from being tagged if they are touching wood.”

The phrase or action of “knocking (or touching) wood” appears all over the world. Here are a few of the items from the Wikipedia article:

• In Azerbaijan and Turkey, when someone hears about a bad thing they usually (along with gently pulling one earlobe) knock on wood thrice to prevent that happening.
• In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro and Serbia there is also the habit of knocking on wood when saying something positive or affirmative about someone or something and not wanting that to change.
• In Denmark the saying is 7, 9, 13 / syv, ni, tretten (usually accompanied by knocking under a table), as these numbers have traditionally been associated with magic.
• In Israel the saying בלי עין הרע‎ b’lí ‘áyin hará’ ("without the evil eye") is said when someone mentions good things happening to themselves or someone else, or even when mentioning a valuable thing they own.

• In Latin America, it is also tradition to physically knock a wooden object. A variant requires that the object does not have feet (tocar madera sin patas), which rules out chairs, tables and beds.
• In Spain tocar madera and in France toucher du bois ("to touch wood") is something that you say when you want your luck or a good situation to continue, e.g. Ha ido bien toda la semana y, toco madera, seguirá bien el fin de semana ("It’s been good all week and, touching wood, the weekend will stay good").

There are many more phrases, but they’re all basically a wish for good luck, or a wish against bad luck. Here’s hoping your luck today is good, knock on wood!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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