Editor's Corner

Please refer to these guidelines when writing about keyboard terms. The guidelines in black font are from the JHA Style Guide for Technical Communication and Training and the one in blue font is a Symitar standard.

Thank you,

Jackie Solano

Technical Writer, Episys Technical Publications

Symitar®

8985 Balboa Avenue

San Diego, California 92123

Direct Line: 619-542-6711

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After sending out a recent Editor’s Corner about one of my pet peeves, a few of you sent me your own personal pet peeves and asked me to expound on them.

Thanks to an email from Ivonne, today I’ll address in regard to vs. in regards to (singular vs. plural).

Ivonne knew, but you may wonder, which is correct?

Lots of people get this one wrong. The correct usage is in regard to (singular). For instance, you would say, “This email is in regard to your question about correct English usage.”

But better yet, consider finding a less antiquated and wordy way to say what you mean. You can often use about in place of in regard to. Or, to be more direct, you can completely rewrite a sentence. Check out this progression of revisions:

Wordy start:In regard to your homeowner’s insurance, it was cancelled before the flood occurred.

Still too wordy: About your homeowner’s insurance, it was cancelled before the flood occurred.

Concise revision: Your homeowner’s insurance was canceled before the flood occurred.

How wordiness affects your editor:

For more information on this topic, read this article from Quick and Dirty Tips.

Donna Bradley Burcher | Technical Editor | Symitar®

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

Dear Editrix,

Can you cover the difference between ability and capability? I often see these used in technical documentation. For example:

· Our users have the ability to process transactions.

· Our users have the capability to process transactions.

Thanks!

Ready, Willing, and Able in a San Antonio Stable

Dear RWASAS,

You have raised an interesting question and I have several things to say about those examples.

1) They are overly wordy.

2) They are very typical in the technical documentation world.

3) I think there are more appropriate ways to communicate the message.

First, here are some definitions from Merriam-Webster:

· ability (noun)

1: the quality or state of being able: physical, mental, or legal power to perform: competence in doing: skill

2: natural talent or acquired proficiency especially in a particular work or activity: aptitude

· capability (noun)

1: the quality or state of being capable physically, intellectually, morally, or legally: capacity, ability

Now, let’s look back at the examples:

· Our users have the ability to process transactions.

· Our users have the capability to process transactions.

What are we telling the reader? We are telling them, as users of our product, they have the skill and aptitude (ability) to use the product. How would we know? Better to focus on the product. (See bullets below.)

The same goes for capability. Are we telling the reader that people using our products are physically or mentally able to use our products? Again, I don’t think that is the message.

Try these on for size:

· Users can process transactions with Product X. (too passive)

· Use Product X to process transactions. (direct, to the point) Yay!

Sometimes it is best to focus on the main point of the sentence and rewrite it to get your idea across.

Sincerely,

Editrix

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We’re past graduation season, but just the other day someone was telling me how annoying it is when bumper stickers misuse the terms that follow. Here is a brief lesson on alumnus, alumna, and alumni—but not aluminum or aluminium. From The Grammar Devotional, by Mignon Fogarty:

· A female graduate is an alumna, and a group of them are alumnae.

· A male graduate is an alumnus, and a group of them are alumni.

· If a graduation party includes both male and female graduates, they are collectively called alumni.

· In casual settings, people sometimes dodge the gender specificity and use the more generic terms alum and alums.

I hope you enjoyed your Fourth of July holiday!

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Use these guidelines from the JHA Style Guide for Technical Communication and Training when describing mouse terms.

Thank you,

Jackie Solano

Technical Writer, Episys Technical Publications

Symitar®

8985 Balboa Avenue

San Diego, California 92123

Direct Line: 619-542-6711

I just purchased a book that I hope will educate and entertain all of us on occasion. It’s called What in the Word, by Charles Harrington Elster. As I was paging through it yesterday, I found something I thought might be of interest.

Question: How did police officers come to be called cops?

Answer: The two stories you hear or read the most, that cop is short for copper—a reference to the big brass buttons on the uniforms of London bobbies—or that it’s an acronym for constabulary of police or some such thing, are both unfounded. (Acronymic etymologies, in particular, are always suspect.)

The true source of cop meaning a police officer appears to be the verb to cop, which in northern England was used to mean “to capture, catch, lay hold of, ‘nab,’” says the Oxford English Dictionary, whose earliest citation for this sense is from 1704. This verb cop probably goes back in turn to the Latin capere, which meant to catch, seize, take possession by force. By the mid-nineteenth century, says the QPB Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, the verb was “adopted as a name for a policeman, who of course, caught or captured crooks.” The old-fashioned variant copper has nothing to do with the metal or with buttons. It simply tacks the agent suffix –er onto the verb to form a noun meaning “one who cops.”

All that said, have a good holiday, be safe, and avoid any run-ins with the coppers!

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Hello all and happy holiday week!

Today I have some more vocabulary from Boardwalk Empire. You are probably familiar with the first two terms, Ponzi scheme and haymaker, and I bet you’ve heard an abbreviated version of the third word, vigorish. For a little flavor from 1910s and 1920s Atlantic City, here are the definitions and details for these three terms, from Merriam-Webster:

· Pon·zi scheme

An investment swindle in which some early investors are paid off with the money put up by later ones in order to encourage more and bigger risks

Origin of PONZI SCHEME[+]

after Charles A. Ponzi American (Italian-born) swindler

First Known Use: 1920

· haymaker
[KC – In this case, the reference was “a haymaker to the head.”]

1a : a worker who cuts and cures hay b : a machine for curing hay

2a : a powerful blow with the fist often resulting in a knockout b : an action or statement that is a stunning setback

· vig·or·ish plural -es

[KC – Fans of mafia flicks, police dramas, and the “crime and punishment” genre will recognize this as
“the vig.”]

1: a charge taken (as by a bookie or gambling house) on bets; also : the degree of such a charge <a vigorish of 5 percent>

2: interest paid to a moneylender

Origin of VIGORISH[+]

probably from Yiddish, from Russian vyigrysh winnings, profit

First Known Use: 1912 (sense 1)

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

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is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please
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When including file names in your writing, please use these guidelines from the JHA Style Guide for Technical Communication and Training.

Thank you,

Jackie Solano

Technical Writer, Episys Technical Publications

Symitar®

8985 Balboa Avenue

San Diego, California 92123

Direct Line: 619-542-6711

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 is a question you may have heard lately: Why do Americans call it soccer when the rest of the world calls it football? Well, thanks to one of our thoughtful co-workers, Ms. Beauvillia, and an article from Tony Manfred in Business Insider, here is an explanation. Happy Friday!

While calling the world’s most popular sport "soccer" is typically depicted as a symbol of American ignorance, the reason we don’t call it "football" like the rest of the world is Britain’s fault.

The word "soccer" is a British invention that British people stopped using only about 30 years ago, according to a new paper by University of Michigan professor Stefan Szymanski.

The word "soccer" comes from the use of the term "association football" in Britain and goes back 200 years.

In the early 1800s, a bunch of British universities took "football" — a medieval game — and started playing their own versions of it, all under different rules. To standardize things across the country, these games were categorized under different organizations with different names.

One variant of the game you played with your hands became "rugby football." Another variant came to be known as "association football" after the Football Association formed to promote the game in 1863, 15 years after the rules were made at Cambridge.

"Rugby football" became "rugger" for short. "Association football" became "soccer."

After these two sports spread across the Atlantic, Americans invented their own variant of the game that they simply called "football" in the early 1900s.

"Association football" became "soccer" in America, and what was called "gridiron" in Britain became simply "football" in America.

The interesting thing here is that Brits still used "soccer" regularly for a huge chunk of the 20th century. Between 1960 and 1980, "soccer" and "football" were "almost interchangeable" in Britain, Szymanski found.

Then everything changed (via Szymanski):

"Since 1980 the usage of the word ‘soccer’ has declined in British publications, and where it is used, it usually refers to an American context. This decline seems to be a reaction against the increased usage in the US which seems to be associated with the highpoint of the NASL around 1980."

British people stopped saying "soccer" because of its American connotations.

So, no, it’s not wrong to call it "soccer" if you’re American.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
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Happy Thursday, my friends! We’re a few steps closer to the weekend and I have another tip for you: when a measurement is used as an adjective, use a hyphen. For example:

· You cannot send a 10-megabyte file through email. (10-megabyte is an adjective modifying the noun file.)

· If the file is 20 megabytes or larger, you should not send it through email. (In this case, megabyte is a noun and 20 is an adjective.)

· The recipe calls for a 5-quart saucepan. (5-quart is an adjective modifying the noun saucepan.)

· The recipe calls for 5 quarts of rum. (In this case, quart is a noun and 5 is an adjective.)

· Mrs. Crabapple asked each of us for a 7-page essay on our favorite activities of the summer. (7-page is an adjective modifying the noun essay.)

· Mrs. Crabapple had to read 7 pages of malarkey from each student on what they did over the summer. (In this case, page is a noun and 7 is an adjective.)

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory