Posted by: Jack Henry | September 19, 2023

Editor’s Corner: States, Group 3

Good morning! Today I’m sticking with the M states (minus Maine). I hope this finds you happy and healthy. From Thesaurus.com:

Maryland

Like Louisiana, Maryland is also named in tribute to royalty. In this case, Maryland was named in honor of Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I of Great Britain. King Charles I had signed the charter establishing the Maryland colony in 1632.

Massachusetts

The state of Massachusetts has its origins in the name of a tribe that once occupied the territory, the Massachuseuck. The word in Algonquin is said to translate to “at the great hill,” thought to refer to what is today known as Great Blue Hill. The name Massachusetts for the area is attested by Captain John Smith in 1616.

Michigan

The name Michigan comes from the Ojibwe (Chippewa) michigama, meaning “large body of water” or “large lake.” This is a fitting name for Michigan, which touches four of the five Great Lakes.

Minnesota

There is general agreement that Minnesota comes from the Dakota name for the Minnesota River: mni sota. But what that expression translates to is disputed. Mni means “water,” but sota can mean “sky-tinted” or “cloudy.” The most poetic translation is Gwen Westerman’s “land where the water is so clear it reflects the sky.”

Mississippi

Mississippi gets its name from a French transcription of the Objiwe word misi-ziibi, meaning “big river.” However, popular folk etymology would have you believe misi-ziibi means “Father of Waters.” The French Messipi became the English Mississippi when it became an American territory in 1798.

Missouri

Missouri is another state that is named for a Native American tribe. The name Missouri is an Anglicized form of the Algonquian Emessourit, meaning “people with canoes (made from logs).”

Montana

It’s easy to understand how Montana got its name: it comes from the Spanish montaña (“mountain”) and the Latin montana, as a reference to the Rocky Mountains. According to legend, the name was suggested by gold rush miner Josiah Hinman for a small town near Pike’s Peak in Colorado. Later, Congressman James Ashley suggested it for the name of a new territory in 1864.

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Posted by: Jack Henry | September 14, 2023

Editor’s Corner: States 2

Hello dear readers,

I hope you are all doing well. I am back to tell you more about the names of our 50 states and their origins, from an article on Thesaurus.com. We left off at Delaware, so today we’re picking up at Florida and headed to Maine. Let me remind you of the site’s disclaimer:

Disclaimer: Many states have names with unclear or uncertain specific origins, especially if they originate from Native American words. We have done our best to consult as many historical sources as possible, but sometimes even the states themselves can’t figure this stuff out—we’re looking at you, Maine! [KC – Today we find out why!]

Florida

The Florida territory was named by explorer Juan Ponce de Léon when he landed on the peninsula in April 1513. The name is believed to be a reference to the Spanish celebration of Pascua Florida or the Easter feast, which happened to be around the day of his landing, and Florida’s abundance of flowers, as florida roughly translates to “full of flowers.”

Georgia

The American state of Georgia is named for King George II of Great Britain. In 1732, King George granted the charter for the formation of the Georgia Colony, granting it limited self-governance powers. The -ia part of the word comes from Greek and is used to denote the names of places, especially states.

Hawaii

The origin of the name Hawaii, or Hawai’i, is disputed. The name Hawai’i is traditionally written with an ʻokina, representing a glottal stop, although this is often represented with an apostrophe.

Some believe the name Hawaii comes from the Polynesian “small or new homeland,” Hawa ii. Others claim the name for the islands comes from the Polynesian legend of chief Hawai’i Loa, an explorer who returned to Polynesia describing the place as a paradise. Another origin story is that the name comes from Polynesian hawaiki, meaning “Place of the Gods.”

Idaho

How Idaho got its name is pretty funny. It starts in 1860, when mining lobbyist George M. Willing proposed Idaho as a name for a part of what would become Colorado. He would later claim that he invented the name inspired by a girl named Ida. Whether promoted by Willing or simply widely believed, however, Idaho was thought to be related to a Shoshone expression meaning “Gem of the Mountains.” When the origin couldn’t be verified, the name Idaho was dropped for Colorado. Thirty years later, the state of Idaho adopted the name when it broke off from Oregon Country, believing once again its fake connection to a Native American word.

Illinois

The name Illinois comes to English via—you guessed it—French. But it actually started as a borrowed word between two indigenous American languages. The confederacy of tribes in the Mississippi River valley called themselves the Inoca. The neighboring Ojibwa tribes in the eastern Great Lakes region adopted an Inoca word irenweewa, meaning “he who speaks in a regular way,” as their name for the Inoca. In Ojibwa, irenweewa became ilinwe. French explorers transformed the name into Illinois, and it became the name of the river and then the territory where the Inoca lived.

Indiana

Indiana literally means “Indian country,” said to come from the purchase of the land from the Iroquois Confederacy. The Indian- part refers to Native Americans, and -ana is a variant of -ia, which is used to denote a name of a place, particularly of a state.

Iowa

While according to folk legend Iowa comes from a Native American word for “the beautiful land,” the origin is much more complex. The Báxoje people of the area were known as Ayuway by neighboring tribes. The name Ayuway comes from the Dakota for Ayuxba, said to mean “sleepy ones.” Ayuway was transcribed as Ioway by the French explorers, and it was Anglicized to Iowa in 1835 by Lt. Albert M. Lea.

Kansas

As you may have guessed, the name of Kansas comes from the same root as Arkansas. The Algonquin people referred to the Sioux tribe the Quapaw or Ugahxpa as the “Akansa,” or, in its plural form, the Akansas. By 1854, Kansas was used to refer to a large portion of the territory itself.

Kentucky

The name Kentucky is of highly disputed origin. It’s said to come from Wyandot for “land of tomorrow,” Shawnee for “at the head of the river,” or Iroquois for “among the meadows.” Another common story is that it comes from a Native American expression meaning “dark and bloody ground.” While that last meaning is almost certainly untrue, the ultimate origins of Kentucky remain murky.

Louisiana

The origins of Louisiana’s name begin with King Louis XIV of France, who gave his royal mandate to the expedition of René-Robert Cavelier de la Salle. La Salle named the territory he discovered in the Sun King’s honor in 1682. The French name La Louisiane was later adopted into English as Louisiana.

Maine

The name Maine has disputed origins. The earliest record of Maine as the name of the territory is spelled Mayne. This word’s origin is uncertain, but it may have been inspired by one of the small British towns with a variation of Maine, as in Broadmayne. Another folk etymology is that the name refers to the mainland, to distinguish it from the islands just off the coast.

Happy trails!

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Posted by: Jack Henry | September 12, 2023

Editor’s Corner: State Names 1

Good morning, everyone!

I was reading an article from Thesaurus.com the other day about state names. No, this isn’t like moods or states of mind. I’m talking about the 50 United States of America. The article is about where the state names come from. I’m sure you have an inkling about some of them, but maybe not all. For my next few Editor’s Corner articles, I’ll share what etymologies I can.

First, a disclaimer from the site:

Disclaimer: Many states have names with unclear or uncertain specific origins, especially if they originate from Native American words. We have done our best to consult as many historical sources as possible, but sometimes even the states themselves can’t figure this stuff out—we’re looking at you, Maine!

So, for the first several, in alphabetical order, of course, because that’s how we roll here!

Alabama

The southeastern state of Alabama kicks off our alphabetical list of all 50 states. The word Alabama is an Anglicized form of the name of a Native tribe of the Muscogee Creek Confederacy that lived in the southeastern United States when the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto arrived in the region. The name is said to combine the Choctaw words alba and amo, meaning “plant-gatherer.” Alabama was first a name given to the Alabama River and then adopted as the state name in 1819.

Alaska

The name of the state of Alaska comes from the language of the Aleut or Unangan people. Alaska ultimately comes from Aleut alaxsxaq, meaning “the mainland” or “the object toward which the action of the sea is directed.” Alaska was originally the name of a peninsula and was adopted for the entire region in 1867 in part because it was “brief, euphonious, and suitable.” As you’ll see, many state names were regionally adopted long before the official date of statehood. (Alaska joined in 1959.)

Arizona

The origin of the name of Arizona is disputed by experts. Some claim that it comes from Tohono O’odham/Pima language for “place of the small spring.” Others, however, argue that the name is from the Basque language, as the area was settled by ranchers of Basque origins in the early 1700s. They believe that Arizona comes from the Basque words aritz, meaning “oak,” and ona, meaning “good” or “place of the good oaks.”

Arkansas

Arkansas took a long, meandering path into English. The story begins with the Algonquin people who referred to the Sioux tribe the Quapaw or Ugahxpa as the “Akansa.” The French in the area picked up the Algonquin term, spelling it Arkansas. In French, the final –s is not pronounced, and neither is the final -s in Arkansas, even after the English-speaking state adopted it as a name.

California

The name California is believed to come from, of all things, a 16th-century chivalric novel. The 1510 epic Las Sergas de Esplandián by Garcí Rodríguez de Montalvo includes a story of the titular Esplandián defending Constantinople from soldiers from a mythical island paradise named California. The early Spanish explorers thought California was a magical place like the fictional island. Historian Damian Bacich suggests the name California in the novel itself may ultimately derive from the real-life medieval fortress city of Kal-Ifrene off the coast of modern-day Algeria.

Colorado

Colorado comes from the Spanish for “of red color” and may refer to the muddy reddish color of the river or the red rocks in the area. When Colorado became a territory of the United States in 1861, the name was given to the region itself.

Connecticut

The name Connecticut comes from the Mohegan or Algonquian word quinnehtukqut, meaning “beside the long tidal river,” describing what is today known as the Connecticut River. The name was Anglicized by at least 1630.

Delaware

Delaware is named for the expedition investor and governor of Virginia from 1610 until 1618: Thomas West, 3rd Baron de la Warr. At the time, the territory was part of the commonwealth of Virginia. The name de la Warr itself comes from Anglo-French for “of the war” or “warrior.”

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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

Posted by: Jack Henry | September 7, 2023

Editor’s Corner: Word Trivia

Good morning and welcome to another edition of Editor’s Corner.

Well, apparently some (OK, most) of you did much better than I did with the word riddles I sent on Tuesday. Today’s challenge, as promised, is called Word Trivia. They’re still word riddles, though, if you ask me.

As I mentioned last time, this quiz is from Dictionary.com. I did a little better with these questions, but that’s because I’ve seen some of them before. I only figured three of them out on my own. I guess I’m not much of a riddler.

Even though I feel a little bit outwitted by you all after the last quiz, I wish you good luck. And whether you do well or not, you can memorize these to torment your friends and family. Have fun! (Remember, you have to scroll down to get the answers.)

These questions are all about words with special qualities that make them unique from others.

  1. What word retains the same pronunciation even after you take away four of its five letters?
  2. Which two English words are spelled with all of the vowels (including y) appearing only once and in alphabetical order?
  3. What is the longest word in English with only one vowel (not including y)?
  4. What is the longest word in English that doesn’t use the vowels a, e, i, o, or u?
  5. What word meaning “having five syllables” is an example of an autological word—meaning a word that describes itself?
  6. What eight-letter word and nine-letter word both begin and end with h-e?
  7. What solitary five-letter word keeps the same meaning when you remove its first letter, and then again when you remove the first letter of the remaining word?
  8. What, when thrown out of a window, leaves a grieving wife, but when dropped in the middle of a door might just save a life?
  9. What heavy seven-letter word can you remove one letter from to get the number 80, but remove two letters from to get the number 8?
  10. What seven-letter word would you spell if you started with a two-letter word for a male person, added another letter to form a word for a female person, added another letter to form a word for a great person, and added three more letters to form a word for a great woman?
  11. What four-letter word in its uppercase form can be written forward, backward, or upside down and can still be read as the same word from left to right?
  12. What common three-letter English verb can become its own past tense form simply by rearranging its letters?
  13. What do the words in the following sentence have in common? Bad mood naps stop evil.

ANSWERS:

  1. What word retains the same pronunciation even after you take away four of its five letters?

Queue

  1. Which two English words are spelled with all of the vowels (including y) appearing only once and in alphabetical order?

Facetiously and abstemiously

  1. What is the longest word in English with only one vowel (not including y)?

Strengths

  1. What is the longest word in English that doesn’t use the vowels a, e, i, o, or u?

Rhythms

  1. What word meaning “having five syllables” is an example of an autological word—meaning a word that describes itself?

Pentasyllabic (Other examples of autological words are adjectival, unhyphenated, pronounceable, and seventeen-lettered).

  1. What eight-letter word and nine-letter word both begin and end with h-e?

Headache and heartache

  1. What solitary five-letter word keeps the same meaning when you remove its first letter, and then again when you remove the first letter of the remaining word?

Alone (Remove the a to get lone, then remove the l to get one!)

  1. What, when thrown out of a window, leaves a grieving wife, but when dropped in the middle of a door might just save a life?

The letter n (Remove it from window, and you get widow. Add it to door and get donor.)

  1. What heavy seven-letter word can you remove one letter from to get the number 80, but remove two letters from to get the number 8?

Weighty

  1. What seven-letter word would you spell if you started with a two-letter word for a male person, added another letter to form a word for a female person, added another letter to form a word for a great person, and added three more letters to form a word for a great woman?

Heroine (The first two letters are he, the first three letters are her, and the first four letters are hero.)

  1. What four-letter word in its uppercase form can be written forward, backward, or upside down and can still be read as the same word from left to right?

Noon

  1. What common three-letter English verb can become its own past tense form simply by rearranging its letters?

Eat (Its past tense is ate).

  1. What do the words in the following sentence have in common? Bad mood naps stop evil.

They all spell another word when reversed.

The following link will take you to the Dictionary.com quizzes: Word Riddles And Trivia To Test If You’re A True Logophile | Dictionary.com.

I hope you’re awake now! Congratulations on all the questions you got right. Now you’re ready to take on the day. Have a good one.

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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Posted by: Jack Henry | September 5, 2023

Editor’s Corner: Word Riddles

Good day, friends, and happy belated Labor Day.

I came across a couple of Dictionary.com quizzes that I thought many of you might like to try your hand at. I’ll freely admit that I did poorly on these quizzes. I’ll share one called Word Riddles today and one called Word Trivia on Thursday.

I hope you all do better than I did. I probably should have thought about each of them a little longer. Patience and perseverance are, indeed, virtues (that, apparently, I have very little of).

Today’s word riddles are directly below. You need to scroll down to get the answers.

These word-based questions are all about double or hidden meanings.

  1. What kind of coat is always wet when you put it on?
  2. What gets wetter as it dries?
  3. What can you break by doing nothing at all?
  4. What disappears the moment you say its name?
  5. What can be cracked, made, told, and played?
  6. What gets bigger the more you remove from it?
  7. What belongs to you but is used more by other people?

ANWERS:

  1. What kind of coat is always wet when you put it on?

A coat of paint

  1. What gets wetter as it dries?

A towel

  1. What can you break by doing nothing at all?

A promise

  1. What disappears the moment you say its name?

Silence

  1. What can be cracked, made, told, and played?

A joke

  1. What gets bigger the more you remove from it?

A hole

  1. What belongs to you but is used more by other people?

Your name

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.

Did someone forward this email to you? Click here to subscribe.

Don’t want to get Editor’s Corner anymore? Click here to unsubscribe.

Do you have a question or an idea for Editor’s Corner? Send your suggestions or feedback to Kara and <a href="mailto:DBurcher.

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Posted by: Jack Henry | August 31, 2023

Editor’s Corner: Labor Day

This Editor’s Corner is dedicated to Ron Fauset, who is retiring next week. Ron has been a great office mate, a helpful coworker, and the source of several articles here over the years. This one is for the Labor Day holiday Monday. Thanks to Ron who gave it to me, and to Richard Lederer, who actually wrote it. 😊 You can find the entire article here at the Verbivore.

Most occupational titles are self-explanatory: A teacher teaches, a preacher preaches, a gardener gardens and a writer writes. But the origins of some job names are more obscure.

The verb to vet means “to examine credentials, manuscripts, or other documents as a veterinarian examines an animal, hoping to give it a clean bill of health.” The noun veterinarian came about because the first veterinarians treated only animals that were old (Latin vetus) and experienced enough to perform work such as pulling a plow or hauling military baggage. That’s why veteran and veterinarian start with almost the same letters.

Janitor derives from the Roman god Janus, who guarded doorways. A professor is “one who makes public declarations,” while the first deans were military officers in charge of ten (decem) soldiers. Those soldiers were so called because they were paid in Roman coins called solidi.

Close kin to janitor is usher. The word has a long history, going all the way back to the Latin ostium, “door,” related to os, “mouth,” because a door was likened to the mouth of a building. Usher, then, turns out to be a body metaphor for a person who stands at a door.

A ventriloquist is someone who is skilled in the art of throwing his or her voice so that it appears to emanate from a source other than the speaker. Appropriately, the roots of ventriloquist are the Latin ventris, “belly” + loqui, “speaker.” In other words, a ventriloquist is a “belly speaker.”

When Geoffrey Chaucer quilled in his prologue to The Canterbury Tales, “a clerk ther was of Oxenford,” the poet was referring to a clergyman or cleric, the first meaning of the word clerk. In the Middle Ages, literacy was largely confined to the clergy, but clerk gradually became the name for bookkeepers, secretaries, and notaries — anyone who could read or write.

Have you ever worried about the fact that the person with whom you trust your hard-earned life savings is called a broker? Worry no more: The original broker was one who broaches (opens) casks of wine.

The surname Webber means “a man who weaves,” Webster “a woman who weaves.” Brewer signifies “a man who brews,” Brewster “a woman who brews.” Dyer is the last name of “a man who dyes cloth,” Dexter the last name of “a woman who dyes cloth.” Baker, of course, denotes “a man who bakes,” while Baxter denotes “a woman who bakes.”

No matter what you do for a living, enjoy your day off from it on Labor Day. And Ron, thank you for everything you’ve done for us over the years. I hope your permanent time away from work is wonderful!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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

Posted by: Jack Henry | August 29, 2023

Editor’s Corner: More Animals and Quiz

As promised, I have a few more animals to tell you about before (or if) you take Merriam-Webster’s animal quiz here.

First a freebie from the San Diego Zoo, a photo of an Amur leopard and her two babies, born in July. The are not on the quiz, but they are beautiful newborns. They are some of the rarest “big cats” in the world.

Tapir

Tapirs are very interesting animals. They have trunks like an elephant and bodies like painted pigs; however, they are more closely related to horses and rhinos. They are 29-42 inches tall (at the shoulder) and can be from 500-800 lbs. Even though they tend to be large, they are great swimmers and good divers when they’re looking for an aquatic dinner.

Lemur

I love this description of lemurs from the Wikipedia: wet-nosed primates…endemic to the island of Madagascar. It makes them sound like little dogs. There are many types of lemurs, almost 100 species. They live mostly in the trees and are active at night. Despite the nearly hundred species, the type you usually see is in the following photo. Following is a little more information from Wikipedia, and a couple of links to the smallest and largest lemurs.

Lemurs range in weight from the 30-gram (1.1 oz) mouse lemur to the 9-kilogram (20 lb) indri. Lemurs share many common basal primate traits, such as divergent digits on their hands and feet, and nails instead of claws (in most species).”

Okapi

Our next buddy is the okapi, native to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa. This endangered animal has three names besides okapi. They are also called the forest giraffe, the Congolese giraffe, and the zebra giraffe. Though they look more like zebra donkeys to me, they are actually in the giraffe family.

These handsome dudes are about eight feet long and range from 440-770 lbs. They somehow manage to maintain their weight on tree leaves, grasses, ferns, fruit, and other herbivorous munchies. The following pictures give you a front view and a hiney view so you can see where all the talk of zebras comes from.

And there you have it. It isn’t all the animals from theanimal quiz but hopefully it will help you out, should you take the challenge.

Have a great day!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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

Posted by: Jack Henry | August 24, 2023

Editor’s Corner: Speech Blunders

Good morning. Its time for some fun with words.

Kara has written about mondegreens, which are misheard or misinterpreted song lyrics:

  • Alanis Morissettes You Oughta Know:
    The cross-eyed baby that you gave to me
    (Should be The cross I bear that you gave to me)

She has also written about eggcorns, which Dictionary.com describes as a similar sounding misinterpretation that makes sense and usually retains the semantic gist of the original word or phrase.

  • The cookbook is being compiled. Please submit your favorite recipe and a short antidote concerning it. (Should be anecdote)

Kara has written about spoonerisms: the transposition of consonants or phonemes within a phrase.

  • It was a little fit bunny. (Should be a little bit funny)

And Kara has even covered the malapropism, which is an unintentionally ludicrous word that sounds similar to the original but is completely nonsensical in context.

  • Its a proven fact that capital punishment is a known detergent for crime. (Should be deterrent.)

But there are other types of speech blunders that I was interested to find out about and that Im going to share with you today. These come from Dictionary.com.

parapraxis From the Latin para meaning beside and the Greek praxis, for a doing, a parapraxis is an instance in which you say one thing and mean your mother er, another.

The term is most commonly known as a Freudian slip and was deeply instrumental in the work of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud in determining his patients hidden intentions and desires.

Example: Would you like some butter on your bed?

catachresis From the Greek word meaning abuse or misuse, catachresis happens when a speaker mistakenly uses a word that seems really similar in place of the correct word. These blunders arent necessarily humorous.

Example: She was reticent to jump in the pool.
(Should be reluctant because reticent means she was reluctant to speak.)

solecism From the Greek sloikos for speaking incorrectly, solecism refers to the ancient Greek city of Soloi, an Athenian colony infamous for its corrupted form of the Greek language.

Example: Ill never change. I is what I is!

mumpsimus The Renaissance philosopher Desiderius Erasmus coined this word for the determined use of a mistaken expression or practice. In a story, Erasmus describes a monk who stubbornly persisted in saying mumpsimus rather than the correct smpsimus while reciting the Latin liturgy.

Example: If your spouse insists its a doggy-dog world no matter what you sayYour spouses aversion to using the correct phrase (dog eat dog) is known as a mumpsimus.

Have a wonderful 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 Editors Corner

Editors 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 peoples writing. We love to spend a few extra minutes to share what we learn with you and keep it fun while were doing it.

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Posted by: Jack Henry | August 22, 2023

Editor’s Corner: Animals

Oh my. It’s been a few weeks of heavy grammar in Editor’s Corner and a lot of constant work on the Jack Henry Connect conference materials. It’s still summertime, so I wanted to lighten up a little bit. I was just looking at the Merriam-Webster (M-W) page, and I think I found the solution: animals!

M-W actually provided a quiz with names and photos (I’ll share it with you next time we meet.) I’m going to provide you with a little more information about a few of them today.

Capybara

Its claim to fame is that it is the earth’s biggest rodent. The San Diego Zoo just welcomed four new capybaras. They generally live near the water, they are excellent swimmers, and are native to South America. These relatives of the guinea pig get up to two feet high (at the shoulders), four and a half feet long, and weigh between 77 to 143 lbs. I think they’re pretty darn cute.

Wombat

When I was a child, I remember kids rhyming combat and wombat (okay, there was an insult to people’s grandmas and combat boots were involved). I don’t think we junior Seattleites had any clue of what a wombat was.

Wombats, unlike capybaras, are a solitary animal. They are marsupials, so when they are born, they still have some growing to do, and they do it in a pouch, like kangaroos. Also, like kangaroos, baby wombats are called “joeys.” Wombats are native to Australia and grow to be about three and a half feet long, 45-75 lbs. I think they’re kind of cute too.

Pangolin

Now this critter is one I’ve never seen or heard of, but apparently there are several different types of pangolin in West Africa, Central Africa, India, and Southeast Asia. They look like dinosaurs to me, but their nickname is “scaly anteater.” They grow 50-55 inches long and weigh up to 70 pounds. The protective scales on the pangolin are made from the same material as our fingernails. They are solitary animals that come out of their burrows at night to eat. Unfortunately, these animals are on the endangered list. Following is a pangolin walking, and another balled up to protect itself.

That’s it for today!

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Posted by: Jack Henry | August 17, 2023

Editor’s Corner: Subjunctive Mood

Hello friends!

Are we still friends after the grammar lessons? I sure hope so. I still haven’t received my new mood ring yet, but I had to buy one after writing five articles about grammar moods. Today is the last one, and it is the subjunctive.

I don’t ever remember learning this in English, but they sure do cram it into your head when you take a foreign language, and for some reason between conjunctional and subjunctive, students lose a lot of sleep and a lot of hair.

As a refresher, the subjunctive expresses a wish, a doubt, a demand, or something hypothetical. From Scribbr, a website offering English lessons, proofreading, and plagiarism checks:

“There are two types of subjunctive verb forms. Verbs in the present subjunctive take the infinitive form (e.g., “to be”), while verbs in the past subjunctive are identical to their simple past forms (e.g., “ran”).

Here are some examples of the subjunctive mood from Learn Grammar because I’m tired of making things up. Note the hypothetical aspect and the verb tenses used. This tense is used for things you might wish for or wonder about, but they haven’t happened, or they might not happen. 😊

  • If I were in the program, I would sing the song.
  • I suggest that Lisa write the article.
  • If I were in your place, I would not do it.
  • I suggest that Jack come here to solve it.
  • I propose that you be present at the meeting.
  • If Denis were here, he could have done it.
  • If today were Friday, I could have attended the program.
  • I propose that Harry be asked to attend the party.
  • I suggest that Hanna sing the song.
  • I propose that Steve be asked to complete the project.
  • If we were in New Zealand, we would meet you.
  • Jeff doubts whether Alice would like it.
  • I suggest that Robert attend the meeting.
  • I propose that Pam be asked to prepare the cake.
  • If Tom were here, he could have solved the issue.

I sincerely thank you for your patience, and I hope these articles and examples have made these terms clearer to those of you who have asked about grammatical mood.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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

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