Editor's Corner

And now, in an exciting back-to-back email special, I’d like to apologize for any confusion caused by the subject line of the “Inspiring Initialisms” email I just sent. Yes, that was the Editor’s Corner! OK, you caught me, this is my first time contributing and I goofed. But it was fun, right?! Initialisms? Grammar stuff? Good times. Let’s do it again.

Also, kudos to our readers who pointed out that RAM is not an initialism because we pronounce the whole word (ram) instead of each letter separately. Great catch!

Thanks,
Laura Bowers | Technical Writer | Symitar®
8985 Balboa Ave. l San Diego, CA 92123-1507
619.542.6935 l or Ext. 766935

Have you ever wondered whether you should write a or an before FBI? Do you dangle your fingers over the keys indecisively when you need to order a LED… or is it an LED? Today’s word wisdom will educate, inform, and inspire you to use your favorite initialisms with ease. This delightful discussion is taken from the article “Indefinite Article With Initialisms” on Daily Writing Tips.
An initialism is a group of initial letters, each pronounced separately, used as an abbreviation of a name. [LB – At Symitar, we often use initialisms like ATM, AIX, and RAM.]
The following examples were found on major news sites or on sites offering professional services or advice:

• Pieces of the bag recovered have been sent to a FBI lab for forensic testing.
• The 404 or Not Found error message is a HTTP standard response code. [LB – And please, don’t say the page 404’ed.
  404 is a number, not a verb, and adding the apostrophe just makes it worse.]
• Step-by-step tutorial on how to add a LED to a USB thumb drive.

The problem lies in an incomplete understanding of the rule for the use of a and an. Many speakers retain the rule as “Use an before words that begin with a vowel and a before words that begin with a consonant.”
The complete rule is “Use an before words that begin with a vowel sound and a before words that begin with a consonant sound.”
The 26 letters of the alphabet are sound symbols, but the symbols have names. [LB – That’s right, each of the 26 letters of the alphabet is represented by a specific name.] And several of the consonant letters have names that begin with vowel sounds:

• F [ef]
• H [aitch]
• L [el]
• M [em]
• N [en]
• S [es]
• R [ar] [LB – Be careful with this one; your coworkers might think you are growling!]

Here’s the correct way to write the words and initialisms given in boldface above:

• Pieces of the bag recovered have been sent to an FBI lab for forensic testing.
• The 404 or Not Found error message is an HTTP standard response code.
• Step-by-step tutorial on how to add an LED to a USB thumb drive. [LB – Shine bright, little initialism!]

In deciding whether to write a or an in front of an initialism, say the name of the first letter. If the letter name begins with a vowel sound, use an.
Whew! Glad we got that straightened out. Now go forth and confidently place a or an before your favorite initialisms.
Thanks,
Laura Bowers | Technical Writer | Symitar®
8985 Balboa Ave. l San Diego, CA 92123-1507
619.542.6935 l or Ext. 766935

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Hi Folks,

JHA has adopted a new editing tool, Acrolinx®, which is helping your editors ensure that all our documentation is written with one consistent voice. This tool, and the consistency it demands, fits right in with JHA’s goal to operate as One Company.

Today, I thought I’d talk about one of the issues we see quite a lot, so that you can look for it in your own writing. Acrolinx flags sentences that begin with the words this/that/these/those when these words are not followed by a noun. (Your kindly human editors would also always mark these sentences for revision, but we’re very happy to have Acrolinx back us up!).

For instance, the following sentence would be flagged: “This appears because the prompt was not set properly.”

The problem with that sentence is that the word this is not followed by a noun, which often leads to confusion. To fix the sentence, you just need to add the missing noun: “This error message appears because the prompt was not set properly.”

That’s it for today. Don’t forget to have fun!

For my baseball fans:

“You gotta have fun. Regardless of how you look at it, we’re playing a game. It’s a business, it’s our job, but I don’t think you can do well unless you’re having fun.” ~Derek Jeter

Donna Bradley Burcher | Technical Editor, Adv. | Symitar®

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

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Hello! I send emails to Symitar writers and writers in other JHA companies twice a week. The emails are called Nifty Nuggets, and they and provide writing tips in bite-sized portions. I’ll be sharing some nuggets of information with you while I guest-host the Editor’s Corner.

Today’s topic is about clear writing. Clear writing makes it easier for readers to understand the information and processes in technical documentation. Here are some tips from an article called “20 Strategies for Writing in Plain Language” from Daily Writing Tips:

· Identify and understand your readers and their needs: Who are they, and what is their likely reading level? What do they already know about the subject, and what do you want them to know? What do you need to write to convey this information? [JS – You need to know your audience so you can write effectively.]

· Write short sentences; keep the subject, verb, and object close. Place words carefully, and avoid double negatives. [JS – Lengthy sentences make writing difficult to read and understand. Readers should not lose their breath when reading sentences aloud. Trim sentence length by breaking long sentences into two or more separate sentences.]

· Write short paragraphs consisting of one topic, each starting with a topic sentence and linked to other paragraphs with transitional words and phrases such as next or “once you have submitted your application.” [JS – Transitions connect your paragraphs into logically coherent information. Whether they are single words, quick phrases, or full sentences, transitions help readers understand how the information works together. Transitions make
your writing clear and understandable for the reader.]

· Write to the reader, using second-person pronouns rather than third-person pronouns: “You must provide written proof”; “We will respond within seven business days.” This approach encourages you to write in active voice. Define the pronouns so that readers are clear about the categories of people or other entities—audience, information providers, and third parties — referred to as you, we, and they. [JS – Sometimes passive voice is acceptable; however, try to write in active voice as much as possible. Using active voice makes your writing clearer because
you identify the subject performing the action.]

· Don’t shy away from technical terms your audience knows, but avoid jargon. [JS – Avoid using jargon in your writing unless it is appropriate for the audience and no other words fit the situation.]

· Omit unnecessary words: Watch for verbose phrases. [JS – Avoid redundancies and wordy phrases in your writing because they distract, confuse, and bore readers. Make your writing more concise and less time-consuming for the
reader by getting to the point in as few words as possible.]

Jackie Solano | Technical Editor | Symitar®

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

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Good morning and happy Monday. Let’s get this week started!

On Friday, we talked about synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms. And I threatened that we would carry on today with an explanation of why homonyms can be hard to wrap your head around. It’s because there are so many similar but different terms that categorize the group of words we refer to as homonyms. Today I’m going to discuss homophones, homographs, and heteronyms. No one expects you to memorize this information (except maybe your fifth grade teacher), but it will illustrate how complicated the English language is. We have so many different ways to spell the same sounds and different ways to pronounce words that are spelled alike. I feel a need to apologize to all of you English language learners!

Okay, think all the way back to Friday and remember that homonyms are words that have different meanings, but they have the same pronunciation. Homonyms may or may not be spelled the same. I gave these examples:

· bark (the noise a dog makes / the exterior covering of a tree) [dbb – This word is pronounced the same way for both meanings.]

· pair / pare / pear (two / trim / fruit) [dbb – This group of words also fits into the homophone
grouping below, which is where the confusion begins!]

Homophones are listed below. These words have the same pronunciation, but they always have different spellings and different meanings. Some common examples are:

· pair / pare / pear

· accept / except

· coarse / course

· vein / vain / vane

And then there are homographs, which are words that are always spelled the same, but they have different meanings, and they may or may not have the same pronunciation. [dbb – Thank goodness for examples because this is getting confusing; and we expect fifth graders to memorize this!]:

· lie (untruth) / lie (lie down) [dbb – These first two bullets show words that have different meanings, but they have the same pronunciation and the same spelling.]

· bolt (to run) / bolt (a metal bar) / bolt (a roll of cloth)

· tear (moisture from your eye / tear (rip) [dbb – The next three bullets show words that are spelled the same but they have different pronunciations. These words also fit into the
heteronyms grouping below. Oh, those poor fifth graders.]

· bass (fish) / bass (the lowest male singing voice)

· desert (dry climate) / desert (leave alone)

And, finally, there are heteronyms, which are words that have different meanings and a different pronunciation, but they are always spelled the same:

· tear (rip) / tear (moisture from your eye)

· bass (fish) / bass (the lowest male singing voice)

· desert (dry climate) / desert (leave alone)

· dove (bird) / dove (past tense of dive)

· invalid (not valid) / invalid (one suffering from a disability)

Okay, I’m going to have to take a nap now. This English language has worn me out. Have a great day!

Donna Bradley Burcher | Technical Editor, Adv. | Symitar®

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

Per the JHA Style Guide for Technical Communication and Training, avoid abbreviating words and phrases. Spell out the word instead. Here are some examples:

When you use an abbreviation, spell out the first instance in each topic.

Incorrect:

Your CU can customize the ELA.

Correct:

Your credit union can customize the Enhanced Loan Application (ELA).

Jackie Solano | Technical Editor | Symitar®

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

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I’m starting the weekend a day early with Thursday mondegreens. Before I do, however, I want to tell you a secret. I am sharing the next couple of weeks in Editor’s Corner with three of my favorite women: Donna Bradley Burcher, Jackie Solano, and Laura Bowers. It’s a little crowded in the corner, so it’s a good thing we get along.

Please welcome my co-editors as they continue to pass along grammar tidbits, vocabulary vittles, and language lumps to you for your reading and learning pleasure.

Today’s mondegreens are from The Ants Are My Friends, by Martin Toseland.

Next time we meet, I hope to have a lot of interesting information to share and tales to tell!

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

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I don’t know if any of you learned the song “I Can Sing a Rainbow” as kids, but my brother and I learned a jacked-up version of it in Catholic school and it did NOT help us remember the order of colors in a prism later on. The song talks about pink, for goodness sake—and leaves indigo out altogether! But I digress.

Today’s little nugget of wisdom, from Daily Writing Tips, is about some colorful words we have borrowed from Greek.

Black
We get the combining form melano from the Greek word meaning dark or black.

· melancholy: a gloomy mental state; according to ancient physiology, a humor called “black bile” was secreted by the kidneys and the spleen, and was thought to cause melancholia.

· melanoma: a skin tumor containing a dark pigment.

· melanin: any dark brown or black pigments of animal or plant structures, for example, hair, or the surface of a raw potato when exposed to air.

White
The element leuk in certain medical terms is from the Greek word for white.

· leukemia: a chronic disease characterized by an abnormal increase in the number of white blood cells.

· leukocyte: a white blood cell.

Red
The Greek word for red gives us the combining form erythro, which is used in the specialized terminology of medicine, chemistry, and mineralogy.

· erythrophyll: the red coloring matter of leaves in autumn.

· erythroretin: a resinous constituent of rhubarb root.

· erythroscope: an optical contrivance, by which the green of foliage is caused to appear red, while all other green objects retain their natural color.

· erythrocyte: a red blood corpuscle.

Blue
Cyan is the Greek word for dark blue, but what artists call “cyan blue” is a color midway between green and blue.

· cyanide: an extremely poisonous crystalline solid. It got its name because it was first obtained by heating the dye pigment known as Prussian blue.

· cyanin: the blue coloring matter of certain flowers (e.g., violets and cornflowers).

· cyanosis: blueness of the skin owing to the circulation of imperfectly oxygenated blood.

Green
The Greek word from which we get the combining form chlor described a pale green.

· chlorophyll: the coloring matter of the leaves and other green parts of plants.

· chlorine: a yellowish-green heavy gas.

Finally, the Greek word for color gives us the combining form chromo, which creates nouns and adjectives that denote colored objects, coloring processes, and coloring agents:

· chromatic: full of color.

· polychrome: art executed in many colors.

· chromium: a metallic element remarkable for the brilliant colors—red, yellow, or green—of its compounds.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Regarding my post earlier today, my sincerest apologies for confusing United States Representative, Paul Ryan, with an imaginary senator, John Ryan. Perhaps his boyish good looks and widow’s peak got me all a-twitter and I not only botched his title, but his name.

US Representative (Wisconsin) Paul Ryan

My apologies also to Tom Clancy fans, who envision John Patrick “Jack” Ryan as one of these leading men (none of whom have a widow’s peak):

Your humble servant,

Editrix the Errorist

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As I visited with my parents the other day and caught them up on things, I mentioned that my friend, co-worker, and Nifty Nuggets writer, Jackie, calls me “Eddie.”

“Oh how cute,” my dad said, “Eddie the editor.”

“That is cute,” I said, “But actually she calls me Eddie, as in ‘Eddie Munster,’ because when my hair was short you could see my widow’s peak.”

Eddie Munster

In case you aren’t familiar with the term widow’s peak, it is when the hairline on your forehead comes to a “V” in the middle—like Eddie Munster, Count Dracula, and other famously “peaked” individuals.

Marilyn Monroe, with the most glamorous of widow’s peaks

US Senator John Ryan, sporting a prominent widow’s peak

So after comparing hairlines and discussing other terms, like the widow’s walk on a house, we came back to pondering where the term widow’s peak comes from. This one’s for you, Dad!

According to Wikipedia:

The term stems from the belief that hair growing to a point on the forehead—suggestive of the peak of a widow’s hood—is an omen of early widowhood. The use of peak in relation to hair dates from 1833. The expression widow’s peak dates from 1849. The use of peak may refer to the beak or bill of a headdress, particularly the distinctive hood with a pointed piece in front.

Another explanation for the origin of the phrase suggests that it may be related to the mourning caps worn as early as the 16th century. A mourning cap or “Mary Stuart Cap” is a cap which features a very distinctive triangular fold of cloth in the middle of the forehead, creating an artificial widow’s peak.

Mary Stuart (Mary, Queen of Scots) in a “widow’s cap”

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory