Editor's Corner

As I mentioned the other day, my friend Jane asked me to cover terms like “on the struggle bus,” which means having a rough time. For balance, she also asked me about terms and synonyms for doing well, feeling good, and living the good life. She mentioned some examples, which I wasn’t familiar with, like “five by five” and “Bravo Zulu.” Today, I have some definitions, and AI provided me with a list of other phrases you might use, depending on where you are and who you’re talking to.

five by five

In pop culture, "five by five" originates from military radio communication during WWII, meaning "loud and clear" or "perfect reception." The term refers to a 1-5 scale for both signal strength and clarity; a "5×5" rating indicates maximum strength and clarity.

Bravo Zulu

A naval signal meaning "well done". The phrase comes from the Allied Naval Signal Book, where the signal flag combination BZ was used to represent this message.

Casual and slang

• Killing it: A very common, energetic phrase for excelling or performing exceptionally well.
• On fire: Describes a period of high achievement and success.
• Nailing it: Means doing something perfectly or successfully.
• Knocking it out of the park/Hitting a home run: Borrowed from baseball, this means exceeding expectations and doing an outstanding job.
• In the zone: Describes a state of deep focus and peak performance.
• Crushing it: The modern, high-energy term for dominating a task or performing extremely well.
• Slaying it: A more modern, informal version of "killing it".

Idioms and expressions

· Everything’s coming up roses: A positive phrase indicating that everything is going well and leading to a good outcome.

· Going swimmingly: Describes a situation that is progressing smoothly and without problems.

· On a roll: Refers to a series of successes, where one good thing happens after another.

· Passing with flying colors: Means to pass a test or complete a task with great success.

Professional and workplace

· On top of your game: Performing at the highest level of your ability.

· Thriving/Flourishing: Used to describe success or strong growth, especially for a business or career.

· In top form: Performing at your very best.

· Achieving peak performance: Performing at the best possible level, a more formal alternative to "on top of your game".

Short and direct

• Top-notch: Excellent, of the highest quality.
• Stellar: Outstanding or remarkable.
• Killing it: A high-energy way of saying someone is doing extremely well.
• Nailed it! A simple exclamation of success.

Let’s hope that when you “nail it,” you do better than the folks on the cake baking show!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Knowledge Enablement

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

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

Several months ago, I received an email from my buddy Jane about a term I hadn’t heard: struggle bus. Here is a brief definition that I cobbled together:

When someone is "on the struggle bus," they are metaphorically riding a vehicle filled with struggles they cannot easily escape, in a situation or state of mind that is frustrating, difficult, or unfulfilling.

Jane mentioned a few more idioms for “having a hard time:”

<![if !supportLists]>· <![endif]>Train wreck: A situation that is a total and spectacular disaster.

<![if !supportLists]>· <![endif]>Car crash: An extremely messy, chaotic, or disastrous situation.

<![if !supportLists]>· <![endif]>Hot mess: A disorganized, chaotic, and often spectacular failure.

She asked for even more words and idioms for having a hard time or describing disastrous situations. Well, I am happy to say that the Merriam-Webster thesaurushas just what you ordered, Jane! I edited it a bit, but the whole list is here if you want it.

apocalypse

We begin our list with a disaster of Biblical proportions. The wordapocalypseoriginally comes from the Greek apokálypsis, meaning “revelation.” Today, the word apocalypse is often used generally (and ominously) to refer to a doomsday-level scenario.

bloodbath

The word bloodbath is often used to describe violent slaughters or massacres. The word creates the mental image of a carnage so intense that someone could take a bath in the spilled blood. Figuratively, though, bloodbath is used to describe disastrous events or severe instances of bad fortune.

cataclysm

Cataclysm is a word so disastrous that it rocks the entire Earth to its core. The word cataclysm means “a violent upheaval” and is used in geography to refer to violent events that manage to alter the surface of Earth.

fiasco

The word fiasco means “a complete and ignominious failure.”

calamity

Get the tissues ready, because our next word is calamity. Calamity is a synonym of disaster, but it indicates that a horrific event specifically caused misery and lots of tears—so, like a dentist appointment?

catastrophe

Catastrophe is a synonym that can highlight the destruction and loss brought about by a tremendous event.

pandemonium

Things have gone to hell in a hand basket thanks to our next word: pandemonium. Pandemonium refers to a wild state of disorder, noise, and chaos. This disastrous word actually comes from Pandaemonium, the name that John Milton used for the capital of hell in Paradise Lost.

debacle

The word debacle is one of several that implies a failure was caused by failure or incompetence, especially ones that result from disorganization.

blunder

The word blunder is a synonym of the word mistake and is often used to describe an error resulting from severe incompetence or stupidity.

epic fail

LOL! The slang term epic fail is used to describe particularly humiliating mistakes. Our disastrous list of words has been bad so far, but epic fail might just be the worst of the bunch. Why? Because this is the phrase to use when that embarrassing mistake has been broadcast on social media! (And once that happens, only an especially clever cat meme can save you.)

meltdown

With our next word, our disaster has gone nuclear. Meltdown is a word used to refer to severe nuclear reactor accidents. It’s figuratively used to describe sudden situations that quickly spiral out of control.

dog’s breakfast

This list has really gone to the dogs. The slang term dog’s breakfast, mainly used in Canada and the UK, describes a confused, disorderly mess.

turmoil

Turmoil is another word to convey that you’re in the midst of great confusion or disorder. Fittingly, we are not actually sure where this verb-turned-noun originates from.

dumpster fire

The slang term dumpster fire means something is so disastrously bad it is beyond all hope of saving. Often, the dumpster fire is result of terribly bad decisions or extraordinary levels of incompetence.

SNAFU and FUBAR

It might be time for reinforcements. SNAFU and FUBAR are two abbreviations that can be traced back to military jargon and have some…colorful meanings. SNAFU stands for “situation normal: all f–ed up” and FUBAR stands for “f–ed up beyond all reason.”

Next time, the other half of my response to Jane: words and idioms for things going well! Until then, some cute capybaras to cheer you up!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Knowledge Enablement

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

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

During vacation, my husband and I made our way back to the hotel on a cold and rainy night, and settled in for some fantastic YouTube nature videos. There is one fellow who is a hilarious narrator, Ze Frank. I’m not sure if he’s kid friendly, but he’s funny and you will learn a lot if you watch him. Anyway, the topic of bees came up. Not just Ze’s bees, but I mentioned to my spouse (Ray) that my manager’s husband is becoming a bee keeper, and my brother is talking about raising bees.

Then I heard the word “apiary.” I sent it to work so I would remember it for Editor’s Corner. The definition from AI:

apiary

Simply put, an apiary is a place where beehives are kept. The word comes from the Latin words for bee, apis, and place of, arium. Apiarium/apiary means “place of bees.” If you keep bees and have more than one hive at the same site — rooftop, garden, field, orchard — you have an apiary.

I found this photo online and stopped there. What an interesting hobby!

Then I thought about how similar the word apiary is to aviary (where birds are kept). Looking up similar terms, I found this list of places different animals are kept. (It’s a long and inconsistent list, but it’s here if you’d like to see it: https://www.absp.org.uk/words/placesanimals.shtml) Here are a few of the ones that I found interesting.

Enjoy your day!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory

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

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Good morning, all. Today we’re going to talk about calendars! Nothing too fancy, but it seems that some of us are slightly confused about the difference between a calendar year, a fiscal year, a regular year, and a physical year.

Here are some definitions for you, from a financial context.

Physical year: This is not a common term in financial contexts. There are occasions where the term might be used, but what you are hearing at meetings and presentations at Jack Henry is fiscal, not physical.

Regular year: This is an alternate way of referring to the “calendar year.” Again, here at work you will likely hear calendar year, so throw “regular year” in the garbage.

Calendar year: This is the 12-month period beginning on January 1 and ending on December 31.

Fiscal year: (From the Grammarist) This is “a consecutive 12-month period used by organizations for accounting purposes, budgeting, and financial reporting. It does not necessarily align with the calendar year, which runs from January 1 to December 31. For example, the U.S. federal government operates on a fiscal year that runs from October 1 to September 30.” [KC – As most of you are aware, the Jack Henry fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.]

From our eager AI friends, here are some of the major differences between the calendar year and the fiscal year:

Start and End Dates:

· Calendar Year: Always starts on January 1 and ends on December 31.

· Fiscal Year: Can start and end on any date, as long as it lasts for 12 consecutive months.

Purpose:

· Calendar Year: Primarily used for personal and corporate tax reporting, aligning with the IRS requirements for most individuals and businesses.

· Fiscal Year: Used by businesses to better match their financial reporting with their operational cycles, allowing for more accurate financial analysis and planning.

Flexibility:

• Calendar Year: Fixed and unchangeable, making it straightforward for financial comparisons across different entities.
• Fiscal Year: Offers flexibility, allowing businesses to select a reporting period that aligns with their specific financial activities, which can be beneficial for seasonal businesses.

Additional Examples:

• Companies Using Calendar Year: Many large corporations, such as Amazon® and Google™, use the calendar year for their financial reporting.

· Companies Using Fiscal Year: Walmart® and Target have fiscal years that do not coincide with the calendar year, often ending in January to capture post-holiday sales.

I hope that clears things up a little!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Knowledge Enablement

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

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

Good morning, folks. Today I have more for you from Ireland. I’m skipping ahead to the last place that we visited: a great town called Kilkenny (kill=church, kenny=Kenneth). I loved this place. It had a castle, a farmer’s market, gorgeous medieval streets and churches, an interesting history, and a dog café where I chatted with a couple of dog lovers by the river.

Threatening clouds above the Nore River

We borrowed umbrellas (“brellies”) from the hotel and walked up to the town’s castle. We opted for a guided tour so that we could see the old moat (now underground) and the original building material they discovered when saving the castle from disrepair.

Kilkenny Castle, from the garden side (photo from the internet) Built in 1195.

But this Editor’s Corner is actually for something in the castle that I learned about. First, is the term “drawing room.” I am not sure if this is true, but the guide showed us a room called the “withdrawing room.” It was a room off of the dining room where women would “withdraw” after dinner, to leave the men to smoke and gamble. Eventually it was referred to as a “drawing room.” I thought it sounded more feasible than it being a room of cozy couches and chairs where women would go to sketch after dinner.

The second term is “pole screens.” Pole screens were in “withdrawing” or drawing rooms, and other rooms with fireplaces. They were popular in the 1700s and later when fireplaces were the main source of heat. Their primary purpose was to shield people from the heat and glare of the fire. First, a couple of photos:

And a description of pole screens from Hammond-Harwood House:

Unlike many historic objects that have a modern-day equivalent, the pole screen provides a snapshot of a specific era. Ornamental yet practical, these screens deflected heat from your face as you sat near the fire. They could be adjusted depending on the height of the individual user. They began growing in popularity in the mid-18th century and were named for the vertical pole the screen was placed on. Typical forms have a small screen in the shape of a square, oval, or shield attached to the pole, which is placed on tripod feet. The screens themselves were decorated with embroidery, paint, or occasionally lacquer….

Pole screens were transportable art, generally placed at the center of the home, the hearth, where social interactions occurred especially in the cooler months. These items were considered status symbols that showed skill, dedication, and femininity.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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

At Dublin airport, my husband and I decided to start our vacation frugally by taking the bus into town. We were told it was about 30 minutes, and to get out when the driver called “George’s Key.” We watched out of the windows as we neared town.

I decided to look at my map. Dublin has a river running through it, called the Liffey, and it looked like we were following it along. On my map, I saw the names of all these quays. I wondered what a quay was (in my head still saying “quay,” to rhyme with “day”). I was shocked from my reverie when I heard “George’s (something).” I ran to the front of the bus and said, “Is this George’s Quay?” Only I rhymed it with “day” again. The driver looked at me a bit disgusted and said, “George’s key!”

We grabbed our suitcases and jumped off the bus. I just stood there repeating “quay is key, quay is key.” Ray looked at me like I should’ve slept on the flight over. I couldn’t get to a dictionary fast enough.

So, as I mentioned the other day, the word has three pronunciations. You can hear them here, but they are ˈkē, ˈkā, and ˈkwā. In Ireland it is the first.

Here is a view from a quay where we are having coffee, looking across to the other side of the river. The white bridge is the Ha’penny Bridge and the Merchant’s Arch is a pub.

Here is a small tidbit of some Dublin quays:

But what is a quay? I thought maybe it was like a dock, or a landing. There are boats along the river, but where I am sitting is more of a walkway for pedestrians that cut out of the river wall. The following information was provided by AI, when I asked what the difference is:

Quay

A dock is a general term for any structure where boats are tied up, while a pier is a raised structure that extends from the shore into the water for access and recreation. A quay is a solid, stable platform built parallel to the shoreline, often used for commercial loading and unloading of ships. The specific terminology can vary significantly by region and cultural context.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown:

· Dock

· Function: A place to moor and tie up boats, often for smaller-scale, personal use. Docks can also be floating structures that rise and fall with the water level.

· Construction: Can be a pier, a wharf, or even a floating platform.

· Usage: Commonly used in U.S. English as a broad term for any boat mooring.

· Pier

· Function: An elevated structure built to extend from the shore into the water, providing a landing place for boats or serving as a walkway for recreation like walking or fishing.

· Construction: Typically supported by pilings that allow water to flow underneath.

· Usage: Can be used for commercial or recreational activities.

· Quay

· Function: A solid, embankment-like structure designed to provide a secure, stable area for ships to dock alongside the shore for commercial loading and unloading of cargo.

· Construction: Usually built from concrete or stone and rests on filled land.

· Usage: Common in British English and other Commonwealth countries.

Key Differentiating Factors

· Orientation:

A quay runs parallel to the shore, a pier extends out into the water, and a dock can refer to a specific area within a larger structure.

· Construction:

Quays are solid and built on filled land, while piers are raised structures with open space underneath. Docks can be either.

· Purpose:

Piers are often for access or recreation, while quays are primarily for commercial loading and unloading.

I know, probably more than you cared to know, but I bet money if you go to Ireland, you aren’t going ask where George’sˈkwā is, you’ll ask for the ˈkē, like a pro.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Knowledge Enablement

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

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

Hello, my friends! Last week was a little crazy, so I apologize for poor service from Editor’s Corner. My husband and I had been waiting for years to go somewhere far away together (Ireland) and then there was COVID. After that was his kidney transplant, which tied him to the U.S. for three years. But this year, we finally did it!

And we returned without luggage, and with COVID. Well, I still have it today, but my head is not in that dizzy state, so I’m going to try to share some fun and interesting things with you.

The first surprise that I had on this trip was the language. I didn’t think there would be any studying to do, since they speak English. Surprise! While they do speak English, the first language of the country is Gaelic. They just call it Irish, so that’s what I’ll call it. The other day I sent a photo of a sign in Irish, followed by the English. Here’s another example:

I asked someone about it, and he said the farther into the countryside you go, the more likely you are to hear Irish than English, and it is the first language taught. The structure of Gaelic and English grammar are very different, as you can see from these examples.

• “Go raibh maith agat” (Thank you) translates literally to "May good be at you."
• "Tá brón orm" (I’m sorry), means "It is that sorrow is on me."

I could not understand even a little bit of it. On the train, I’d eavesdrop occasionally and hear a mix of Irish and English. It reminded me of hearing Spanish in San Diego, with English thrown in here and there…only the words I understood in Ireland were usually swearing. During one train ride, there was some serious shade being thrown at one man because of his taste in barbers, then even worse were some choice words about the barber’s girlfriend.

Here are a few words that stood out to me in Ireland.

And a more general observation, the thicker the accent, the less likely you are to hear “th” pronounced as we would, like in “thirty,” “thorough,” “Thursday,” “thought,” “thanks.” Instead, it is pronounced without the “h,” so just a hard “t.”

Tirty, torough, Tursday, tought, tanks. The guide who took us down the creepy stairs into the catacombs under St. Michan’s church kept saying “terty-taird” and it took a while to get thirty-third from that.

St. Michan’s crypts

And here’s an unrelated detail, but with a few photos. The most colorfully decorated places we saw were the pubs. Live flowers, live music, food, and of course, drinks. And some of the pubs were as old as the towns!

The King’s Head, Galway

O’Neill’s, Dublin

Tic, tac, toe—three in a row, Killarney

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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

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

Hey folks, I have another few interesting word origins for you from Merriam-Webster. I selected these from an article called More Words with Remarkable Origins. I didnt find all of the words remarkable, so youre only getting 40 percent. No, Im (sort of) kidding. Here you go!

cappuccino

The richness of espresso topped with frothy milk might not suggest a Catholic order devoted to poverty, but there’s a connection between cappuccino and the Capuchin monks.

Members of that austere 16th century order wore a notably long and pointy hood, called a capuche. This earned them first the nickname, and then the formal name, Capuchin.

The brown shade of that hood inspired the name of the coffee drink around the turn of the 20th century.

limelight

Limelight – meaning "the center of public attention" – began as a dazzling and dangerous special effect.

In the early 19th century, a scientist discovered that forcing a combination of oxygen and hydrogen through a pipe to ignite a lump of hot limestone (quicklime) created a brilliant illumination.

After another engineer refined that technique, the resulting limelight soon appeared on stages worldwide as an early spotlight on individual performers. But the brilliance of the limelight was matched by its danger: it was highly flammable.

By the end of the 19th century, limelight faded from literal center stage but kept its figurative "center stage" meaning.

khaki

During India’s first War of Independence in 1857, the British military wore uniforms shaded a light yellowish brown.

How would you describe that shade? The locals called it khaki, which in Hindi and Urdu means "dust-colored."

(These days, of course, pants often called "khakis" come in a range of colors other than dusty brown.)

juggernaut

A juggernaut is something (such as a force, campaign, or movement) that is huge and powerful and can’t be stopped.

The word rolled into English with a fairly terrifying image.

It comes from Jagannh (Hindi for "Lord of the World"), the title of the Hindu god Vishnu. According to some exaggerated but widespread reports dating back to the 14th century, during parades in India, devotees of Vishnu would sacrifice themselves by being crushed beneath the wheels of carriages carrying images of Vishnu.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Knowledge Enablement

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

Editors Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Hello all!

I hope you were entertained and educated by the articles I wrote before I went on vacation. I definitely have some stories and photos to share with you. I’m not quite ready to be creative because, despite wearing an N95 mask much of the time, I returned with my first case of COVID. (And did not return with my luggage, which is another story.)

For now, I will tell you something that I was surprised with: English comes second in Ireland. The directions, labels, and signs you see are listed in Irish (Gaelic) first, then in English. I asked a tour guide about education over there, and he said that most kids learn both Gaelic and English from the start—but the further you get into the countryside, the more likely it is that Gaelic is the language of choice. You are likely to hear people communicating in both, but they are so different. Here are a couple of signs so you can see how Irish Gaelic looks:

And the Irish are ahead of the curve on recycling and reuse, though I wasn’t sure about how many things you could actually use this soap for:

More soon when I’m a little more coherent.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Knowledge Enablement

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

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

Good morning, folks. Kara wrote the following Editor’s Corner article and asked me to send it out for her while she’s on PTO. Enjoy!

Hello, you amazingly well-educated folks!

Today’s rhetorical advice is anaphora. Anaphora is “the repetition of a word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic effect.” (Merriam-Webster)

There are examples of anaphora all over the place: music, poetry, writing, speeches, prose, and more. The example from M-W is:

“we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground”

I read that with a back beat and dance moves because I thought, “That sounds so musical.” I’m embarrassed to say it is actually from Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address.” I stopped bopping around and got serious. Here is an example that most of us are probably more familiar with. From Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I have a dream” speech:

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state, sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

And Winston Churchill’s “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” speech about the battle against Nazi Germany is full of anaphora. All of these speeches are memorable and have some kind of rhythm to them.

And music definitely uses anaphora. From Pro Writing Aid, we are reminded of the Police, Destiny’s Child, Taylor Swift, and others. Here are the three groups (or people) mentioned:

In the 1980s, The Police used anaphora to creepy effect in the hit, “Every Breath You Take.” Anaphora lets the listener know they are always being watched.

Every breath you take

And every move you make

Every bond you break

Every step you take

I’ll be watching you

In 2002, the speaker in Destiny’s Child’s “Survivor” proved their ex wrong, with assistance from anaphora.

You thought that I’d be weak without you, but I’m stronger

You thought that I’d be broke without you, but I’m richer

You thought that I’d be sad without you, I laugh harder

In 2014, Taylor Swift used anaphora to demand answers and emphasize her sense of betrayal.

Did you have to do this?

I was thinking that you could be trusted

Did you have to ruin

What was shining? Now it’s all rusted

Did you have to hit me

Where I’m weak? Baby, I couldn’t breathe

That’s a bunch of examples, but there are more in poetry and prose. Today I’m just going to stick with these and let you see how the rhythm in the words works to make these emotional and memorable.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory

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

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