Editor's Corner

I wish a Happy Left-Handers Day to those of you with special southpaw talents. I was raised Catholic and I know the Catholic Church frowned upon left-handedness as evil, and judging from the translations below, they weren’t the only ones.

The following list was compiled by Eileen Kreckman, with one addition from me. (Thanks, Eileen!)

The English word “left” is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word lyft, implying “weak or broken.” In Scotland, they have a saying about unlucky people: He must have been baptized by a left-handed priest.

In most Indo-European languages, the word denoting the right side means “correct.”

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

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Hey, all y’all! My little foray into the language of the South certainly stirred up some stories. Here are a couple of additional lessons I received from some of my favorite subscribers. I have left out names to protect the innocent. Thank you so much for continuing my education!

· Regarding some of her Alabaman kin:

“Fixin’ to” is one I use myself in speech, although I don’t believe I’ve used it in the written word. I heard “used to could” in a Jeff Foxworthy routine, and, I think I’ve heard it elsewhere as well. One my cousins use a lot is “I reckon” when we would say “Yes” or “I suppose so.” Another that really tickles me, although, like “I reckon” it isn’t necessarily incorrect, just different, is “mash” the button (where we would say “press” or “push”) or even “mash the gas pedal”. They also “cut on” and “cut off” the TV or the lights, and they “crank” the car.

· On the triple modals, or stacking, if you prefer, I’ll give you an example of when oughta is usually thrown in to the mix.

Say, for instance, that you’re at a party, and your old boyfriend shows up—and he looks really hot. Your best friend looks at you and says “You might shoulda kept him.” I would probably look back at her and say, “I might oughta should’ve.“

But it’s too late now, and besides, your husband is walking across the room with a drink in his hand for you, and he’s not aware that there is an old boyfriend of yours at the party. Then your friend again looks at you and says, “You need to tell your husband before someone else tells him you and Bobby used to be an item. You might could explain that you were the one who broke things off with Bobby and that might could make him feel less riled up about it.” And you whisper sarcastically to your best friend, “Well, it oughta should!”

· I think I found your “fixin’ to” etymology. My Google-fu is strong. (D.M.)

The earliest example in writing is by an American-born colonist, Col. Benjamin Church, who fought in the First Indian War in the late 1600s. In his account of the conflict, History of King Philip’s War (1716), he wrote: “He fixes for another Expedition.”

—Grammarphobia

[KC – What?! Could it be? A person named Church is credited with the first written example of using “fix” to mean
get ready or prepare? Okay. I’ll try to use it at least once a year in honor of this potential relative.]

· Here’s a lesson several of you sent to this ignorant West Coaster:

· And the best advertising campaign I saw:

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

I found a delightful set of tips on avoiding and fixing the passive voice, one of the top “crimes” we see here at Symitar Editing. Rather than get right into that, however, I’m going to bore you with one more article that’s a result from my North Carolina vacation.

Today’s lesson is from our visit to the Wright Brothers’ Monument in Kitty Hawk, NC. We learned a few new words and concepts while we were there that I thought I would share with you.

First, here’s Wilbur strapped into the 1903 Wright Flyer I. No, he’s not lying on the plane backwards. Initially, the lift of planes was controlled in the front.

Here’s a diagram of the same plane with the parts and motions marked.

The ranger explained that several of the part names are derived from French:

· fuselage (from the French word for spindle) – the body of the airplane

· canard (the French word for duck) – the “elevator,” the front portion of the Wright brothers’ plane

· aileron (the French word for fin) – the tip of the wing

And lastly, we learned about the different motions of the airplane (roll, pitch, and yaw) and which parts of the plane control those motions. I’ve added a text box next to the lovely graphic from PBS, above.

That’s your lesson for the day. Fly! Be free!

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

Today I’m sharing some tips from a Grammer Girl article called “How to Write Clear Sentences.” The tips mentioned in this article may seem minor; however, they can make a difference between ambiguious, and clear and concise writing.

· Cut out the clutter, such as deadwood phrases (due to the fact that, in order to, in the event that, at this point in time, prior to the start of, etc.). You can improve your writing by replacing these phrases with a more simple, straightforward alternative.

· Get rid of single-word modifiers that don’t enhance the meaning of your sentences, such as very, and really.

Example: We have a very big problem here.

[JS: The word
very doesn’t add any value to the sentence; it’s just an extra word. There can’t be a
slightly big problem. The problem is either big or small.]

· Unless you are creating a conditional sentence, avoid starting sentences with the word if because it just adds words to your sentences. Instead, be direct.

Example: If you want to make your system run faster, you should purge files.

Rewrite: To make your system run faster, purge files.

· Review your sentences and make sure that the helping verbs (may, might, can, must, should, used to, need, etc.) are really helping the main verbs. Use imperatives and avoid modal verbs whenever possible so that your sentences are clear and direct.

Example: You can restrict user access by setting the Restrict User parameter to Yes.

Rewrite: To restrict user access, set the Restrict User parameter to Yes.

“Good writing is clear and concise and gets to the point. Readers don’t want to rummage through a messy verbal flea market to discover one or two sparkly gems of information.” (Julie Wildhaber)

Jackie Solano | Technical Editor | Symitar®

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

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It’s been several weeks now since Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia utter the terms “pure applesauce” and “jiggery-pokery,” but I’ve had some delightful conversations about the terms so I thought I’d cover them here. (Edith, this higgledy-piggledy jiggery-pokery is for you!)

Pure applesauce, in this context, does not mean that your side dish has no additives or preservatives. Justice Scalia was using the term to mean “nonsense.” According to Merriam-Webster, applesauce is slang for “an insincere expression of opinion; an assertion that is patently absurd and usually phrased in exaggerated terms; bunk; baloney.” The Online Etymology Dictionary lists this slang use from the early 1920s.

Merriam-Webster’s definition of jiggery-pokery is simply delightful. It is listed as a chiefly British term meaning “humbug; nonsense.” The second definition is, “underhanded dealings, conniving, or manipulations; monkey business; skullduggery.” The etymology indicates that it is a variant of the Scottish term “joukery-pawkery,” dated around the late 1800s.

I’d say that Justice Scalia chose to use some great substitutions for our more common, vulgar term that has a first word that starts with B and a second word that starts with S.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Symitar Documentation Services

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Imagine my joy when this month’s Q&A from the Chicago Manual of Style included these timely and sassy items. The grammar police are alive and well, and they are as snarky as ever!

Q. In a sentence like “the authors thank Natalie and Isabel for her editorial assistance,” is it grammatically correct to use the pronoun her and not their?

A. If the authors intend to thank both Natalie and Isabel for assistance, then their is the right choice. However, if the sentence means “The authors thank Natalie [for something other than assistance, but we aren’t saying what] and [we also thank] Isabel for her assistance,” then even if it is technically grammatical (debatable), it is nonetheless confusing. (Correct grammar does not mean everything’s OK. “Striped sentences wish green habits” is grammatical.) In short, your sentence is a disaster and must be rewritten for clarity.

Q. Is it equally acceptable to say “My friends and I went to the concert” and “I and my friends went to the concert”?

A. No; the second construction is popular but not yet considered proper.

Q. I’m wondering how you would handle a possessive of a city-and-state combination: While we were able to recast the sentence, suppose we need to express “the streets of Anytown, New York” as compactly as possible. “Anytown, New York’s, streets” puts the possessive squarely on “New York” because of the necessary comma—and you couldn’t do the logical “Anytown, New York,’s streets” as if the commas were parentheses! Or do we just bite the bullet and have an even longer sentence?

A. Yes—please—bite the bullet.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

During our vacation, my husband and I stopped to get some East Coast bagels from a place called Max’s Deli. I noticed this sign and I thought it was pretty cute:

As I’ve mentioned in the past, we English speakers often find ourselves searching for a way to address multiple people in the second person. Though “you” covers one person or more than one person, many people find it lacking. English speakers around the world have come up with several different terms to fill the second person plural gap (from Wikipedia):

• y’all, or you all – Southern United States and African American Vernacular English. Y’all is also occasionally used for the second person singular.
• you guys – U.S., particularly in the Midwest, Northeast, South Florida, and West Coast; Canada; Australia. Used regardless of the genders of those referred to.
• you lot – UK
• yous(e) – Ireland, Tyneside, Merseyside, Central Scotland, and Australia
• yous(e) guys – in the U.S., particularly in New York City region, Philadelphia, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
• you-uns/yinz – Western Pennsylvania, Northeastern Pennsylvania, The Ozarks, The Appalachians
• ye/yee/yees/yiz – Ireland, Tyneside
• allyuh – Trinidad and Tobago

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

Hello!

After a lovely week meeting family in the Outer Banks (OBX) of North Carolina, I have a few language souvenirs for you from my vacation. Today’s topic seems quite timely, since a week or so before I left, someone asked me about the etymology of the term “fixin’ to” (meaning to get ready to or prepare to do something). For example, I’m fixin’ to eat me a bowl of grits.

While I didn’t have much luck with an etymology for this phrase, I found a very interesting article on Wikipedia about Southern American English. I have included some selections from the article on the shared features of old and new Southern American English (below).

Regions speaking Southern American English

Shared Features (from Wikipedia)

These grammatical features are characteristic of both older Southern American English and newer Southern American English.

· Use of done as an auxiliary verb between the subject and verb in sentences conveying the past tense.

I done told you before.

· Use of other non-standard preterites [KC – verb tenses], such as drownded as the past tense of drown, knowed as past tense of know, choosed as the past tense of choose, degradated as the past tense of degrade.

I knowed you for a fool soon as I seen you.

· Use of was in place of were, or other words regularizing the past tense of be to was.

You was sittin’ on that chair.

· Use of double modals (might could, might should, might would, used to could, etc.—also called "modal stacking") and sometimes even triple modals that involve oughta (like might should oughta).

I might could climb to the top.

I used to could do that.

· Use of (a-)fixin’ to, or just "fixing to" in more modern Southern, to indicate immediate future action in place of intending to, preparing to, or about to.

He’s fixin’ to eat.

They’re fixin’ to go for a hike.

· Use of ever in place of every.

Ever’where’s the same these days.

· Use of "over yonder" in place of "over there" or "in or at that indicated place," especially to refer to a particularly different spot, such as in "the house over yonder." Additionally, "yonder" tends to refer to a third, larger degree of distance beyond both "here" and "there," indicating that something is a longer way away, and to a lesser extent, in a wide or loosely defined expanse, as in the church hymn "When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder."

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

Good morning, readers!

I received the following list of commonly misspelled words and thought it would be a good idea to share them with you since I see these misspellings a lot. A few of these words really are a little tricky.

Some of the world’s brightest minds were not the best spellers, so they relied on editors and colleagues to check their work before publishing. We’re lucky today. We can still rely on editors and colleagues, and we also have spell checking software.

No, the software doesn’t catch everything. (It won’t tell you when you’ve used the wrong word. For instance, it didn’t point out that I used the word “and” rather than “an” in my most recent Editor’s Corner post.) But spell checkers will catch glaring mistakes like the ones below. And for those other typos, we all just have to read and reread our communications before we send them out to make sure that they are error-free.

Here are 10 words you should watch out for. The ten words and the commentary are from Daily Writing Tips:

1. argument
The verb is argue, but the noun is argument.

2. calendar
The register on which you schedule your appointments is spelled calendar. Yes, there is a specialized term spelled calender that refers to paper production, but I doubt that it accounts for millions of uses.

3. cemetery
There are three e’s in cemetery. Nary an a in sight.

4. definite
Think, finite, infinite, infinity. Look at all those i’s. No a’s anywhere in definite.

5. finally
The adjective is final. The adverb is finally. Double that l in finally.

6. forty
One less than five is spelled four. One more than thirty-nine is spelled forty.

7. its (possessive adjective)
The problem with this habitual misspelling is that both its and it’s are English spellings. It’s is a contraction of the words “It is.” Its is a possessive adjective, like his. The best advice is to spell out “it is” when that is your meaning. You cannot rely on grammar/spell checkers to catch this one. Indeed, Word often advises me to write “it’s” when the context calls for its.

8. separate
Take the word by syllables: sep-a-rate. Yes, we pronounce it [sep-uh-ret], but we spell it sep-a-rate. Look for “a rat” in sep.a.rat.e.

9. tragedy
The g in tragedy is soft. The e makes the g soft. No extra d, please.

10. truly
The adjective is true. The adverb is truly.

“One piece of wisdom a writer quickly learns—typos keep you humble.” ~E.A. Buchianeri

Donna Bradley Burcher | Senior Technical Editor | Symitar®

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

NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
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is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please
immediately advise the sender by reply email and delete all copies.

Happy Friday! Today I am continuing to pay homage to the comma and sharing some examples of missing commas. Enjoy your weekend.

Jackie Solano | Technical Editor | Symitar®

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

Symitar Documentation Services