Editor's Corner

Good morning. It’s Fun with Words Day today. Dictionary.com recently sent a wonderful article about the longest English words in various categories. I found it fascinating, so I decided to share some of them with you. Most of the content below is directly from their website.

· methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl…

This is the longest word of all. It’s a chemical name with over 180,000 letters. If you tried to say it out loud, it would take you over three hours to get it out! “Its absurd length is due to the fact that proteins get their scientific names by combining the names of all of their joined amino acids together.” It does not appear in the dictionary.

· pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

At 45 letters long, this is the longest word you’ll find in an English dictionary. “According to many sources, it was coined around 1935 by Everett Smith, who at the time was the president of the National Puzzlers’ League. The word, which was basically engineered for its length, refers to a lung disease caused by inhaling silica dust.”

· antidisestablishmentarianism

I remember my little sister learning how to spell this word in elementary school. Although it’s a real word, it is rarely used except to show off that you know how to say and spell a very long word. It refers to “to opposition to withdrawing support from the Anglican Church as the state church of 19th-century England.”

· honorificabilitudinitatibus

I decided to share this word because of my love of Shakespeare. He used it in his play Love’s Labour’s Lost. It means “capable of receiving honor,” and one really interesting thing about this word is that it’s the longest English word in which the consonants and vowels alternate back and forth. How cool is that?

· uncharacteristically

Why is this word included, you ask? It’s because this is often said to be the longest word the average English speaker commonly see or uses in everyday life. This adverb describes something “as not being typical or acting in a characteristic way.”

· uncopyrightables

While most of us don’t actually use this word, it is pretty easy to figure out what it means—unlike the long scientific words. Dictionary.com included it in their list because it’s an isogram, which means that no letter is repeated. Now, I’ve got you, right? This is pretty cool stuff!

· rhythms

I bet you’re already trying to figure out why this word is included. And I bet you got it. This is thought to be the longest English word that does not include one of the five main vowels.

· squirreled

And this is my favorite. Can you figure out why it’s included? I’ll give you a hint. It has to do with pronunciation. In some regions of the U.S., this word rhymes with curled, which makes it the longest one-syllable word in the English language. I love the way my spouse says the word squirrel. With his British accent, it definitely has two syllables, and sounds like this.

Enjoy the day. Squirrel away some time to have fun.

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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Since the Writers Guild of America is on strike and I had a few days to sit around and recover from some surgeries last month, I needed something to watch as I recovered. Something soothing, sweet, and relaxing—and I found it in Australia’s show, City Homicide.

As my body healed, I watched some of this series and kept a list by my side. Here are some of the phrases that I have learned so far. Here’s what I’ve found in seasons one and two.

That’s what I’ve gathered so far! I find it interesting that contact sports, headbutts, face-slicing, and motorcycle gang members all sound so cute: footy, kisses, smiles, and bikies. Australia might be a difficult place to figure out if you don’t do some research first. 😊

Enjoy your day!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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

Kara Church would like to recall the message, “Editor’s Corner: Scottish Slang”.
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Since the Writers Guild of America is on strike and I had a few days to sit around and recover from some surgeries last month, I needed something to watch as I recovered. Something soothing, sweet, and relaxing—and I found it in Australia’s show, City Homicide.

As my body healed, I watched some of this series and kept a list by my side. Here are some of the phrases that I have learned so far. Here’s what I’ve found in seasons one and two.

That’s what I’ve gathered so far! I find it interesting that contact sports, headbutts, face-slicing, and motorcycle gang members all sound so cute: footy, kisses, smiles, and bikies. Australia might be a difficult place to figure out if you don’t do some research first. 😊

Enjoy your 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! Back in March, I wrote to wish you a happy vernal equinox. Back then, I mentioned that the equinox occurs twice each year (in March and September in the Northern Hemisphere) when the amount of daylight and nighttime are about equal in length.

Today, Im wishing you a happy (slightly belated) summer solstice! According to Dictionary.com, The word solstice ultimately derives from the Latin slstitium, which comes from the parts sl, sun, and sistere, to stand still. This means that slstitium literally translates to something like the standing still of the sun.

The summer solstice (around June 21 in the Northern Hemisphere) represents the longest day of the year. Around the world, people and cultures have beautiful ways to celebrate. England boasts one of the oldest and most well-known celebrations at Stonehenge. Thousands of druids, pagans, and other celebrants gather to admire the spectacular sunrise over the sacred site, where the stones align perfectly with the movement of the sun.

Summer solstice sunrise at Stonehenge

In Sweden, the celebration is known as Midsummer. The celebration involves dancing around a maypole, decorating houses with greenery, and enjoying delicious food and drink.

Dancing around the maypole in Sweden

(You may be familiar with a 2019 horror/thriller movie called Midsommar. I cant recommend it because Im a scaredy cat when it comes to horror films, but it is critically acclaimed.)

In Bolivia, along the shores of Lake Titicaca, on the Isla del Sol, the Indigenous people gather for summer solstice ceremonies that include musical performances, native dances, and rituals to honor Pachamama (Mother Earth).

Indigenous women perform a ceremonial dance at Lake Titicaca in Bolivia

If youre interested in learning about the many other countries and cultures that celebrate the summer solstice, you can read more here.

As we move into summer, I wish you a perfect blend of sunny days and warm nights. Happy summer solstice.

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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Hello folks!

Last week I promised to send you part two of this article on words ending with -nym, translated from Greek as “name.” Let’s get right back to it!

eponym

A name from which another word is derived. Romulus (twin brother of Remus) gave us the name for Rome.

Examples from The Wordpoint

• Caesar Salad: Restaurateur Caesar Cardini created the salad that now bears his name.
• Boycott: This word is named for an Irish land agent, Captain Charles C. Boycott.
• Fahrenheit: Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit is the physicist for whom this temperature measurement is named.
• Cardigan: This is named after the 7th Earl of Cardigan. He led troops who wore this garment into battle.
• Sandwich: While some of the backstories may be lore, it is true that the word sandwich is named for the Earl of Sandwich.
• Nicotine: Jean Nicot sent powdered tobacco leaves and seeds back to France when he visited Portugal as an ambassador.

endonyms and exonyms

endonym (Greek: endo [inside] + nym [name])

The name a group of people use to refer to themselves.

exonym (Greek: exo [outside] + nym [name])

A name for a place or group of people that is only used outside that place or group.

A Few Examples from Omniglot:

In the following list, the exonyms are what we call countries in English; the endonyms are how each country refers to themselves.

日本 (Nihon)

I hope you’ve enjoyed our tour of -nym words!

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Hello there, folks! I hope today finds you happy, healthy, and almost ready for the weekend!

I was just looking back in my “to do” folder for Editor’s Corner and I stumbled on a cryptic note to myself: “trionym, aptronym, inaptonym.” Once I got started, I found several items we’d covered before with the suffix -nym (from Greek όνομα (onoma)—name). Most of the following definitions are from Dictionary.com, many of the examples are from my head bone, and the rest of the examples are from sites that I’ve noted.

euonym, aptronym, aptonym, charactonym

A person’s name that is well suited to the person, place or object which bears it; a person’s name that is regarded as amusingly appropriate to their occupation.

Examples:

• Flora Gardener, owner of a flower shop
• William Wordsworth, the poet
• Charity for a woman who gives her time and money
• Dr. Cutt the surgeon
• Crusty Baker, the pie shop owner
• Michael Fast, an Olympic runner
• Rusty Ford, the repair shop owner

inaptonym

This one wasn’t acknowledged as a real word by most dictionaries, but I like it, so it made the cut.

A name that is poorly suited to the nature, career, or other personal characteristics of the person so named.

Examples:

• Mr. Lucky proved to be an inaptonym for a man who suffered a series of misfortunes that left him destitute and alone.
• Johnny Good was the name of the criminal arrested for the assault, battery, and murder of a dozen people.
• Mr. Black worked many jobs, always spending money until the company was in the red.
• Mrs. Fields lived on a mountain during the winter, at the desert in the spring, and by the sea in the summer.

trionym

A trionym is a name consisting of three terms. This word is mostly used to refer to scientific names. For example, modern humans may sometimes be referred to by the trionym Homo sapiens sapiens in anthropology.

So as not to tire you out, I’ll save the rest of our -nym words for Tuesday. I hope you enjoy your day.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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

A friend of Editor’s Corner sent me an article from The New York Times about children’s books, the opener was this:

The Threads That Bind Us

A boy embroiders the moon, a girl makes coats for canines, and a knitted-cape crusader saves the day.

I read a little bit more:

Tao Nyeu’s The Legend of Iron Purl is more fanciful [KC – More fanciful than the precious book in this article], its young forest animals riveted by Granny Fuzz’s tales of a caped crusader whose weapon of choice is knitting. Don’t scoff: It’s no weirder than a superhero who slings spider webs. Purl’s identity is concealed by a hand-knit hooded cape, and her utility belt includes yarn and knitting needles. While Bandit Bob is a tepid villain, the “Busy World”-style illustrations are fun, and I appreciated the big reveal: Purl is Granny Fuzz! It’s subversive, one might say crafty, to cast an older woman, whose invisibility is rarely deemed a superpower, as a crack crime-fighter.

I was sold. Those of you who know me know that I love to knit. I learned at public school when I was eight and I’ve been doing it since. Maybe a little less in San Diego—Seattle was more suited to scarves and hats and blankets—but it’s one of my favorite hobbies.

But today’s topic isn’t knitting. It is from the subtitle of the article. Today we’re going to have a look at English terms related to the textile industry.

From The George Washington University Museum:

Batik: Indonesian term for the wax-resist dyeing process, or a fabric patterned with this process. Such fabrics reached fantastic heights of virtuosity on the island of Java in Indonesia in the late-19th and early-20th centuries after the introduction of machine-made cotton fabrics permitted more finely controlled designs.

Carding: A method of preparing fibers for spinning. It is used to even out the density of short fibers, most often wool, by laying them on the teeth of a wire brush (called a card) and scraping them with another matching wire brush. Cards with metal teeth are first recorded in Europe in the 13th century.

Couching: A patterning process in which a yarn or object is attached to the surface of a fabric with one or more stitches. [KC – Like embroidery.]

Embroidery: The embellishment of fabrics by means of needle-worked stitches. An extensive variety of stitches and materials are used in embroidery. [KC – In embroidery, the thread is referred to as “floss.”]

Felt: A fabric made of loose, haphazardly arranged wool fibers, which have surface scales that stick to each other as a result of the felt-making process. In Central Asia, nomadic peoples live in circular tents called yurts, the roofs and walls of which are covered in felt.

KC – I learned how to make felted purses and slippers and other items from yarn. It was so addictive, I broke my washing machine’s clutch and ended up finishing the job on the stove. (My husband asked what stinky thing I was cooking for dinner.) The process of heating the wool in water makes it shrink and thicken so that it resembles the texture of the felt squares (above) rather than the original texture—something more like a knit scarf. It’s like magic!

knit

knit and felted

Piecing: The joining of pieces of fabric to make a larger textile. The top layer of “patchwork” American quilts is pieced before being quilted.

Spindle: A narrow tapered stick that is twirled in the spinning process, and onto which the spun yarn is wound. Hand spindles usually have a weight, or whorl, to help provide momentum.

whorl drop spindle

This is just a handful of terms related to textiles. For more, see the website above, The George Washington University Museum.

Jolie, thank you for the topic suggestion!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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

Hello to my favorite people! I was just looking through some of my emails and I stumbled on one about words with multiple meanings. In English, that’s pretty darn common, so why did I choose these? Well, I follow this fellow Anu Garg (at wordsmith.org) and he discusses five words a week that have a general theme. These two words amused me personally, so I’m sharing them with you.

I know what decolletage is, but I was curious how it might relate to decollate. Now you’ll find out too!

decollate

1. To behead.
2. To separate sheets of paper, from a multiple-copy printout, for example.

ETYMOLOGY:

For 1: From Latin decollare, from de– (from) + collum (neck). Earliest documented use: 1599.
For 2: From de– (from) + collate (to gather, merge, etc.), from conferre (to bring together). Earliest documented use: 1967.

NOTES:

Sometimes the word decollate is used as an alternate spelling for the decollete (which is short for decolletage: a low neckline on a woman’s dress). But when you need to refer to a low neckline in a formal context—an office memo, a research paper, a court brief, a patent application, etc.—it’s best to go with decollete. [KC – Hmm…I don’t think this will be in any of our office memos!]

This next one (with multiple meanings and spellings) reminds me of my mom. She’s the one that taught me what a dickey was when I was a little kid. She went to an all-girl Catholic college where they had to wear their black graduation gown over their clothes for certain events. Once you see the first definition for dickey, you’ll understand why it might’ve been useful for a quick change with the graduation gown.

dickey, dicky, or dickie

ETYMOLOGY:

For noun: A diminutive of Dick, a nickname for Richard. Earliest documented use: 1753.
For adjective: Of uncertain origin. Earliest documented use: 1788.

And now you can buy a four-pack of dickeys from Amazon, for under $20!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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

A few months ago, our manager had us try ChatGPT and test how this artificial intelligence might work for documentation in the future. We produced a few fun items, but we found that ChatGPT is not able to write detailed instructions very well. In addition, you don’t want to test with company material because it becomes part of ChatGPT’s “encyclopedia” of information for the public.

Outside of testing ChatGPT, I’ve received numerous emails about how AI is going to make writers and editors unnecessary, and other emails about how you can’t just throw writers and editors away, because AI cannot understand the subtleties of writing and being human.

I heard an interview the other day with David Simon, the writer of the scripts for The Wire, among other shows. The interviewer was trying to get Mr. Simon to admit he might try AI for writing scripts. Simon’s response was one of disgust and he said, essentially, he’d rather be dead.

And I agree. It will be some time before creativity can be programmed…and why? It’s a great thing to be a human and be able to write stories, make things with your hands, and use your imagination. But I digress. I read a great article that my former manager sent my way. I’m only going to include some of it here, but the link is below if you’d like to all of it.

Why Learning to Write Well Is Still Important in the Age of A.I.

…It’s clear A.I. is advancing incredibly rapidly and soon will transform how a lot of white collar work gets done.

What exactly those changes will look like is the subject of fierce debate and is probably anybody’s guess at this point. But already impressive tools like ChatGPT make plain that a lot of routine writing will probably be done by bots in the future.

Marketers are already experimenting with having chatbots write social-media posts and ads. College professors are rethinking the essay for the age of A.I. Real estate agents are handing off writing listings to the bots. So if you’re a young person today, should you conclude that it’s time to decrease the time and effort you invest in learning to write well?

Writing makes you smarter.

Actually no, answers a chorus of experts. …(W)riting isn’t just banging out the right string of words to get your meaning across…. The most important function of writing isn’t to teach others, but to teach yourself.

"Writing is the process by which you realize that you do not understand what you are talking about. Importantly, writing is also the process by which you figure it out," writes Farnam Street blogger Shane Parrish. "Writing about something is one of the best ways to learn about it."

…(E)ven those with not a shred of literary ambition—should perfect their writing. Not to persuade others, but to make themselves smarter.

"Everyone is full of ideas they’re not aware of. They’re gut feelings. Intuitions. You use them a dozen times a day. But you’d shrug your shoulders if someone asked why. How you react to career risk. Why you invest the way you do. Why you like some people and question others. We’re all brimming with opinions on these topics that we may never discuss, even with ourselves," Housel argues. Writing is the way to turn that "phantom intelligence" of hunches and half-formed opinions into usable tools for the betterment of yourself and your career….

If you want to learn to think, you need to learn to write.

One day in the not-too-distant future, a chatbot may be able to write a convincing email to your boss or polish up that important presentation in minutes. Use those abilities to your advantage. But no bot is going to figure out how complex ideas fit together and apply that to your specific situation any time soon. No bot can help you pick your way through a challenging intellectual puzzle. [KC-Emphasis mine. No bot can do this, but editors can!]

Chatbots can convincingly regurgitate human knowledge, but they still struggle to expand it or even combine it in new and enlightening ways.

In this world, empathetic, experimental, humane writing may end up being an even more valuable career skill. But even if you don’t plan to market yourself as a wordsmith or communicator, you still need to be able to think. And the best tool for thinking humans have ever invented—up to and including these mind-bending new A.I. tools—is good old-fashioned writing. So if you want to be able to think clearly and well, you still need to learn to write.

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