Editor's Corner

Happy Tuesday, folks!

Today I want to talk to you about something personal: taking a shower. Yes, believe it or not, this is a quick and dirty English lesson about a term I learned from Donna a few weeks ago: shower orange. She wrote about it and a bunch of other new terms here in Editor’s Corner. I got distracted and disgusted with the term nepo baby, so today I’m back-tracking to the term I liked, farther down in her article.

Today, I’d like to revisit shower orange. No, it is not about how you get orange face paint off after dressing as a jack-o-lantern for Halloween. Nor is it about a women’s prison, Orange Is the New Black. Lastly, nor is it about how Mom dressed my brother and me in orange foul weather gear stuffed with newspaper to look like pumpkins in the Seattle showers. (Yes, trick-or-treating during Seattle Halloweens required a costume and a backup costume, depending on the weather and the never-ending desire for candy.)

According to Dictionary.com, a shower orange is:

an orange that is peeled and eaten under a steamy shower, the purported benefit being that the steam enhances the orange’s citrusy fragrance and creates a soothing experience for the person who is showering:

Example: I’ve been enjoying the aromatherapy of shower oranges for years—and I also appreciate the easy cleanup!

I did some further research on this, because mixing bathing and eating sounds messy. On the website Facets of Lafayette, they say:

You can reuse citrus peels, such as lemon or lime, as aromatherapy in the shower by storing the peels in a freezer and pulling out a few as needed. Once you turn the hot water on, place the frozen peels on the bottom of the shower floor to defrost and release their powerful scents to help elevate your mood and awaken your senses.

This sounds a bit tidier, plus it is good reuse, especially if your city collects greens each week for composting and you keep them in the freezer already. If food in the shower sound gross, but you want some aromatherapy, I also learned about shower melts from Facets of Lafayette. These are “a shower version of bath bombs that will make your shower feel more luxurious. Also known as shower steamers, fizzies, or soothers, which are sure to pack a serious punch of in-shower aromatherapy.”

For those of you that aren’t in a perpetual drought like we are in Southern California, you’ll have to let me know if you have a favorite fruit or fizzy for bathing time!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Hello, folks.

Today I’m rehashing some old rules, but they require rehashing because so many people ignore them <sigh>. I’ll try to provide you with the primary details so as not to overwhelm. Today’s topic is quotation marks.

You may ask yourself, “What’s the big deal?” My response is, “Use them correctly and it’s not a big deal.” But I see them used incorrectly all the time and it leads to confusion. Here are some examples:

Incorrect: ‘Joe told me that Marcus would be at his party.’

Incorrect: At the ‘Adjustment?’ prompt, type ‘01’.

Go ahead and have a look and see if you can figure out why these are incorrect, then we’ll get to the rules and the correct way to write them.

First rule: In our documentation, you will most often use double quotes. I suspect programming has different rules, but our rule is that if you want to quote something, you use double quotes.

Example: One of my favorite funny quotes from Jack Handy is “Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.”

Second rule: In U.S. English, “punctuation such as commas, periods, question marks, and exclamation marks (generally) go inside quotation marks.” (GrammarBook.com) For the exceptions, this is a great document: How to Punctuate Quotations.

Example: Jameela asked, “What are we having for lunch today?”

Third rule: When you are using quotation marks to emphasize a term or expression that’s different from standard use, you use double quotation marks the first time you use the term, and then drop the quotation marks the next time you use the term in a sentence.

Examples (from GrammarBook.com):

• I just spoke with my "buddy," the IRS agent assigned to my audit.
• At this real estate firm, that contract is what we call a "dealio."

Fourth rule: When you have a quotation within a quotation, it is okay to use single quotes for the inner quotation. There are more rules to this piece, but most of you won’t be writing quotes within quotes, so let’s look at an example and stop there.

Example: “I can’t believe Nils said, ‘I refuse to do it!’ when I asked him to change his shirt.”

I’m going to stop there, and go through the incorrect examples, and tell you why they are wrong.

Incorrect: ‘Joe told me that Marcus would be at his party.’

No single quotations marks for quotations (unless it is a quotation within a quotation).

Incorrect: At the ‘Adjustment?’ prompt, type ‘01’.

No single quotation marks because the information is already bolded to stand out; and by the way, the period should be inside the quotation marks. The way this is written is confusing.

Sam is worried that he has single quotation marks!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Good day to you! Today I bequeath you the last installment of new words added to the dictionary for 2023. In my last two posts, I shared the following categories of words:

· Pop Culture and Slang and Artificial Intelligence

· Modern Problems and Science and Tech

For those of you feeling a little disconcerted because some of the words I previously shared have been added, maybe it will make you feel better if you think about words you used in your adolescence that drove your parents crazy. Some of those words may have made it into the dictionary too, and aren’t you glad they did?

· From the 1950s: brainwashing, fast food, UFO, moisturizer

· From the 1960s: junk food, fanny pack, repurpose, head-trip

· From the 1970s: granola, dorky, fintech, transgender

· From the 1980s: voice mail, comb-over, yuppie, emo

· From the 1990s: man cave, buzzkill, snark, website, emoji

· From the 2000s: binge-watch, unfriend, rogue, staycation

· From the 2010s: mansplain, deadname, hashtag, glamping

This time, I’m going to share some of the new words from the following categories: Health and Wellness and Identity and Relationships.

Health and Wellness

· decision fatigue (noun)

Mental and emotional exhaustion resulting from excessive or relentless decision-making, especially the cumulative effect of small decisions that one makes throughout each day.

· doctor shop (verb)

To obtain prescriptions for a controlled substance from more than one healthcare practitioner at a time.

· coffee nap (noun)

A short nap, usually 15–30 minutes, taken immediately after drinking a cup of coffee, the claimed benefit being that the energizing effect of caffeine may be bolstered by a sleeping body’s drop in adenosine levels.

· sleep debt (noun)

The difference between the amount of sleep a person needs and the actual amount of time spent sleeping, when the amount needed exceeds the time slept.

· stress eating (noun)

Emotional eating, especially in response to stress, tension, or anxiety.

· intermittent fasting (noun)

A pattern of eating that involves regular short periods of fasting, such as by limiting food intake to a certain period of the day or to fewer meals on certain days of the week.

Identity and Relationships [dbb – There were a lot of these; to see the full list go to
Dictionary.com.]

· grandfamily (noun)

A family in which one or more children live with and are raised by their grandparent or grandparents.

· kinkeeping (noun)

The labor involved in maintaining and enhancing family ties, including organizing social occasions, remembering birthdays, sending gifts, etc.

· diverse-owned (adjective)

A business owned by someone who is part of a group historically underrepresented in entrepreneurship, such as women, ethnic or racial minorities, LGBTQ+ people, etc.

· box braids (noun)

A hairstyle originating among Black people, in which the hair is parted into small squares or other shapes over the scalp and the hair from each section is woven into a braid.

· CODA (abbreviation, noun)

Child of deaf adult/adults: a hearing person with a deaf parent or parents.

· gay marry (verb)

To marry a person of the same gender.

· amalgagender (adjective)

Noting or relating to a person whose gender identity is linked to or impacted by the fact that they are intersex.

· stealth (adjective)

(of a transgender person) Living as a cisgender member of one’s identified gender, without revealing that one is transgender.

· autoromantic (adjective)

Noting or relating to a person who primarily feels romantic attraction to and desire for themselves, as opposed to other people.

Enjoy the day today!

Donna Bradley Burcher |Technical Editor, Advisory | jack henry™

Pronouns she/her/hers

9660 Granite Ridge Drive, San Diego CA 92123

Symitar Documentation Services

About Editor’s Corner

Editor’s Corner keeps your communication skills sharp by providing information on grammar, punctuation, JHA style, and all things English. As editors, we spend our days reading, researching, and revising other people’s writing. We love to spend a few extra minutes to share what we learn with you and keep it fun while we’re doing it.

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Hello readers,

A few weeks ago, before our friend, Ron Fauset, retired, he sent this. He is gone, but not forgotten. You can hear his snark as he both asks and answers this question, including the table below. This is more for the credit union crowd and Symitar users, but it’s good advice.

I hope you are having fun, Ron, wherever you are!

Dear Editrix:

I attended a meeting where the term “PowerOns” was thrown about. For me, this is like nails on a chalkboard. (For you younger people, ask your grandparents what a chalkboard is.)

I’m sure that all of you are familiar with Microsoft® Excel®. Excel is the application name. We create Excel workbooks or spreadsheets regularly. When we refer to these workbooks or spreadsheets, we don’t refer to them as Excels. We can say, “Use Excel to create spreadsheets” or “I created an Excel spreadsheet.” You would not say, “I created an Excel.”

Likewise, PowerOn is the application name. We use PowerOn to create specfiles or definition files, etc. We do not create PowerOns. We do not run a PowerOn. We can say, “Use PowerOn to create specfiles” or “I created a PowerOn specfile.” You would not say, “I created a PowerOn.”

If you say, I created RepGens, well, you are just dating yourself and we have nothing further to discuss except your impending retirement.

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Hello and good morning.

The other day I got a little warm and fuzzy with my talk about autumn, my favorite season. Today, we’re going to do a psychological evaluation of people who love the time of year when it starts getting cold and plants start dying. I’m just kidding. I don’t apologize for my love of the fall.

But I am here for something a little more serious today: rules. Yes, you may find yourself looking at an article or a business newsletter and wonder about capitalization of seasons because sometimes you see Autumn, sometimes you see spring, and other times it is Winter. Here are the basic rules for capitalizing seasons.

From Thesaurus.com:

Generally, when you’re using the name of a season in a sentence as a noun or an adjective, it shouldn’t be capitalized. The names of the seasons—spring, summer, fall/autumn, and winter—are common nouns rather than proper nouns. This means they use lowercase letters as in the words afternoon and month rather than uppercase letters as in Friday or August.

There are only a few times when seasons should be capitalized, including when they’re used as proper nouns, when they start a sentence or when they’re personified.

When a season is used as a common noun or adjective, it is lowercase.

• I love the cool weather that comes with autumn.
• In the winter, we occasionally have hot sunny San Diego days—it’s not uncommon to see people celebrating Christmas and wearing shorts.

The same goes for the common nouns summertime, wintertime, etc. These are also lowercased.

• The blossoms in the springtime desert are often stunning to behold.

Of course, there are exceptions. When you are writing a sentence, the first letter is capitalized, so if the seasonal word begins the sentence, it is capitalized.

• Winter came, and the townspeople were ecstatic, because this year Oprah had given each person a brand-new coat!

Another exception is when the season is used as a proper noun (describes a particular person, place, or thing). Here are a few examples from Thesaurus.com:

A season should be capitalized when it’s used as part of a proper noun as in Winter Olympics or the Winter Palace. Proper nouns also include titles of creative works, so the seasons follow the rules that govern all other nouns and adjectives when used in titles.

Some examples of this rule include the books Silent Spring by Rachel Carson and One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia, the song “Summer of ‘69” by Bryan Adams, and the 1997 film I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Lastly, in poetry and literature the season is uppercase if it is personified (giving an animal or inanimate objects the qualities of a human). For example, this passage from a poem by Charles Mair, in which Summer is being written about as a person:

Summer

We will muse on Summer‘s ploys:
How no partial gifts are hers,
But now the palms and now the firs
Are dozed with kisses balmy-sweet
From lips which breathe a pulsing heat.

One other thing I remember is that when you’re dealing with quarters or semesters in school, it is okay to use capital letters for the term Winter 2024, Spring 2024, Autumn 2025, etc. Hopefully, that is the last exception! If you ever have a question, feel free to check with one of the editors. We’re here to help. 😊

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Greetings, fellow word nerds. I have more new words to share with you today. As I mentioned last time, Dictionary.com recently published their list of words that are being added to the dictionary for 2023. Last time, I shared words in two categories: Pop Culture and Slang and Artificial Intelligence.

Today I’m going to share words from the following categories: Modern Problems and Science and Tech.

You can be the first of your friends and family to popularize these words in your community. Go on! Be a trendsetter!

Modern Problems

· greenwashing (noun)

An instance or practice of promoting or affiliating a brand, campaign, mission, etc., with environmentalism as a ploy to divert attention from policies and activities that are in fact anti-environmentalist.

The ending -washing in greenwashing and sportswashing below comes from the verb whitewash.

· sportswashing (noun)

An instance or practice of rehabilitating the bad reputation of a person, company, nation, etc., or mitigating negative press coverage with a sports event, or an appeal to unify and reconcile groups in conflict by celebrating fans’ shared love of a game.

· crypto-fascism (noun)

Secret support for fascism.

Note that crypto- is used here as a combining form meaning “hidden” or “secret,” not as a reference to cryptocurrency (which is now often referred to as crypto for short).

· sextortion (noun)

Criminal behavior in which a perpetrator illicitly obtains sexually compromising material, such as images, and then threatens to publish it or harm the victim in other ways unless further material or a sum of money is surrendered.

A blend of sex and extortion.

· jugging (noun)

A theft committed by a perpetrator who waits at a bank, near an ATM, or outside an expensive store, watches for customers who might be carrying a large amount of cash or goods, and then follows them to steal the money or goods from the customer or from their car.

The word jugging is modeled on mugging. The word jug can be a slang term for a bank.

· hostile architecture (noun)

Design elements of public buildings and spaces that are intended to stop unwanted behavior such as loitering or sleeping in public by making such behavior difficult and uncomfortable.

· prison industrial complex (noun)

The network of government agencies and private industry that foster, benefit from, and contribute to mass incarceration, the imprisonment of large numbers of people.

Relatedly, this update also includes the newly added words decarcerate and decarceration, both used in the context of efforts to reduce the number of people in prison.

· crony capitalism (noun)

An economic system in which success in business is obtained through relationships to people in political power rather than through competition.

The word crony means a close friend, but it is often used negatively, especially in the context of business and politics.

· Big Pharma (noun)

Pharmaceutical companies considered collectively, especially with reference to their political and commercial influence.

The construction used to create this phrase, in which the word Big is paired with a specific industry (such as in similar phrases like Big Oil), usually carries a negative connotation.

Science and Tech

· biohacking (noun)

Strategic biological experimentation, especially upon oneself, using technology, drugs, hormones, diet, etc., with the goal of enhancing or augmenting performance, health, mood, or the like.

· algo (noun)

Informal for algorithm.

· bloatware (noun)

Unwanted software that is preinstalled on a newly bought device, especially when it negatively impacts the device’s performance.

· neobank (noun)

A digital bank, typically without a charter, that operates only online or on mobile platforms, providing some traditional banking services, such as checking and savings accounts, at low or no cost to customers.

· pessimize (verb)

To make less good, efficient, fast, functional, etc., especially in the context of computers or information technology.

The opposite of optimize.

That’s it for today. I’ll give you the final list of words that have been added to Dictionary.com next time! Enjoy the rest of your day.

Donna Bradley Burcher |Technical Editor, Advisory | jack henry™

Pronouns she/her/hers

9660 Granite Ridge Drive, San Diego CA 92123

Symitar Documentation Services

About Editor’s Corner

Editor’s Corner keeps your communication skills sharp by providing information on grammar, punctuation, JHA style, and all things English. As editors, we spend our days reading, researching, and revising other people’s writing. We love to spend a few extra minutes to share what we learn with you and keep it fun while we’re doing it.

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Good morning, folks!

As I look outside, it is very foggy, and mamma squirrel is out at my food dish, fattening up for the cooler weather. Even though I’m not in Seattle anymore, I know the leaves are starting to change color and I feel a little homesick.

Autumn (or fall) is my favorite season, so let’s warm up a pumpkin spice latte or some hot apple cider and look at some details about the season.

At Dictonary.com, there is a full article about the seasons, but I’m just going to share a bit.

The word autumn comes from the French autompne, from the Latin autumnus, whose deeper roots are obscure. It’s first recorded in English as early as the late 1300s.

Recorded use of the word fall as the name of the third season of the year comes from as early as the 1500s. The name is thought to originate in the phrase the fall of the leaf, in reference to the time of year when deciduous trees shed their leaves. The name of its inverse season, spring, is thought to come from the phrase spring of the leaf—the time when everything is blossoming.

Americans and the British used both fall and autumn until around the 1600s, when the British went “all autumn” and kicked “fall” to the curb. Americans waited until the 1800s and started using fall more frequently.

There’s one more term for autumn that is even older: the season harvest. It’s from the “Old English word hærfest, of Germanic origin, perhaps with an underlying, ancient sense of “picking, plucking” (as in, picking fruits to harvest them).”

I have some grammatical rules I’ll share with you later (for the capitalization of seasons in our writing), but today we’re just going to stick with the different names for seasons and discuss when the fall, autumn, or harvest occurs. Here are some final details:

In the Northern Hemisphere, fall is roughly between August and November, technically lasting from the autumnal equinox until the winter solstice . In the Southern Hemisphere, where the seasons are flipped, fall is roughly between the end of March and the end of June.

So, as Judy Garland sang in the 1950 movie Summer Stock, “Howdy neighbor! Happy Harvest!”

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Hello, friends.

Dictionary.com recently announced a passel of new words that they have added to the dictionary for 2023. There are quite a few of them, so they broke them up into categories. I’ll share them with you over several weeks, so you don’t get too excited, overwhelmed, or outraged, depending on your outlook.

First a reminder: dictionary editors do not just pick their favorite words to add each year. They add words according to these criteria: the word has relatively widespread use, it has a widely agreed-upon meaning, and it seems to have staying power (that is, it looks like it’ll be around for a long time).

I am not saying I love all these new words, but I do love actively watching language evolve. And like it or not, English is always changing.

So on with the first two categories of words.

Pop Culture and Slang

· jawn (noun)

Informal. Chiefly Philadelphia. Something or someone for which the speaker does not know or does not need a specific name.

Example: Can you hand me that jawn right there?

Philadelphians know that their favorite regional catchall term isn’t new—the first records of its use come from the early 2000s, when it started to be popularized in the Black community. Its addition reflects an increasing awareness of the term outside the region. Its ultimate origin is uncertain, but it may be a local Philadelphia variant of joint, which is used in a similar way in the New York City metropolitan area.

· nepo baby (noun)

A celebrity with a parent who is also famous, especially one whose industry connections are perceived as essential to their success.

· NIL (abbreviation)

Name, image, likeness: aspects of a collegiate athlete’s identity for which they may earn money from a third party, as for advertising sponsorship or merchandise sales, although they are prohibited from being paid directly by colleges and universities for their participation in intercollegiate sports.

· Blursday (noun)

Informal. A day not easily distinguished from other days, or the phenomenon of days running together.

Made-up day names are meant to capture the sameyness vibe of busy lives and work. Similar terms include Whoseday and Whensday.

· shower orange (noun)

An orange that is peeled and eaten under a steamy shower, the purported benefit being that the steam enhances the orange’s citrusy fragrance and creates a soothing experience for the person who is showering.

The phenomenon and the name for it were popularized by a viral social media trend. Keep an eye out for similar practices, including shower beer and shower wine.

· Godwin’s Law (noun)

An adage of internet culture stating that as any discussion or debate grows longer, there is a proportionate increase in the probability that someone will invoke a comparison to Hitler or the Nazi party.

Named after U.S. lawyer and author Mike Godwin (born 1956), who formulated the adage in 1991.

· Poe’s Law (noun)

An adage of internet culture stating that unless some tone indicator is used, it is impossible to tell the difference between an extreme view being sincerely espoused and an extreme view being satirized.

Named after Nathan Poe, who posted about the concept on an internet forum in 2005. But the concept predates Poe’s post.

· campaign (noun)

A story in a role-playing game, spread out over multiple play sessions, that usually keeps the same plot, setting, or main characters.

This is just one example of a word that’s obviously not new but for which our lexicographers have added a more recent sense.

Artificial Intelligence

· generative AI (noun)

Artificial intelligence that is designed to process prompts from users and respond with text, images, audio, or other output that is modeled on a training data set.

· chatbot (noun)

A computer program designed to respond with conversational or informational replies to verbal or written messages from users.

· GPT (abbreviation)

Generative pre-trained transformer or general purpose technology; a type of machine learning algorithm that uses deep learning and a large database of training text in order to generate new text in response to a user’s prompt.

· hallucinate (verb)

(of a machine learning program) To produce false information contrary to the intent of the user and present it as if true and factual.

Be prepared to starting hearing and reading about this with increasing frequency—including in discussions of how AI researchers still don’t fully understand how it happens.

· LLM (abbreviation)

Large language model: a type of machine learning algorithm trained on extremely large data sets of existing language and designed to generate new, naturalistic responses to prompts.

I’ll have more words for you next time. Until then, just be nice. 😊

Donna Bradley Burcher |Technical Editor, Advisory | jack henry™

Pronouns she/her/hers

9660 Granite Ridge Drive, San Diego CA 92123

Symitar Documentation Services

About Editor’s Corner

Editor’s Corner keeps your communication skills sharp by providing information on grammar, punctuation, JHA style, and all things English. As editors, we spend our days reading, researching, and revising other people’s writing. We love to spend a few extra minutes to share what we learn with you and keep it fun while we’re doing it.

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Good morning, hello, and good day,

This is our last installment of state names and their etymologies. I hope you’ve learned a thing or two. My main takeaway is the importance of large water sources when naming things around the area; there are so many names from Indigenous Americans that revolve around rivers and lakes. And how important they are!

Rhode Island

While somewhat disputed, most likely the name Rhode Island originally comes from the Dutch een rodlich Eylande, a name given to what is today Aquidneck Island by Dutch explorer Adriaen Block. It means “Red Island,” a reference to the red clay on the shore. The name was later Anglicized into Rhode Island, linking the place with the mythical Isle of Rhodes. The name was shortened from State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations to simply Rhode Island in 2020 because of the association with slavery.

South Carolina

As we already know, the Carolina part of South Carolina comes from the Latin name for Charles, a reference to King Charles I and King Charles II of the United Kingdom. The South part of the name was added when the Carolina territory was split in 1712.

South Dakota

Similarly, we have already seen that the name Dakota comes from the name of the Dakota tribe, also known as the Sioux. It means “friendly people” or “allies” in that language. In 1861, the Dakota Territory was formed. After a dispute over the location of the state capital, the territory was split in two in 1889. The southern part of the state is South Dakota.

Tennessee

The name Tennessee comes from the Cherokee word Tanasqui, a name for two towns in the state, meaning roughly “meeting place.” The Anglicized spelling Tennessee is attributed to James Glen, Governor of South Carolina in the 1750s.

Texas

According to popular legend, the name Texas ultimately comes from Caddo taysha, a term used by the Caddo people meaning “friend” or “ally.” It was adopted as Tejas by the Spanish and became Texas in English. However, historian García Ruiz has proposed a controversial twist: that the state was named after the Spanish word for yew (a tree found in Spain), teja. The local bald cypress trees reminded the Spanish of the yew, and they chose the word to refer to the region.

Utah

The name Utah may come from a series of misunderstandings. The Apache used the word Yuttahih to mean “one that is higher up.” This was transcribed by the Spanish as yuta and was given as a name to the area inhabited by the Ute tribe. It is also possible that the name comes from a corruption of Nuutsiu, what the Ute call themselves.

Vermont

It is popularly believed that the name Vermont comes from the French ver(t) mont, or “green mountain,” describing the state’s mountain ranges. However, historian Joseph-André Senécal suggests that in fact revolutionary Thomas Young translated the existing nickname Green Mountain into French in 1777 to come up with the name for the territory: Vermont.

Virginia

The commonwealth of Virginia is named in honor of Queen Elizabeth I, nicknamed “the Virgin Queen,” who gave the land grant for the colony in 1584.

Washington

Washington State has the honor of being the only state named after a president: President George Washington.

West Virginia

West Virginia used to be part of the state of Virginia, named for the Virgin Queen, until it seceded from the Confederate state in 1862.

Wisconsin

While the name Wisconsin, like so many other state names we have seen, likely comes from a Native American language and word, it is uncertain which one. Some argue it comes from the Menominee Weskohsaeh, meaning roughly “a good place to stay.” Others suggest it comes from Algonquin Meskousing, meaning “river running through a red place,” a reference to the red cliffs in the state.

Wyoming

The name Wyoming was first used to refer to a valley in Pennsylvania. The name was suggested for the state by Representative James M. Ashley, who was born in Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania. The name Wyoming itself is said to come from a Native American word and language of disputed origin.

That’s it! I hope you have enjoyed our little road trip through the United States!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Hello and welcome!

Before I get started with states, I’d like to announce something. No, I’m not having a baby…that ship has sailed. This month Jack Henry is matching associate donations to the National Forest Foundation , a non-profit dedicated to conservation work and forest resilience projects in our national forests. Last year we raised $5,000, which resulted in a match from Jack Henry, and we were able to help plant 10,000 baby trees!

You can make a donation via a one-time voluntary payroll deduction, and JH will match your contribution dollar for dollar! Think about what makes your home beautiful and donate some money to the cause!

Okay, back to the Editor’s Corner. We still have a couple of days left where we look into the etymology of our state names. I was thinking of only doing those where we have employees, but I seem to remember hearing that Jack Henrians are everywhere! Continued from Thesarus.com, the penultimate list of states:

Nebraska

Like many states, Nebraska‘s name comes from the Native American name for a major river in the territory. In this case, Nebraska comes from the Otos word nebrathka, meaning “broad or flat water,” referring to the Platte River. Platte means “flat” in French.

Nevada

When the Spanish arrived on the West Coast in the mid-18th century, they named the mountains they saw the Sierra Nevadas or “snow-covered mountains,” because that’s what they were. The nearby region they simply called Nevada for short. The name stuck.

New Hampshire

The name New Hampshire is a reference to, well, “Old” Hampshire, a county in England. Captain John Mason named the region New Hampshire after Hampshire, England. The name Hampshire itself comes from the Old English Hamtur, meaning “village town.”

New Jersey

Like New Hampshire, New Jersey makes tacit reference to an “Old” Jersey. In this case, the reference is to the Isle of Jersey, an island in the English Channel. In 1649, the governor of the Isle of Jersey, Sir George Carteret, was given land in the New World by King Charles II. The land was named New Jersey in honor of Sir Carteret. It is not clear where the original name Jersey itself comes from, however.

New Mexico

The name the Spanish gave the lands north of the Rio Grande was Nuevo México, or New Mexico in English. According to historians, the Spanish conquistadors thought of this region as a symbolic part of the homeland of the Aztec people (sometimes known as the Mexica). The name Nuevo México actually predates the country of Mexico, which was founded in 1821. The name Mexico itself is of disputed origin, but it’s said to come from expressions in the Nahuatl language, spoken by the Aztecs.

New York

New York, New York used to be named New Amsterdam, New Netherlands. But when the British acquired the land from the Dutch in 1664, they renamed it New York after James Stuart, Duke of York, who later became King James II. York itself comes from the Old English Eoforwíc, of disputed meaning.

North Carolina

The Carolina part of North Carolina doesn’t refer to a lady named Carol but rather to King Charles I of the United Kingdom who made the original land grant to form the colony in 1629. The Latin form of Charles is Carolus, and the territory was originally referred to as Carolana. Later, in 1663, under King Charles II, it was named Carolina definitively. When the territory was split in 1710, the northern part was duly renamed North Carolina.

North Dakota

The name Dakota comes from the name of the Dakota tribe, one of three tribes commonly referred to as Sioux. It means “friendly people” or “allies” in the Dakota language. In 1861, the Dakota Territory was formed. After a dispute over the location of the state capital, the territory was split in two in 1889. The northern part of the state is North Dakota.

Ohio

The origins of the name Ohio are murky and disputed. The most common theory states that Ohio comes from an Anglicized version of an Iroquois word meaning “great river,” which referred to the Ohio River that shares the state’s name.

Oklahoma

The word Oklahoma comes from the combination of two Choctaw words: okla, meaning “people,” and humma. While humma is often translated to mean “red,” as in “red people,” it is also used as an honorific title for men who are called to be courageous in the Choctaw language. Oklahumma was Anglicized to Oklahoma when it became a U.S. territory.

Oregon

The origin of the name Oregon has been lost to history. It was first attested by British Major Robert Rogers in 1765 in a petition to King George III. Major Rogers writes that there is a river called Ouragon by the Native Americans. However, what tribe or language this may have been or what the name may have meant is unknown to this day.

Pennsylvania

The name Pennsylvania is a tribute from William Penn to his father, Admiral William Penn. The younger Penn was given the land grant to the territory by the King of England and named it after his dad, although he originally simply wanted to name it Sylvania. Sylvania comes from the Latin for “forest lands” or “woods.” Pennsylvania is often translated as “Penn’s Woods.”

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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