Editor's Corner

A couple of days ago, I sent an article about garbage and differences in regional word choices. Here is an article on other regional word choices you may find, followed by a link to one of my favorite sets of “language maps.” First, from Richard Lederer:

…One aspect of American rugged individualism is that not all of us say the same word in the same way. Sometimes we don’t even use the same name for the same object.

I was born and grew up in Philadelphia a coon’s age, a blue moon and a month of Sundays ago—when Hector was a pup. Phillufia, or Philly, which is what we kids called the city, was where the epicurean delight made with cold cuts, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and onions stuffed into a long, hard crusted Italian bread loaf sliced lengthwise was invented.

The creation of that sandwich took place in the Italian pushcart section of the city, known as Hog Island. Some linguists contend that it was but a short leap from Hog Island to hoagie, while others claim that the label hoagie arose because only a hog had the appetite or the technique to eat one properly.

As a young adult I moved to northern New England (N’Hampsha, to be specific), where the same sandwich designed to be a meal in itself is called a grinder—because you need a good set of grinders to chew them. But my travels around the United States have revealed that the hoagie or grinder is called at least a dozen other names—a bomber, Garibaldi (after the Italian liberator), hero, Italian sandwich, rocket, sub, submarine (which is what we call it here in California), torpedo, wedge, wedgie, zep and, in the deep South, a poor-boy (usually pronounced poh-boy). [KC – I don’t know what a wedgie is in your neck of the woods, but here on the West Coast, a wedgie is something very different from a sandwich!]

In Phillufia, we washed our hoagies down with soda. In New England, we did it with tonic, and by that word I don’t mean medicine. Soda and tonic in other parts are known as pop, soda pop, a soft drink, Coke and quinine.

In northern New England, they take the term milk shake quite literally. To many residing in that little corner of the country, a milk shake consists of milk mixed with flavored syrup—and nothing more—shaken up until foamy. If you live in Rhode Island or in southern Massachusetts and you want ice cream in your milk drink, you ask for a cabinet (named after the square wooden cabinet in which the mixer was encased). If you live farther north, you order a velvet or a frappe (from the French frapper, “to ice”).

For the remainder of Mr. Lederer’s article, click here.

For the language maps, click here.

On a side note, if you are interested in learning a little bit about working with Word, I’m presenting a 60-Minute University class on Thursday, July 28 called: What You Need to Know About MS Word Templates, Track Changes, TOCs, and More. I’ll be focusing on the items in the title and more. Generally, these are Symitar lunchtime classes, but if you want to attend via WebEx, you can.

Here’s some additional information if you are interested:

Time: 11:30-12:30 PT
Location: San Diego, C-124

If you would like to attend a session onsite or via WebEx, register on the LMS (search for 60 minute) or visit the 60-Minute University SharePoint site where you’ll find links to register for sessions, recordings from past sessions, and a link to suggest a 60-Minute University session that you would love to attend (or present).

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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The words faze and phase are often confused because they are homophones (words that sound alike but have different meanings and different spellings). Here is the difference between these two words.

Merriam-Webster defines faze this way: to disturb the composure of

Examples:

· Your criticism does not faze me.

· Although the equipment in the classroom was not functioning properly, the instructor was unfazed and continued with the lesson.

The word phase means:

· a part or step in a process : one part in a series of related action

· a short period of time which a person behaves in a particular way or likes a particular thing

· the shape of the part of the moon that is visible at different times during a month

Examples:

· This phase of the project will focus on coding modifications.

· I’m so glad you grew out of your Michael Jackson phase and stopped wearing that glove with sequins to work.

· A new moon phase occurs when the moon is positioned between the earth and sun.

Here’s a way to remember the difference, courtesy of Vocabulary.com:

“To keep them straight: something that fazes or bothers you might make you want to fight, but please pass through your princess phase as soon as possible.”

Jackie Solano | Technical Editor | Symitar®

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

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Yesterday, I included a sign from our photo contest, and a couple of people responded that the sign made complete sense to them because garbage and trash are different things.

I’d never heard this—I call all of my refuse “garbage”—and thought that maybe it is a difference depending on the area of the U.S. that we’re from. It turns out that there’s all sorts of information on rubbish out there!

Here’s part of a table I found on a website called Speakspeak:

I was still a bit uncertain about the difference between trash and garbage, so I thought I’d see if there are regional differences in the words we use. I didn’t find anything on that exact topic, but I did find this map that shows the regional differences between the use of trash can and garbage can.

I guess it makes sense that I say garbage, since I grew up in Washington state. Does this make sense according to the terms you use and where you’re from? I hope so!

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

This is one of those topics I find interesting because there seems to be an old rule behind it, but it’s not a rule I learned. The question is whether you have to use the word “of” after “a couple.” For example, is it “I’d like a couple of margaritas, please,” or can you just say, “I’d like a couple margaritas”?

I’ve been corrected for forgetting the “of” in some of my Editor’s Corners (though the bartenders never seem to mind my grammar). Then, one of you asked the same question about “of.” Basically, everything I could find about using “a couple of” said that you need the “of.” Here is some additional information I found.

The Chicago Manual of Style says that “(u)sing couple as an adjective is poor phrasing. Add of {we watched a couple of movies}.”

I also read that you can only use “a couple” if you are referring to two people, such as “The couple looked through Bed, Bath, and Beyond for potential wedding gifts.”

Looking a little deeper, I found this from our favorite dictionary, Merriam-Webster, about using the phrase “a couple of” plus the word “more”:

…(M)any people consider a couple of + more ungrammatical, so it shouldn’t be used in formal or academic writing.

In formal and informal English, a couple of can be used with a plural noun, or with an adjective + plural noun, as in these examples:

· a couple of times (= approximately two times)

· a couple of years ago (= approximately two years ago)

· a couple of new chairs (= approximately two new chairs)

A couple of can also be used with the numbers dozen, hundred, thousand, million, and billion to mean that there are approximately two times that number, as in:

· a couple of dozen students (= approximately 24 students)

· a couple of hundred years ago (= approximately two hundred years ago)

A couple of cannot be used with other numbers (a couple of fifty people).

Lastly, here is a little bit more about whether “couple” should be considered singular or plural.

From the New York Times blog:

Couple may be either singular or plural. Used in reference to two distinct but associated people, couple should be construed as a plural: The couple were married in 1952. The couple argued constantly; they [not it] even threw punches. When the idea is one entity rather than two people, couple may be treated as a singular: Each couple was asked to give $10; The couple was the richest on the block. In general, couple causes fewer problems when treated as a plural.

Here are a couple of photos from the contest to lighten the rest of your day (from Jamie Roller):

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

Good morning. It’s a beautiful day today. If I were a golfer, this would be a great day to play. I think I would enjoy playing golf, but I’ve never tried it. Ask my husband—I don’t need another expensive hobby.

A while back, I talked about the meaning of the phrase chip in, and Steve (a friend of the Editor’s Corner), chipped in with a golf-related definition (golfers chip in when they hit a chip shot into the cup). That got me to thinking about other golf-related terms. We all know some common golf terms: birdie, bogey, eagle, and par. And although the following terms may not be new to you regular golfers, I thought they were interesting.

· Banana ball: A slice that curves in a banana like shape from left to right (for right-handed golfers).

· Bent grass: The type of grass that is found in mostly northern climates.

· Casual water: Any temporary puddles of water on the course that are not supposed to be there, like say for instance after a rainstorm. There is no penalty for a player to move his or her ball out of casual water.

· Dogleg: A hole that goes straight for a while then has a bend (or “dogleg”) to the left or right.

· Duffer: One who hits a lot of bad shots. Can also be called a “hacker.” [dbb – OK, I’ve heard this one, but I didn’t know it was a golf term.]

· Fat shot: The club hits the ground behind the ball and results in a poorly struck shot that usually doesn’t go very far.

· Mulligan: An extra shot that your opponent may allow you to take when you hit a really bad first shot. [dbb – Again, not a new term, but who knew it had anything to do with golf? Well, not me, anyway.]

· Sandbagger: A golfer who purposely pretends to be a worse golfer than he or she really is in order to gain an edge in competition.

· Waggle: The movement of the club head just prior to the player taking a swing.

· Whiff: Swinging and missing the ball.

· Worm burner: A shot that skims very low along the ground, thus killing any worms that may be poking their heads up.

If you’d like to read more, click here. Enjoy this lovely day, even if you can’t squeeze in a game of golf.

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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Today’s tidbit is a little bit more information from the book But Can I Start a Sentence with “But”? Advice from the Chicago Manual of Style Q&A.

Q. Is it correct to use parentheses to indicate the possibility of a noun as a singular or plural? Example: Child(ren).

A. I wouldn’t do it. It’s not so much an issue of correctness as of ickiness.

Q. In a policy, I have to indicate that the word facility could be plural. The person editing the document has written it as facility(s). What is the correct way to portray nouns that end in y when necessary to indicate they could be singular or plural?

A. “Facility or facilities” and “one or more facilities” are both clear. And often the simple singular does just fine in implying one or more: “In the event that your facility is struck by terrorists, this contract is void.” You can see that if two facilities were struck by terrorists, the clause would apply to both.

We are definitely in agreement with the CMOS when it comes to the icky factor of using parentheses to indicate a noun might be singular or plural. Not only does it look indecisive, the second you start using verbs it causes more problems. (The child(ren) is (are) going to the store. Ew!)

When writing, spell it out for your reader (as in the second answer “facility or facilities”) or use the single (or plural) version of the noun throughout the document. Your readers know whether they have one facility or two, one server or three, a single wire or fifteen wires—and they can “translate” the verbs from “is” to “are” accordingly.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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Several readers wrote to tell me that they enjoyed last month’s post about the prefix be-, so in the spirit of Hollywood blockbuster season, I churned out a sequel. This week, let’s discuss the prefix a-.

From Greek

Sometimes, a- means not or without, as in words like atypical (not typical), asocial (not social), amoral (neither moral nor immoral), and apolitical (having no interest or involvement in political affairs).

This meaning of the prefix a- comes from Greek. When used in this sense, a-:

• Usually accompanies words with Greek roots (like typikos and politikos) or Latin roots (like socialis and moralis).
• Is usually pronounced with a long a sound (as in day or fade).

From German

What about words like asleep (in a state of sleep) and afoot (on foot)? Why don’t they mean "not sleeping" and "not on foot"?

In addition to Greek and Latin, English borrowed many words from German. Old English used the prefix a- in a variety of ways unrelated to the Greek meaning. Merriam-Webster includes the following definitions:

• on : in : at <abed>
• in (such) a state or condition <afire>
• in (such) a manner <aloud>
• in the act or process of <gone a-hunting> <atingle>

When used in this sense, a-:

• Usually accompanies words with roots in Old High German (like slf, sleep; fuot, foot; betti, bed; fiur, fire; and hlt, loud).
• Is usually pronounced with a neutral vowel sound (as in about or supply).

With the exception of asleep, I think these words sound quaint. Unless you’re trying to write in an old-fashioned style, I recommend using equivalent prepositional phrases when they exist (like on foot, in bed, on fire, and out loud).

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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Dear readers,

I bought a book a couple of weeks ago, the second I found out about it. It is from the Chicago Manual of Style and is based on their monthly Q&A section. I read through it eagerly and look forward to bringing bits and pieces of it to you. It’s called But Can I Start a Sentence with “But”? Advice from the Chicago Manual of Style Q&A. Today’s two entries are about acronyms.

Q. I am proofing an engineering document. There is a section titled “System Engineering Instructions Team (SEIT).” However, this acronym is already defined in the body of a previous section. The argument is that the section in question should simply be titled “SEIT.” However, I don’t think the section title should be reduced to “SEIT” because the reader may not know what SEIT means upon first glance at the table of contents. I say it’s okay to redefine the acronym if it suddenly becomes the title of a major section. Is it ever okay to redefine an acronym after it has already been defined?

A. Of course it’s okay! What good is a rule that says you can’t help the reader when it seems like a good idea? Redefine an acronym whenever a reader might reasonably have forgotten it.

Q. When you write about a GIF in a text, can you just refer to it as a GIF on first reference or do you have to write “graphic interchange format (GIF)”? I don’t think the long version is actually helpful; more people know it as GIF. And I’d be using it as a noun.

A. You never have to do anything that isn’t helpful. If a style guide says you do, you need a better guide.

And now, more from our photo contest in April and May.

From Amber Batriz:

And from George Duda:

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

Good morning, folks. I hope you enjoyed your weekend!

One of our coworkers sent me an article that mentioned the phrase “pie in the sky” and then provided the Korean equivalent, which is “rice cake in a picture.” I tried to think of what, exactly, the idiom “pie in the sky” meant. I gave it my best guess and then checked in with The Free Dictionary and its idioms. Here are a few of their examples.

Pie in the Sky

· McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

1. Fig. a future reward after death, considered as a replacement for a reward not received on earth. Don’t hold out for pie in the sky. Get realistic. If he didn’t hope for some heavenly pie in the sky, he would probably be a real crook.

2. Fig. having to do with a hope for a special reward. (This is hyphenated before a nominal.) Get rid of your pie-in-the-sky ideas! What these pie-in-the-sky people really want is money.

· Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003.

Something good that is unlikely to happen. Our leaders need to offer more than pie in the sky when they talk about political and social issues.

· The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

An empty wish or promise, as in His dream of being hired as a sports editor proved to be pie in the sky. This expression was first recorded in 1911 in a rallying song of a union, the International Workers of the World (or "Wobblies"): "Work and pray, live on hay, you’ll get pie in the sky when you die."

Thank goodness, we are Jack Henrians rather than Wobblies!

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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Hello and happy Friday!

My dear friend, Ron, left a copy of this article about U.S. presidents on my desk. Since the next Presidents’ Day is in February 2017, I thought now would be the second most appropriate time to share this with you, since the Independence Day is coming soon.

This article about presidential names is by Richard Lederer, from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Ulysses S. Grant, our 18th president, came into this world as Hiram Ulysses Grant. When his name was mistakenly entered on the West Point register as Ulysses Simpson Grant , he eagerly embraced the error because he detested the initials H.U.G. and loved having the initials U. S. , as in “United States,” “Uncle Sam” and “Unconditional Surrender.”

Using the nicknames below, identify the real name of each American president. The answers repose at the end of this column.

1. The Great Emancipator

2. Old Hickory

3. The Father of His Country

4. The Sage of Monticello

5. Ike

6. The King of Camelot

7. Tricky Dicky

8. Silent Cal

9. Tippecanoe

10. Old Rough and Ready

11. The Gipper

12. The New Dealer

13. The Rough Rider

14. Big Bill

15. The Bachelor President

Presidents have more than their share of intriguing middle names. Two of them—Ronald Wilson Reagan and William Jefferson Clinton—match the last names of two of their predecessors. Using each middle name listed, identify the full name of each American president:

1. Abram

2. Baines

3. Birchard

4. Delano

5. Fitzgerald

6. Gamaliel

7. Hussein

8. Knox

9. Milhous

10. Quincy

Anybody can ascend to the presidency of the United States. Jefferson did it, Nixon did it and Truman did it. So any Tom, Dick and Harry can become president!

What is the most popular first name among presidents? The answer isn’t Tom, Dick or Harry. It’s James. Six presidents share that first name— Madison, Monroe, Polk, Buchanan, Garfield and Carter (the first president to use his nickname). Tied for second place are William with four—Harrison, McKinley, Taft and Clinton—and John with four—Adams, Quincy Adams, Tyler and Kennedy. Massachusetts is the birth state of three presidents named John—John Adams, John Quincy Adams and John F. Kennedy.

Despite 14 presidents with the first names James, John and William, 19 of our chief executives, starting with Thomas Jefferson and ending with Barack Obama, have first names not shared by any other in the office. Our next president will likely be the 20th.

For the remainder of the article, click here.

For the answers, scroll down a little. Enjoy the holiday!

Quiz 1 (Nickname) Answers:

1. Abraham Lincoln

2. Andrew Jackson

3. George Washington

4. Thomas Jefferson

5. Dwight Eisenhower

6. John Fitzgerald Kennedy

7. Richard Nixon

8. Calvin Coolidge

9. William Henry Harrison

10. Zachary Taylor

11. Ronald Reagan

12. Franklin Roosevelt

13. Theodore Roosevelt

14. William Howard Taft

15. James Buchanan

Quiz 2 (Middle Name) Answers:

1. James Abram Garfield

2. Lyndon Baines Johnson

3. Rutherford Birchard Hayes

4. Franklin Delano Roosevelt

5. John Fitzgerald Kennedy

6. Warren Gamaliel Harding

7. Barrack Hussein Obama

8. James Knox Polk

9. Richard Milhous Nixon

10. John Quincy Adams

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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