Editor's Corner

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

2. What gets wetter as it dries?

A towel

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

A promise

4. What disappears the moment you say its name?

Silence

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

A joke

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

A hole

7. 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.

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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/

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/

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.

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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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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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/

The conditional mood expresses…wait for it…a condition! Okay, it’s a little more complicated than that. According to Wikipedia, “The conditional mood is a grammatical mood used in conditional sentences to express a proposition whose validity is dependent on some condition.“

Here are some hints about conditional sentences:

• They often contain an auxiliary verb like would, should, or could
• The sentences often start with if, or had

Perhaps the best thing I can do is give you a bunch of examples. The auxiliary and regular verbs are bolded. These are inspired by Learn Grammar but are modified a little by me just to keep myself entertained.

• Tamara might be able to bring doughnuts if she comes earlier.
• I would like a cappuccino, please.
• If you were here, you could have done it.
• If I were in Paris, I would meet my friend Titus.
• If Judson had come here, I could have given him ten reasons he should not play the part of Juliette in our play.
• Had Yesenia participated in the dart-tossing contest, she could have won the first prize.
• I would like a glass of orange juice, please.
• I might be able to attend the jump-rope challenge if I can finish my work earlier.
• Had I been there, I could have helped you.
• If John is not in the office, he might be upstairs setting off fireworks.
• If you want to attend the class, you should sign up now.
• Had Carla started on time from home, she would not miss the flight.
• I would like a chocolate cone with nuts.
• Had Woodrow not wasted so much time, he could have finished the project
• Bob might be able to meet Anna if he comes now.

We’re almost at the end of our grammar moods. Next time the final installment: subjunctive mood.

If you’re still with me, you deserve something cute: a herd of cats!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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

Good morning, and welcome to another beautiful Thursday.

I love it when my grammar resource sites provide me with unusual lists of words, which MSN did recently. They sent me (and millions of other people) a list called “10 Words That Don’t Mean What You Think They Do.” Ah, just my cup of tea! Some of these might be surprising to you, so read on and enjoy.

1. Contingency: There’s no such thing as "a contingency of experts," "of French chefs," "of Chinese ministers," or the like. A contingency is something that might happen ("We must prepare for every contingency"). A group of people is a contingent.

2. Disinterested: If you’re not interested in something, you’re uninterested. "Disinterested" means that you have no direct stake in something, financially or in some other sense. A judge in a courtroom should always be disinterested in the proceedings, though they may interest [the judge] very much.

3. Exhibit: If you go to the museum to see a Picasso exhibit, you’re just seeing one painting or print or whatever. An exhibit is a single item. Think "Exhibit A." An exhibition is a whole collection of exhibits, which is probably what drew you to the museum.

4. Flagrant: People use "flagrant" to mean obvious, as in "a flagrant error" or "a flagrant invitation." It means something stronger than that, though—not just obvious but particularly offensive or objectionable. The aforementioned error and invitation are more correctly "blatant."

5. Further: San Francisco isn’t further from New York than Boston is and you didn’t run further than you should—it’s "farther" in both cases. "Farther" refers to physical distance, "further" to non-physical or metaphorical ones ("Let’s not take this argument any further.”)

6. Infamous: This adjective gets applied to all kinds of things these days—"The restaurant’s infamous chocolate cake," "The team’s infamous victory over their rivals," and so on—when what people actually mean is "famous" or "celebrated." "Infamous" isn’t a compliment: It means disgraceful or having a bad reputation.

7. Insure: You can’t insure that something bad won’t happen. You can insure yourself—that is, buy insurance—so that you’ll be compensated if something bad does, but what you want to try to do is ensure that something bad won’t happen. "Ensure" means to guarantee or make certain; "insure" means to buy insurance or otherwise indemnify.

8. Notorious: See "infamous," above. "Notorious" sometimes gets used in the same way ("The restaurant’s notorious chocolate cake.") But it doesn’t just mean famous—it means famous in a bad way, or known unfavorably.

9. Penultimate: This is the penultimate word in this list. And, no, it’s not the last one. The last word is the ultimate one; "pen-" is a Latin prefix meaning "almost," and "penultimate" means second-to-last.

10. Tortuous: It sounds like something that tortures you, but that would actually be "torturous." "Tortuous" means winding or twisting, like a road that curves up a mountainside.

Enjoy 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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Hello, hello!

Today is part three in our grammatical moods. As a reminder, here’s where we started:

Today we’re looking at the imperative mood, which is what we use for commands and requests. I don’t have much in the way of a helpful hint to remind you what it means. How about this? Imps are naughty creatures, and they like to be bossy and use the imperative. No? Sorry, that’s the best I can do.

Here are some examples of the imperative mood, including some subsections of the imperative mood. Note that the imperative uses the present tense of verbs (go, print, run, stop). Exclamation points mean strong commands; periods mean mild commands or requests.

For orders:

• Leave now!
• Get out of my room!

For requests:

• Please print three copies for me.
• Get me a water when you are in the kitchen, would you?

To give advice:

• Try before you buy.
• Take care when feeding alligators.

To give instructions:

• Turn left at Piggly-Wiggly.
• Go to the right after you pass the Union 76 station.

To issue a warning:

• Watch out!
• Duck and cover!

And that’s it for today! I hope you are having a great summer.

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 all!

In my last article, I brought up grammatical moods. I think it might’ve been more fun to lend you my mood ring and see what color it turned. Then, I could tell you if you were feeling happy, loving, peevish, stormy, or whatever the color equated to.

Instead, though, I’m going to continue on from the indicative mood to the interrogative mood. I think we’ve seen enough movies about wars and captives to know that interrogate means “to question.” And that’s how you can remember what this mood is all about: questions. More precisely, from the OSU Writing Center: The interrogative mood “is used to express a sense of uncertainty by asking a question. The question contains an auxiliary verb (helping verb) and then a main verb.”

Another hint? Question marks indicate an interrogative sentence. The verb tense can change, but again, watch for the question mark and helping verbs.

The interrogative mood can go a little deeper too. According to the site Worksheets Planet, there are four different types of questions. Here they are with examples for each type.

Yes or no questions: These sentences can be answered simply with yes or no.

• Does Bea like ice cream with sprinkles?
• Is your neighbor friendly?

Wh-questions: These sentences use wh- words (who, what, where, when, why, how, how many) to begin the sentence.

• What is your favorite color?
• Who is your favorite water polo player?
• Where did you go to college?
• Why did you bring your cobra to the picnic?
• When is Sheri quitting her job?
• How did you find out about Chuck’s birthmark?

Choice questions: These questions offer a choice of several options.

• Do you prefer the pink sweater or the blue one?
• Would you like coffee or tea?
• Do you want to leave at noon or 1:00 p.m.?

Tag questions: This type of question is made up of two parts, where the first part is a positive statement, and the second part is negative (or the contrary).

• You’re going to the fair, aren’t you?
• Jay is getting married, isn’t he?
• You bought your son a birthday present, didn’t you?

That’s it! More than you ever wanted to know about the interrogative mood. Now, would you like to buy a ring?

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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