Editor's Corner

Boy, I went away for a couple days to visit my brother and his family and it really fouled up my calendar! I originally started this email “Happy Thursday” and picked a quiz because I used to do that on Thursdays as a habit. Well, let’s just pretend it is Thursday and I’ll provide you with this vocabulary quiz from GrammarBook.com. Ihave some other things planned, but I haven’t had a chance to write them yet.

For now, here is a short vocabulary quiz. Once you’ve taken it, scroll down further for the answers and examples.

1. arcane

A) evil
B) sweet
C) mysterious
D) curved

2. temerity

A) boldness
B) fear
C) inflexibility
D) foresight

3. feckless

A) uninformed
B) sterile
C) incompetent
D) distasteful

4. precipitous

A) unexpected
B) edgy
C) clean
D) steep

5. stolid

A) muscular
B) impassive
C) watchful
D) confused

6. egregious

A) outrageous
B) angry
C) desperate
D) life-changing

7. trenchant

A) watery
B) sharp
C) melodic
D) handy

8. assuage

A) demolish
B) predict
C) relieve
D) condemn

9. protean

A) healthy
B) versatile
C) unruly
D) implausible

10. oxymoron

A) a complete fool
B) a muscular bully
C) a legal document that voids a contract
D) a phrase that seems to contradict itself

ANSWERS

1: C) mysterious. Their arcane habits and practices shocked our Western eyes.

2: A) boldness. He had the temerity to disobey the judge’s orders.

3: C) incompetent. Rita’s feckless cousin just lost another job.

4: D) steep. The young hikers turned back, unwilling to scale the precipitous cliffs.

5: B) impassive. I wished that my class of stolid undergraduates were more interested in what was happening around them.

6: A) outrageous. This was an egregious act of betrayal.

7: B) sharp. Oscar’s trenchant wit won him many an argument.

8: C) relieve. To assuage her guilt, she decided to change her ways.

9: B) versatile. He is a protean musician who can play in almost any style.

10: D) a phrase that seems to contradict itself. Isn’t “jumbo shrimp” an oxymoron?

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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I’ve used this word before, but I’ve also wondered where it came from. Maybe my confusion was thinking that it was spelled “toe head”? For your reading entertainment on towheads, I have a short article for you, with additional examples here, at the Grammarist.

A towhead is a person with very light, blond or yellow-colored hair. The adjective form is towheaded, and either word may be hyphenated as in tow-head and tow-headed. Towhead is first seen in 1830. Tow is another word for flax, jute or hemp that is ready for spinning. Flax and hemp that is prepared for spinning is light-colored, hence a person with hair that is exceedingly light-colored or yellow would be a towhead. The word tow meaning fiber ready to spin appears in the fourteenth century, probably from the Old Norse word to, meaning uncleaned wool or flax, unworked fiber of thread. Towheaded children’s hair often darkens as they age into adulthood

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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Good morning, folks. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend as much as I did.

Today I’m going to talk to you about how you should indicate that a noun can be either singular or plural. Many writers use (s) for this purpose. For example, “Check the error(s) in the log file.”

This habit creates clunky sentences that slow your readers down, which is one reason that most style guides advise against using (s).

Our own highly acclaimed Symitar Style Guide says, “Just use the plural form . . . because the plural covers the singular.”

Example:

• Incorrect: The file(s) referenced in the document(s) must be created and maintained by someone who has the appropriate authorization.
• Correct: The files referenced in the documents must be created and maintained by someone who has the appropriate authorization.

You do have another option, if you need it. You can also use each, every, or any of before the noun to make it singular.

Example:

· Incorrect: Return the column(s) to their original position(s).

· Correct: Return each column to its original position.

And of course, you can always revise the sentence.

Example:

· Incorrect: Check the error(s) in the log file.

· Correct: Check the log file for errors.

So, you have several convenient options, and that means that you can leave the prickly, confusing (s) behind.

Donna Bradley Burcher | Senior Technical Editor | Symitar®

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

Not long ago, I shared some misplaced modifiers with you and I got a lot of positive responses, so because it’s fun Friday, I’m going to share some more funny ones.

First some definitions:

· A modifier is a word of phrase that adds detail or description to a sentence.

· A misplaced modifier is a phrase or clause that is in the wrong place in the sentence. It acts on (modifies) something other than what the writer intended.

Here are some stunning examples of misplaced modifiers:

· He wore a straw hat on his head, which was obviously too small.

· I saw the dead raccoon driving down the interstate.

· My parents bought a dog for my brother named Spot.

· I have several very old dresses from my grandmother in beautiful condition.

· While camping, I saw a bear in my pajamas.

· I gave some food to my kitten and chopped it up.

· Pizza was given to the teenagers that had pepperoni and olives on them.

· The hunter crouched behind a tree waiting for a bear to come along with a bow and arrow.

· Abraham Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg address while traveling from Washington to Gettysburg on the back of an envelope.

· For sale: an antique desk suitable for a lady with thick legs and large drawers.

· Mixing bowl set designed to please a cook with round bottom for efficient beating.

Enjoy your day and your weekend!

Donna Bradley Burcher | Senior Technical Editor | Symitar®

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

Where do periods and commas go when I use quotation marks?

This is something people ask me often, probably because we are exposed to so much news and information each day coming from different areas of the world.

As I’ve mentioned before, in the United States, we put our periods and commas inside the quotation marks. Here are a few examples for you:

· Sandra said, “No. I will not pick your sister up at the airport.”

· “Yes,” said Victor, “I love to ski!”

· “Barnaby,” whispered Simone, “Will you take my hand and dance with me?”

In Britain, it is the other way around, and the periods and commas come after the quotation marks:

· Mrs. Gunderson said, “Yes, I’d love to”.

· “No”, said Herbert, “I will not follow you”.

As most of us reading this are here in the United States, we editors expect you to use the periods and commas within the quotation marks while writing prose.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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Good morning, my sweet grammar lovers.

Here’s a common topic in the editing world: parallelism. I have tried to explain it often, but here it is from Grammar Girl’s book, Punctuation 911: Your Guide to Writing it Right. Let’s see if her explanation helps some of you understand what us editors are talking about when we say, “These bullets are not parallel.”

(D)on’t forget to be a good writer and make sure all of your list items are parallel. That means each list item should be structured the same way. They should all be fragments or they should all be complete sentences. If you start one bullet point with a verb, start every bullet point with a verb. Here’s an example of a list that uses parallel construction:

For Aardvark, a vacation involves

· Attending lectures

· Reading books

· Seeing sights

Each bullet point is formed the same way— each one starts with a verb. On the other hand, even though the following list is grammatically correct, it’s considered poor writing because the list items aren’t parallel.

For Aardvark, a vacation involves

· Attending lectures

· Books

· Many trips to famous destinations

For more information on parallelism, see this Nifty Nugget from last year:

https://episystechpubs.com/2014/07/24/nifty-nuggets-parallelism/

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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More than a few times, we editors have discussed not using jargon (such as leverage, onboarding, scalable, etc.) in business writing unless it is necessary. You should always choose to use a more common, everyday word, when you can. Merriam-Webster defines jargon as “the language used for a particular activity or by a particular group of people.”

We want to be professional at work, so you should also avoid using texting and Internet slang in business emails and documentation (such as LOL, IMHO, BTW, etc.). You want to avoid this type of slang because some people may not be familiar with it, which can lead to confusion.

Jackie Solano | Technical Editor | Symitar®

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

Symitar Documentation Services

Today I was looking for something fun about idiomatic phrases. What I came up with are not American phrases but this list of translated phrases from a TEDBlog. Here are a few to get you started. I will share more with you next week if you like them!

It’s a piece of cake. You can’t put lipstick on a pig. Why add fuel to the fire? Idioms are those phrases that mean more than the sum of their words. As our Open Translation Project volunteers translate TED Talks into 105 languages, they’re often challenged to translate English idioms into their language. Which made us wonder: what are their favorite idioms in their own tongue?

Below, we asked translators to share their favorite idioms and how they would translate literally. The results are laugh-out-loud funny.

From German translator Johanna Pichler:

The idiom: Tomaten auf den Augen haben.
Literal translation: “You have tomatoes on your eyes.”
What it means: “You are not seeing what everyone else can see. It refers to real objects, though — not abstract meanings.”

The idiom: Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof.
Literal translation: “I only understand the train station.”
What it means: “I don’t understand a thing about what that person is saying.”

The idiom: Die Katze im Sack kaufen.
Literal translation: “To buy a cat in a sack.”
What it means: That a buyer purchased something without inspecting it first.
Other languages this idiom exists in: We hear from translators that this is an idiom in Swedish, Polish, Latvian and Norwegian. In English, the phrase is “buying a pig in poke,” but English speakers do also say “let the cat out of the bag,” which means to reveal something that’s supposed to be secret.

From Swedish translator Matti Jääro:

The idiom: Det är ingen ko på isen
Literal translation: “There’s no cow on the ice.”
What it means: “There’s no need to worry. We also use ‘Det är ingen fara på taket,’ or ‘There’s no danger on the roof,’ to mean the same thing.”

The idiom: Att glida in på en räkmacka
Literal translation: “To slide in on a shrimp sandwich.”
What it means: “It refers to somebody who didn’t have to work to get where they are.”

The idiom: Det föll mellan stolarna
Literal translation: “It fell between chairs.”
What it means: “It’s an excuse you use when two people were supposed to do it, but nobody did. It has evolved into the slightly ironic phrase, ‘It fell between the chair,’ which you use when you want to say, ‘Yeah, I know I was supposed to do it but I forgot.’”

From Thai translator Kelwalin Dhanasarnsombut:

The idiom: เอาหูไปนาเอาตาไปไร่
Literal translation: “Take ears to the field, take eyes to the farm.”
What it means: “It means ‘don’t pay any attention.’ Almost like ‘don’t bring your eyes and ears with you.’ If that were possible.”

The idiom: ชาติหน้าตอนบ่าย ๆ
Literal translation: “One afternoon in your next reincarnation.”
What it means: “It’s never gonna happen.”
Other languages this idiom exists in: A phrase that means a similar thing in English: “When pigs fly.” In French, the same idea is conveyed by the phrase, “when hens have teeth (quand les poules auront des dents).” In Russian, it’s the intriguing phrase, “When a lobster whistles on top of a mountain (Когда рак на горе свистнет).” And in Dutch, it’s “When the cows are dancing on the ice (Als de koeien op het ijs dansen).”

From Latvian translator Ilze Garda and Kristaps Kadiķis:

The idiom: Pūst pīlītes.
Literal translation: “To blow little ducks.”
What it means: “It means to talk nonsense or to lie.”
Other language connections: In Croatian, when someone is obviously lying to someone, you say that they are “throwing cream into their eyes (bacati kajmak u oči).”

The idiom: Ej bekot.
Literal translation: “‘Go pick mushrooms,’ or, more specifically, ‘Go pick boletes!’”
What it means: “Go away and/or leave me alone.”

From French translator Patrick Brault:

The idiom: Avaler des couleuvres.
Literal translation: “To swallow grass snakes.”
What it means: “It means being so insulted that you’re not able to reply.”

The idiom: Sauter du coq à l’âne.
Literal translation: “To jump from the [rooster] to the donkey.”
What it means: “It means to keep changing topics without logic in a conversation.”

The idiom: Se regarder en chiens de faïence.
Literal translation: “To look at each other like earthenware dogs.”
What it means: “Basically, to look at each other coldly, with distrust.”

The idiom: Les carottes sont cuites!
Literal translation: “The carrots are cooked!”
What it means: “The situation can’t be changed.”
Other language connections: It’s bit like the phrase, “It’s no use crying over spilt milk,” in English.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

This isn’t something you’re likely to see in our technical documentation, but I enjoyed this article from our local paper and thought I’d share a portion of it with you. It is from Richard Lederer’s column in the San Diego Union Tribune on October 3, 2015. The topic of the day is sonnets.

The Elizabethan age was the age of the sonnet. It was during that period that this compact, highly structured poetic form landed in England and flourished, with William Shakespeare becoming its most luminous practitioner.

Robert Frost once said that writing poetry without rhyme or meter is “like playing tennis without a net.” Writers have long been fascinated by fixed poetic forms that impose a rigorous discipline, whose rhythmical patterns, regular rhyme schemes and limited number of lines force meticulous shaping of material. The Japanese, for example, love to write ultra-brief haikus, cobbled from only 17 carefully chosen syllables. In English, the sonnet has been the most popular and durable short poetic form.

The English, or Shakespearean, sonnet consists of 14 lines of iambic pentameter (five “feet” of unstressed-then-stressed syllables) broken into three quatrains (four-line units) and a couplet and cast in a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. The three quatrains develop an idea or theme, and the final couplet puts forth a conclusion, a summary, an application, a narrowing of focus or even a surprise reversal.

The sonnet has endured and prevailed because it exerts tremendous pressure per square syllable and accomplishes a great deal in a small space. The compactness of the form radiates pleasure not for itself but for what it can do to shape and share the hum and buzz of life. Here’s a poem I have composed for the evening of Celebrity Sonnets:

A Sonnet about Sonnets

Our Bard did not invent the stately sonnet.

The hundred fifty-four in his collection

Remade the vessel, thus improved upon it

And lit its form and function with perfection.

He pours his thoughts on life and death and time

Into three quatrains and a couplet brief.

To a youth fair and lady dark, in rhyme,

He sings of lust and love and joy and grief.

To think that God once made a man like him.

In such a miracle we all rejoice.

His words fly up and reach a spatial rim.

His sonnet trove proclaims his timeless voice.

Across four centuries he calls us still —

Our Bard, our Shakespeare, our own living Will.

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

NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. The message,
together with any attachment, may contain confidential and/or privileged information.
Any unauthorized review, use, printing, saving, copying, disclosure or distribution
is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please
immediately advise the sender by reply email and delete all copies.

Here’s an interesting answer about an oft-used phrase. This exchange is from World Wide Words:

Keep Your Eyes Peeled

Q. Can you enlighten me on the origin of the expression keep your eyes peeled or pealed?

A. It’s spelled peeled, as in peeling an apple. It derives from an old verb pill, “to plunder,” which is the root of our modern word pillage. It came to us from the Latin root pilare, meaning “to take the hair off, pluck” (closely connected with our depilate), but which also had the figurative meaning of “plunder, cheat,” almost exactly the same as the figurative meaning of our modern verbs fleece or pluck. From about the 17th century on, pill was commonly spelt peel and took on the sense of “to remove or strip” in the weakened sense of removing an outer covering, such as a fruit. The figurative sense of keeping alert, by removing any covering of the eye that might impede vision, seems to have appeared in the United States about 1850.

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
exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. The message,
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immediately advise the sender by reply email and delete all copies.