Editor's Corner

Good morning! For my growing number of contrarians, I have another set of redundancies for you to pick apart mercilessly. The phrases for N, O, and P continue from the list of 200 Common Redundancies we’ve been reviewing. I can’t wait to read what you disagree with today or to see your photographic evidence of how these phrases are not redundant. (Consider gauntlet thrown down!)

N

• (natural) instinct
• never (before)
• (new) beginning
• (new) innovation
• (new) invention
• (new) recruit
• none (at all)
• nostalgia (for the past)
• (now) pending

O

• off (of)
• (old) adage
• (old) cliché
• (old) proverb
• (open) trench
• open (up) [KC – Next time your dentist says this, you might nibble gently on his or her finger to indicate your displeasure.] Disclaimer: This advice is not condoned by the American Dental Association.
• (originally) created
• output (out of) [KC – C’mon, people. Yuck.]
• (outside) in the yard
• outside (of)
• (over) exaggerate
• over (with)
• (overused) cliché

P

• (pair of) twins
• palm (of the hand) [KC – I suppose you could have a palm of a tree, or a heart of a palm. But you have to admit, when someone presents you with a tiny baby bunny, it sounds much more
  magnificent when you say it fits “in the palm of (your) hand.”]

  

• (passing) fad
• (past) experience
• (past) history
• (past) memories
• (past) records
• penetrate (into)
• period (of time)
• (personal) friend
• (personal) opinion
• pick (and choose)
• PIN (number)
• pizza (pie) [KC – I don’t see a problem with this if you’re distinguishing between a pie and a slice. 8½ million New Yorkers can’t be wrong!]
• plan (ahead)
• plan (in advance)
• (Please) RSVP [KC – This is one of those “bilingual” redundancies. As Mr. Samuel Dean pointed out to me yesterday, the “Los Angeles Angels” is another one.]
• plunge (down)
• (polar) opposites
• (positive) identification
• postpone (until later)
• pouring (down) rain
• (pre)heat [KC – Tell my cookbooks and oven—see how far you get.]
• (pre)record
• (present) incumbent
• present (time)
• previously listed (above)
• proceed (ahead)
• (proposed) plan
• protest (against)
• pursue (after)

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor

Most of us use contractions when we speak; but in most technical and business writing we are taught to avoid being so “casual.” In fiction, contractions are a necessity—they make voices come alive in dialog and help move conversations along. Here’s some information on contractions from an article in DailyWritingTips:

Here’s a guide to the relative respectability of various contractions:

· ’d: a contraction of did, had, and would, considered mildly informal.

· ’em: a highly informal contraction of them (“You really showed ’em”).

· ’er: a highly informal contraction of her, though often in reference to an inanimate object rather than a female (“Git ’er done”).

· ’im: a highly informal contraction of him (“I saw ’im standing there just a minute ago”).

· ’ll: frequently used in place of will (“I’ll concede that much”).

· n’t: widely employed to replace not, as in couldn’t, don’t, isn’t, shouldn’t, and won’t, though ain’t is considered acceptable only in colloquial or jocular usage, and shan’t is considered stilted.

· ’m: appears only in a contraction of “I am.”

· ’re: readily takes the place of are in “they are,” “we are,” and “you are” (and, less often, and less acceptably, “there are” or “what are”).

· ’s: used in contractions of phrases that include has and is, but use with does (“What’s he say about that?”) is considered highly informal; also is a contraction of us solely in the case of let’s.

· ’ve: acceptable for contraction of have, but double contractions such as I’d’ve (for “I would have”) are too informal for most contexts.

· y’all: a dialect contraction of “you all,” widespread in the southern United States, to refer to one or more people, but too informal for most written content.

Any of these forms is appropriate for representing dialect, though in nonfiction it is usually interpreted as a demeaning caricature, and even in fiction it can become tiresome.

The illogic of inconsistent degrees of acceptability for contractions is demonstrated by the case of ain’t, which started out as a spelling variation, based on changing pronunciation, of an’t, itself an easier-to-pronounce form of amn’t (“am I not”). All three forms were long acceptable — an’t also stood in for “are not” and is the ancestor of aren’t — but while aren’t acquired respectability, and amn’t and an’t faded, the older ain’t was attacked as a vulgarity.

Regarding yesterday’s e-mail, this is for those of you who said “live studio audience” is not redundant. Here’s a place that offers entertainment that fits your needs perfectly:

Thanks to Ellen Ewing for this great photo of a high-quality zombie hangout.

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor

I know a lot of you take issue with some of these phrases from the list of 200 Common Redundancies being called redundant. In fact, the other day my dear friend Edith greeted me at her door, and before even saying hello, she shook her finger at me defiantly and started chanting “I will not give up saying ‘Best ever!’ Best ever! Best ever! Best ever!” Edith, I would never take that away from you.

As for everyone else, you can consider this fair warning—if I catch the redundancies in your writing, I may delete them. I’ll be particularly ruthless when you write documentation asking clients to kneel down in their minestrone soup in front of a live witness. 🙂

K

• kneel (down)
• (knowledgeable) experts

L

• lag (behind)
• later (time)
• LCD (display)
• lift (up)
• (live) studio audience
• (live) witness
• (local) residents
• look (ahead) to the future
• look back (in retrospect)

M

• made (out) of
• (major) breakthrough
• (major) feat
• manually (by hand)
• may (possibly)
• meet (together)
• meet (with each other)
• (mental) telepathy
• merge (together)
• might (possibly)
• minestrone (soup)
• mix (together)
• modern ______ (of today)
• (mutual) cooperation
• (mutually) interdependent
• mutual respect (for each other)
• (number-one) leader in ________

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

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Looking for an article or topic we covered in the past? There are two places you can view previous Editor’s Corner editions:

· Our blog: https://episystechpubs.com/

· Our SharePoint site: https://teamsites.jackhenry.com/sites/SymDocs/Editors%20Corner/Forms/AllItems.aspx

I received a charming poem about English from Daniel Reese in Allen, TX. His version was from a Facebook page. In my search for an author to attribute it to, I discovered two more versions of the poem (but still no author). This one looks like it might be the original.

The English Lesson

We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;
But the plural of ox should be oxen not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.

You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
But the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?

If I spoke of my foot and showed you my feet,
When I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?

If the singular is this, and the plural is these,
Why shouldn’t the plural of kiss be kese?
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet the plural of hat would never be hose.

We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
So plurals in English, I think you’ll agree,
Are indeed very tricky–singularly.

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

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Today’s healthy morsel is from DailyWritingTips:

The predominant way to represent the past tense of a verb is to add -ed, but some verbs take -t as a variant ending, or even as the only form. Here are forty such verbs, including some ubiquitous words (like left and shot) we may not even think of as having irregular forms because they are the only forms we know—for example, leaved and shooted are not options—as well as some that survive only in poetry or mock-archaic usage.

1. Bent: the only correct form of the past tense of bend, although the archaic form bended is used jocularly, for example in the phrase “on bended knee”

2. Blest: a variant form of the past tense of bless

3. Built: the primary form of the past tense of build, though builded is used in some dialects [KC – I bet they architected those buildings before the builded them.]

4. Burnt: a variant form of the past tense of burn; used in favor of the primary spelling in names of pigments such as burnt orange and burnt sienna (familiar to Crayola crayon aficionados)

5. Clapt: a variant form of the past tense of clap

6. Cleft: a variant form of the past tense of cleave; also, a noun or adjective referring to a split

7. Clept: the past tense of the archaic term clepe (“name,” “call”; the present-tense and past-tense words are also spelled yclepe and yclept)

8. Crept: the only correct form of the past tense of creep, except in the slang sense of being creeped out, or unsettled

9. Dealt: the only correct form of the past tense of deal

10. Dreamt: a variant form of the past tense of dream

11. Drest: an obsolete variant form of the past tense of dress

12. Dwelt: a variant form of the past tense of dwell

13. Felt: the only correct form of the past tense of feel; also, a noun referring to a type of material or a similar substance

14. Gilt: a variant form of the past tense of gild; also, a synonym for gold or a noun or adjective referring to gold plating or other surfacing, or a young female pig

15. Girt: a variant form of the past tense of gird

16. Kent: a variant form of the past tense of ken, an archaic synonym for know or recognize

17. Knelt: the primary form of the past tense of kneel

18. Leant: an alternate form of the past tense of lean, used mostly in British English but occasionally appearing in American English usage as well (pronounced “lent”)

19. Leapt: a variant form of the past tense of leap

20. Learnt: an alternate form of the past tense of learn, used mostly in British English but occasionally appearing in American English usage as well

21. Left: the only correct form of the past tense of leave, meaning “go,” although the past tense for leave in the sense of forming leaves is leaved

22. Lent: the only correct form of the past tense of loan

23. Lost: the only correct form of the past tense of lose

24. Meant: the only correct form of the past tense of mean (pronounced “ment”)

25. Pent: an alternate form of the past tense of pen, meaning “confine,” although the past tense for pen in the sense of writing is penned

26. Reft: an alternate form of the past tense of reave

27. Rent: an alternate form of the past tense of rend

28. Sent: the only correct form of the past tense of send

29. Shot: the only correct form of the past tense of shoot

30. Slept: the only correct form of the past tense of sleep

31. Smelt: a variant form of the past tense of smell; also, a noun referring to a type of fish or a verb for melting or reducing metal or another substance

32. Spelt: an alternate form of the past tense of spell, used mostly in British English but occasionally appearing in American English usage as well; also, a noun referring to a type of wheat [KC – Great! Two ways to spell the past tense of
spell! English rocks!]

33. Spent: the only correct form of the past tense of spend

34. Spilt: a variant form of the past tense of spill

35. Spoilt: a variant form of the past tense of spoil

36. Stript: a variant form of the past tense of strip

37. Vext: a variant form of the past tense of vex

38. Wept: the only correct form of the past tense of weep

39. Went: the only correct form of the past tense of go

40. [KC – I removed one because there was a typo and I couldn’t figure out what the author intended.]

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

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Welcome to Wednesday! I have several more redundant words and phrases for us to watch out for from the list of 200 Common Redundancies we started…was that last week? It seems like years ago. In any case, I bring you those beginning with G, H, I and J.

G

• gather (together)
• (general) public [KC – Unless you are part of the punk/mod/ska band from the early 1980s, in which case you’d be General Public with initial caps.]
• GOP (party)
• GRE (exam)
• green [or blue or whatever] (in color)
• grow (in size)

H

• had done (previously)
• (harmful) injuries [KC – If you are one of the few people in the world with congenital analgesia, I will accept your argument that this is not redundant; otherwise, each e-mailed argument will
  cost a dollar.]
• (head) honcho
• HIV (virus)
• hoist (up)
• hurry (up)

I

• (illustrated) drawing
• incredible (to believe)
• indicted (on a charge)
• input (into)
• integrate (together)
• integrate (with each other)
• interdependent (on each other) [KC
  – C’mon folks. This just sounds horrible!]
• introduced (a new)
• introduced (for the first time)
• (ir)regardless [KC – I get several requests a year asking me to discuss this word (or rather, pleading with me to tell people not to use it). This is probably the fifth or sixth
  time I have included an article with the instructions DO NOT USE THE NON-WORD IRREGARDLESS. Unfortunately, I can guarantee you will hear it again and it will make you cry.]
• ISBN (number)

J

• join (together)
• (joint) collaboration

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

www.symitar.com

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Hello all! A big “thank you” to Donna for covering the Editor’s Corner while I was out and about—it is much cleaner than I left it!

I’m going to skip the redundancies today and continue with another of the planetary symbols from that chart I included here several weeks ago. Today’s symbol is for a place close to home: Earth.

There are several theories on why Earth is represented by a circle divided into four quarters. The most popular theory is that it represents the globe and the four directions (more on that later). The other theory is that is represents the globus cruciger or in English, the cross-bearing orb. From Latin: globus = “orb” and cruciger = “cross” (crux) + “to wear” (gerere). The globus cruciger is a Christian symbol representing Christ’s dominion over the world. Here is an example of a Danish globus cruciger:

Returning to the theory of directions, the lines on the Earth symbol above represent the four cardinal directions: north, south, east, and west. (When using shorthand, the directions are represented by capital letters: N, S, E, and W, respectively. There are also ordinal points on a compass (which are also referred to as intercardinal or intermediate directions): northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest. These are also represented by all capital abbreviations (NE, SE, SW, and NW). Lastly, there is the secondary intercardinal direction, which includes north northeast, east northeast, etc. These are all represented on the compass rose (shown below) moving from the cardinal directions on the innermost ring toward the secondary intercardinal directions on the third ring (NNW, NNE, ENE, etc.).

Hope you are having a great week so far!

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor

As I listened to the radio this morning, there was a report on yesterday’s shooting at the Washington D.C. Navy Yard. The news reported "we have the single and sole person responsible" for the shooting. As I pondered that redundancy, I heard the local news repeat the same line about the “single and sole shooter.” I started wondering if there was some subtle difference I was missing. I looked both words up and they are definitely redundant: single is defined as “only one” and sole is defined as “only or single.”

1.

2. Here I offer you the A’s and B’s from a list of 200 common redundancies, brought to us by grammar.about.com:

A

• (absolutely) essential
• (absolutely) necessary
• (actual) facts
• advance (forward)
• (advance) planning
• (advance) preview
• (advance) reservations
• (advance) warning
• add (an additional)
• add (up)
• (added) bonus
• (affirmative) yes
• (aid and) abet
• (all-time) record
• alternative (choice)
• A.M. (in the morning)
• (and) etc.
• (anonymous) stranger
• (annual) anniversary
• (armed) gunman
• (artificial) prosthesis
• ascend (up)
• ask (the question)
• assemble (together)
• attach (together)
• ATM (machine)
• autobiography (of his or her own life)

B

• balsa (wood)
• (basic) fundamentals
• (basic) necessities
• best (ever)
• biography (of his–or her–life)
• blend (together)
• (boat) marina
• bouquet (of flowers)
• brief (in duration)
• (brief) moment
• (brief) summary
• (burning) embers

Have a good day!

Kara

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Here is a request I get frequently, though it is not from inquiring minds like most of the e-mail I receive. No, this is a request from people who have gone batty from hearing other people use the word incorrectly. That word is run. Here is the condensed grammatical layout of this problem child:

· Present tense form of run: run (I run, you run, he runs, she runs, it runs, we run, they run)

Example: When the program runs for more than ten minutes, the laptop starts to heat up.

· Past tense form of run: ran (I ran, you ran, he ran, she ran, it ran, we ran, they ran)

Example: The report ran for two hours before the client called.

· Past participle form of run: run (I have run, you have run, he has run, she has run, it has run, we have run, they have run)

Example: Once you have run the three PowerOn specfiles, ask your supervisor to verify that you have generated the correct reports.

Most of the errors we see (or hear) are with the past participle. Let’s look at one more example:

Correct, good, fantastic, all is right with the world:

After you have run the update program, you have to log off and log back on again.

Incorrect, bad, terrible, watch your back—you might send someone off the deep end:

After you have ran the update program, you have to log off and log back on again.

For an article on ran vs. run, see The Many Faces of “Run” from DailyWritingTips.com. For a table of the word run in its conjugated forms, see: Verbix.

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Caution: Proceed at your own risk. This is a rant. When I rant, I like using a lot of sentence fragments, so critics beware.

Today someone asked me about the word architect. Actually, she asked me specifically if the word architected was real or turning architect into a verb is just technical jargon. For example, “Sabrina Mc Nolte architected and implemented the fantastic new learning management system.”

Could you hear that? That was me, sitting in my home office in San Diego, screaming in horror.

I’m not a fan of jargon. At one of my previous jobs, us folks in the Documentation department would make BINGO cards with the mid-1990s manufacturing world jargon in place of numbers and take the cards to all-staff meetings. We checked off words as they were spoken by our leaders and the winner would get a free breakfast from the rest of us. Of course, I would never do that now. 🙂

But boy, this one—architect as a verb—this is a particular peeve of mine. Why? Well, my dad is an architect. I grew up around architects. I worked in an architectural firm after school when I was an adolescent. You know what those architects never did? They never architected!

Architects study, write proposals, draft designs, and design zoos and sewage treatment plants and libraries; yet never once did I witness one “architecting.”

According to my beloved Merriam-Webster dictionary, here are two definitions for you:

1ar·chi·tect

noun

\ˈär-kə-ˌtekt\

plural -s

1: a person who designs buildings and advises in their construction (from 1563)

2: one that plans and achieves especially an objective that is felt to be the product of painstaking construction

Synonyms: engineer, mastermind

Unfortunately, in the early 1800s, poet John Keats used the word architect as a verb (“This was architected thus By the great Oceanus.”) and it has reared its ugly head in the Oxford English Dictionary. Of course, there are plenty of curse words in unabridged dictionaries, too, and we don’t throw those around willy-nilly in our writing. To me, hearing “they carefully architected something” is much more painful than the saltiest curse I’ve ever heard…and my uncle is a sailor, so that’s saying something.

Bottom line? I have a special setting on my PC that automatically turns the word “architecting” into “designing,” just like magic. 🙂

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