Editor's Corner

Each year, we receive reminders not to use real names or trademarked names in our software testing or screen captures. When I’m trying to think up names for fictional accounts, I tend to blend literary names with names off the top of my head, or sometimes I use an online random name generator. One of my favorite names, however, is Joe Baldocky, my former father-in-law’s version of Joe Smith.

I never dreamed that different English-speaking groups would use different names, but this article from the Grammarist blog taught me something new!

John Doe is a name used in American English to denote a hypothetical, average man. John Doe is often used for an anonymous party in a legal action. The name for a hypothetical, average woman is Jane Doe. Other names for average hypothetical American men are Joe Blow, Joe Schmoe, John Q. Public, and Joe Sixpack, the latter referring to a blue collar worker. Joe Bloggs is the name for a hypothetical British man, as is John Smith. Fred Nerk is the name for a hypothetical Australian man, as is Joe Blow, Joe Bloggs, and John Citizen. In New Zealand, the term for a hypothetical man is Joe Bloggs, Joe Blow, or John Doe. In Canada, the hypothetical man is referred to as John Jones or Jos Bleau.

John Doe, Joe Bloggs, Fred Nerk and the other names are terms for anonymous characters. There are many situations where one may need to use an ambiguous name:

1) Legal actions in which the plaintiff or defendant must be kept anonymous

2) Unidentified bodies

3) Referring to an abandoned infant whose parents are not identified

4) When talking about the average American, Englishman or Australian

5) As an example when instructing how to fill out a form

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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I recently read an article about scare quotes and sneer words. They sound so ghoulish don’t they? Perfect for Halloween. Well they’re not quite as scary as they sound. Scare quotes and sneer words are devices that writers frequently use to state their opinion.

As you may already know, writers use scare quotes to draw attention to a word or phrase to point out that it is inaccurate or absurd.

Example: The “art” on display at the Tate Modern gallery in London included an empty wooden frame hanging on a wall and a separate display that highlighted a rusted light fixture.

The scare quotes around the word art make it clear that the writer does not consider the pieces on display to be art.

Sneer words, on the other hand, are adjectives that writers place before a word or phrase to indicate their disbelief or disdain: words like supposed, purported, would-be, self-appointed, etc.

Example: The supposed expert made many claims he could not corroborate.

Sneer words, like scare quotes, are a not-so-subtle way for writers and speakers to indicate their repugnance or disbelief.

Do these devices have a place in business writing? No. Our job is to be professional, not insulting. It is an interesting article though (click here to read it in its entirety); it serves as a useful warning for all of us who tend to be a little sarcastic.

Keep it classy, JHA.

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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Good morning, folks! Today I’d like to talk a little bit about a term that you may have heard used to discuss the “higher-ups,” the “big cheeses,” the “grand poohbahs,” the “big kahunas,” or maybe the “head honchos” at a company. This term is “C-level” (not “sea-level,” as I first thought).

The C in “C-level” stands for “chief,” and in this case, it refers to the high-ranking executives within a company. The C-level executives are generally the most powerful, influential members of an organization, such as the chief executive officer (CEO), chief financial officer (CFO), and the chief operating officer (COO).

Here are a few more C-level titles for your perusal:

· CCO (chief compliance officer)

· CDO (chief data officer, chief digital officer)

· Chief IT architect

· Chief reputation officer

· Chief trust officer

· CHRO (chief human resources officer)

· CIO (chief information officer)

· CKO (chief knowledge officer)

· CLO (chief learning officer)

· CMO (chief marketing officer)

· CPIO (chief process and innovation officer)

· CPO (chief procurement officer)

· CRO (chief risk officer)

· CSO (chief strategy officer)

· CSO or CISO (chief security officer or chief information security officer)

· CTO (chief technology officer)

· CVO (chief visionary officer)

· CXO (chief experience officer)

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

Yes, I’m back with another couplet from Words of a Feather: A Humorous Puzzlement of Etymological Pairs, by Murray Suid. Today’s words of a feather are mortgage and mortuary.

For homeowners who actually don’t yet fully own their homes, the arrival of the monthly mortgage bill is as depressing as a visit to a mortuary.

And that shouldn’t be a surprise, for both mortgage and mortuary are built on the Old French mort, meaning “dead.” The French word traces back to the Latin mori, “to die,” the ultimate source for mortal, which refers to any living thing that has death in its future.

Mortgage combines the idea of death with gage, a pledge, suggesting that if the borrower doesn’t honor the pledge and pay what’s due on the loan, the property will be forfeited, lost, or—metaphorically—dead to its former owner.

Other mort words include mortify (to make as if dead), mortician (a beautician for dead folks), and, for those who like upbeat endings, immortality.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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The other day I received an unusual request for the Editor’s Corner. It wasn’t for “More etymologies, please!” or “Can you explain the difference between affect and effect?” Nope. This request was, “More Scots, please.” Well, I think I’ve covered the spelling difference of whiskey and whisky, and Ben talked about the words feck and couthie. But then came the answer to my prayers: an article from one of my favorite blogs (Grammarphobia) about plaids and tartans! Here’s a taste of the article for you, along with some photos to brighten your day. (Note: the spelling from the UK dictionaries is British spelling, not American spelling.)

Q: What is the difference between “plaid” and “tartan”? I’ve found many answers online, but they’re not consistent. Can you help?

A: We can see why you’re confused. The terms “plaid” and “tartan” are often used interchangeably, and the definitions in standard dictionaries differ in one way or another…

Despite their differences, dictionaries in both the US and the UK generally describe “plaid” as a pattern or fabric with a crisscross motif that includes “tartan” designs associated with Scotland.

Oxford Dictionaries online, for example, broadly defines “plaid” (the fabric) as “Chequered or tartan twilled cloth, typically made of wool.”

Oxford defines “tartan” more precisely as “a woollen cloth woven in one of several patterns of coloured checks and intersecting lines, especially of a design associated with a particular Scottish clan.”

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed.) defines “plaid” broadly as “a pattern on cloth of stripes with different widths that cross each other to form squares.”

But Merriam-Webster’s defines “tartan” more narrowly as “a traditional Scottish cloth pattern of stripes in different colors and widths that cross each other to form squares.”

For even more information on plaids and tartans, see Grammarphobia. For an official registry of Scottish tartans, see The Scottish Register of Tartans.

Select Scottish Tartans

One of the Fraser clan tartans

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

The latest and greatest JHA Style Guide for Technical Communication and Training is out, and it includes some new rules for the terms internet and web. I may have played around a little with some of the examples. J

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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Good morning, folks! I hope you had a lovely weekend. Let’s jump right into some fun with words.

The English language is full of words created by back-formation: that is, words created by subtracting from or adding to an original word. This process changes the part of speech (usually, but not always, from noun to verb). For example, years ago, the verb diagnose was created by back-formation from the noun diagnosis. Many of these words have been with us so long that we are unaware of how they originated, but they are widely accepted and are listed in reputable, popular dictionaries.

However, here at the editor’s desk, we put the nix on words that were recently created by back-formation, and we often get pushback from writers who claim that many people already use the word. One major reason we ask writers not to use these words is that we already have a perfectly good word and do not need the newly minted back-formation—it’s just trendy.

For example, many people have started using the word architecting (a back-formation of the noun architect), as in “They are architecting a new network.”Several great words already exist that we can use instead of architecting: building, designing,or developing. These options are better because they are listed and defined in our dictionary of choice: Merriam-Webster. Now, before you send me an email stating that architecting is listed in some other dictionary, I want to remind you that we adhere to Meriam-Webster, and we try to avoid jargon so that we appeal to the largest audience. I also want to remind you that it makes puppies and kittens sad when you don’t follow the JHA standards.

Another word I’ve heard people use is explicate (a back-formation from explicable). What’s the problem there, you ask? We already have a word for that: explain.

Here are a few more back-formatted verbs you should avoid. This is by no means a complete list:

· Conversate (use converse instead)

· Orientate (unless you’re British, use orient instead)

· Caretake (use take care instead)

· Administrating (use administering instead)

· Provisioning (use providing instead)

Your best bet is to check Merriam-Webster whenever you’re in doubt. If you don’t find the word you want to use there, look for a different word. Go ahead, make our day! J

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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Though I’ve covered this topic before, several of our newer subscribers have asked me to review the words assure, ensure, and insure. It’s been a couple of years since we last ventured into this territory, so let’s go forward and do it again!

· Assure means to promise, encourage, or say something with confidence.

Example: I assured the police officer that the pink shopping cart was mine; I won it on a game show.

· Ensure means to guarantee something will (or won’t) happen.

Example: To ensure that your dress remains clean and white on your wedding day, we recommend you wear our full-length bib (with the 7- foot long plastic train) to your reception!

· Insure means to issue an insurance policy.

Example: I am interested in insuring my favorite things for a million dollars: my Playskool® giraffe, my garlic press, and three of my dog’s baby teeth.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

Let me start by saying that I am not criticizing anyone’s parenting style. I’m only talking about metaphors used to describe some parenting styles.

The other day, a few of my neighbors were discussing the start of the new semester at a local university and the annoyance of traffic, noise, and parties. One neighbor confessed that she found it amusing to watch college students trying to figure out how shop for groceries. Another neighbor mentioned that the lack of life skills was the result of having lawnmower parents. I’m familiar with the term helicopter parent, but lawnmower parent is new to me.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term helicopter parent, Merriam-Webster defines it as:

a parent who is overly involved in the life of his or her child

Most folks associate helicopter parent with a parent who hovers.

A lawnmower parent clears all obstacles from his or her child’s path, so the child never has to deal with any problems.

I found an article that mentioned the term lawnmower parent as having a British origin and first being used in the book titled Selfish, Scared & Stupid (2014), written by Kieran Flanagan and Dan Gregory. I also found an article that mentioned the term helicopter parent firstbeing used in a book called Parenting with Love and Logic (1990), written by Jim Fay and Foster Cline.

And here’s an idea if you need to find something to do with your old lawn mower:

Jackie Solano | Technical Editor | Symitar®

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

Symitar Documentation Services

The other day, one of our coworkers sent me an interesting article about adjective order, titled “Why the green great dragon can’t exist.” I know I’ve talked about adjective order before, but it is still one of those things a lot of people never think about, because most native English speakers just “hear” the correct order. The article talks a little bit about this, too. For those of you interested in the standard order of adjectives, I have compiled an ordered list below, along with some examples.

Note: Most professional writers do not string so many adjectives together; they rely on other methods of description to communicate an image to the reader.

Order of Adjectives

From Outlander

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services