Editor's Corner

Dear Editrix,

I was listening to my nine-year-old daughter talking to one of her friends over the iPad and she used the phrase “she dropped her books on accident.” Then I heard her use “on accident” in another sentence and it made me question if it was now ok to say on accident or if by accident was the proper grammar.

Thanks,

Wondering Mama

Hello there!

What an interesting observation! Whether it is by accident or on accident (or both) isn’t something I’ve thought about before. I was trying to think of an example, such as “I bought this book by accident.” Would I say on or by? I decided I’d say by accident or accidentally. But I’ve definitely heard the alternative on accident, so I did some digging.

The first article I read on Grammar.com said that by accident is correct and that people might say on accident, but they certainly wouldn’t write it because it isn’t proper.

I thought I should look further, and I found more information from our buddy Grammar Girl. I’ve copied a few interesting paragraphs from her research that I hope answer the question for you.

…use of the two different versions appears to be distributed by age. Whereas on accident is common in people under 40 or so, almost everyone who is older than that today says by accident. It’s really amazing: the study is 10 years old now, but if you assume usage hasn’t changed in the last 10 years, the results mean people born after 1995 are more likely to use on, people born between 1970 and 1995 say by accident more often than on accident, but still use on accident a lot too, and then people born before 1970 overwhelmingly prefer by accident. It looks like a directly age-related change in the way people are saying this phrase.

…although usage guides state that on accident is an error, and Shelly from Texas asked me to do what I can to ban on accident, Barratt found that there is no widespread stigma associated with saying on accident. In addition, it seems to me that as those kids who say on accident grow up (some of whom are even unaware that by accident is an option, let alone the preferred phrase of grown-ups) on accident will become the main, accepted phrase. By that time, there won’t be enough of us left who say by accident to correct them!

It looks like your daughter is safe from a lecture and she’s just “acting her age.” Or maybe you could go a little further and call her a trend-setter?

And from Dan Green, a quote from the internet that I just loved:

“If you try to correct my grammar, I will think fewer of you.”

Kara Church

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Technical Editor, Advisory

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

Good day, everyone!

I don’t have much of a plan for today, so I thought I’d share part of an article from The Grammarist. The Grammarist sends out emails on English words and phrases, often comparing two words that people who speak English as a second language get confused. For example, today’s words are burrow and borrow. Since that combination made me laugh, and it is Groundhog Day, I thought I’d share this with you.

Burrow and borrow are words that are close in spelling and pronunciation and may be considered confusables. Confusables is a catch-all term for words that are often misused or confused; there are many confusing words in the English language that may be easily confused for each other in spoken English and written English.

A burrow is a tunnel or a hole that has been dug by an animal. Burrow is also used as a verb to mean tunneling or digging a hole. Related words are burrows, burrowed, burrowing. The word burrow is derived from the Old English word, burgh, which means a fortress.

Borrow means to use something that belongs to someone else with the intention of returning it. To properly borrow something, one should have the permission of the owner to use it and then return it. One may borrow money from a bank, in which case, one pays for the privilege. One may borrow a cup of sugar from a neighbor, in which case, you should repay the favor in kind. Borrow is a verb; related words are borrows, borrowed, borrowing. The word borrow is derived from the Old English word, borgian, which means to lend.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Kara Church

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Technical Editor, Advisory

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

Good morning, dear readers!

If you’ve been keeping up with the Business Innovation Groups (BIGs) here at Jack Henry, reading Editor’s Corner, or keeping your eye on jhaToday, you have probably seen articles on using more inclusive language here at work. We’ve talked about using the third person for gender neutrality, using non-violent, using fewer non-sexist words, and more.

Today’s topic is a fairly new item in the JHA Style Guide, and it’s about using terms that are considered “ableist.” No, we’re not talking about Cain and Abel, the boys of the bible, we’re talking about ableism, which Merriam-Webster defines as “discrimination or prejudice against individuals with disabilities.”

The word retarded used to be common, but we’ve learned that using it is thoughtless and cruel. But we still see and use the term disabled in our software and documentation, and it’s time to retrain ourselves.

Guideline: Use unavailable or not available to refer to items on the user interface that are in an unusable state. Do not use disabled.

Here are some examples for you:

Correct:

• If you have not selected any text, this option is unavailable.
• This option is unavailable to non-administrative users. (Or better, “This option is only available to administrative users.”)
• I am unavailable tonight because I’m washing my hair. (Okay, just kidding on this one!)

Incorrect:

• The Help button is disabled until you click a field.
• If you do not have a fingerprint authentication system, this icon is disabled.

I know, some of you will tell me that disabled has been used forever and it’s currently used throughout our documentation and software. But the powers that be have determined that this is our rule moving forward, and now is the time for change! It’s up to us to use terms that don’t offend readers or make them think we are insensitive.

Language changes get easier the more you practice! For other suggestions on more inclusive language, see the Inclusivity Worksheet here.

Kara Church

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Technical Editor, Advisory

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

Hello there!

In one of my last emails, I sent you a list of South African English words; today I’m sending on some Australian English and the American translations. One of my guilty pleasures during the COVID-19 lockdown is to watch Australian and British TV shows. I love trying to find my way around the accents! The following list is from Mental Floss and I edited it a bit so as not to offend anyone.

The term for Aussie slang and pronunciation is strine, and it is often characterized by making words as short as possible; the story goes it developed by speaking through clenched teeth to avoid blowies (blow flies) from getting into the mouth. So, if you plan to visit the world’s smallest continent, this list of some of the most commonly used slang expressions is for you.

arvo: afternoon

Bottle-O: bottle shop, liquor store

chockers: very full

grommet: young surfer

mozzie: mosquito

ripper: really great

roo: kangaroo. A baby roo, still in the pouch, is known as a joey

She’ll be right: everything will be all right

sickie: sick day. If you take a day off work when you are not actually sick it’s called chucking a sickie.

slab: 24-pack of beer

sook: to sulk. If someone calls you a sook, it is because they think you are whinging.

Sweet as: sweet, awesome. Aussies will often put ‘as’ at the end of adjectives to give them emphasis. Other examples include lazy as, lovely as, fast as and common as.

ta: thank you

tradie: a tradesman. Most of the tradies have nicknames too, including brickie (bricklayer), truckie (truckdriver), sparky (electrician), garbo (garbage collector), and chippie (carpenter).

ute: utility vehicle, pickup truck

whinge: whine

And for your visual learning aid:

American English: Barbie

Australian English: barbie

Kara Church

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Technical Editor, Advisory

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

Good morning, everyone!

I read a fascinating article the other day called “How ‘Like’ Can Be Both Annoying and Useful.” I know that this topic is bound to be controversial, but I think you’ll also be surprised and hopefully enlightened. The article looked at how the word “like” is used now and at how it has been used for more than a hundred years.

Parents, teachers, and others have long been complaining that young people seem to throw the word “like” into sentences in unnecessary places, for instance: We all wore like pajamas to school, and our teachers were like really upset about it.

I was surprised to learn that the way people use “like” is not arbitrary—they seem to be unknowingly following certain rules. I’ll let you read the article if you’re interested in learning more about that.

But the really interesting thing to me is that this is not new! And you probably already know that it’s not just young people who use the word. Listen carefully and you’ll hear radio and TV journalists from the Boomer and Gen X generations using the term quite frequently.

The first time I remember being aware of it was in the ‘80s when the “valley girl” craze was underway. Some of you may remember this phrase from Moon Unit Zappa’s song, aptly called “Valley Girl”: “Like, oh my god! Like, totally!”

But it didn’t start there. The article provided these quotes from the ‘50s:

• “Like how much can you lay on me?” (Lawrence Rivers)
• “…all hung up on like literary inhibitions and grammatical fears.” (Jack Kerouac “On the Road”)

But it didn’t start there either! People have been using “like” in what we consider unconventional ways for a lot longer than you might think. The article provided historical quotations from both spoken and written English. Check out this quote from 1925: “They were like sitting, waiting to die.”

And from 1887: “I kept all the mortgage books and was secretary for like a hundred and fifteen dollars a month.”

And from 1875: “You’d never believe Pig Route. Like, you’d need to see the road to believe it.”

I’m not saying you have to, like, like it. I’m just saying that your kids didn’t start it. The Millennials didn’t start it either. Heck, the Boomers didn’t even start it. It may grate on your nerves, though, and if it does, you’re in good company. It’s been grating on people’s nerves for a long time.

Donna Bradley Burcher | Senior Technical Editor | Symitar®

8985 Balboa Ave. | San Diego, CA 92123 | Ph. 619.278.0432 | Ext: 765432

Pronouns she/her/hers

About Editor’s Corner

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

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Good morning, folks. I was just reading an article on English, and I was inspired to look up some South African English phrases. From FluentU, here is a little information on English in South Africa. I made a table of the phrases, their American equivalents, and I included the notes and examples, too.

South Africa is rich in various official languages other than English, including the following (sometimes spelled different ways):

§ Afrikaans

§ Zulu (This is the most-spoken language in South Africa.)

§ Xhosa

§ Southern and Northern Sotho

§ Tswana

§ Venda

§ Tsonga

§ Swati

§ Ndebele

English is currently only the fourth most spoken language in South Africa, with less than 10% of the population actively speaking it. However, English is understood by most South Africans in urban areas and you’ll hear English on South African TV and other media.

Ach, man! That’s all I have for now! Enjoy your day!

Kara Church

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Technical Editor, Advisory

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

Hello, little chickadees! Today is part two of the color article from Merriam-Webster. Let’s just jump right into things!

Cattleya

Color: Medium purple

About the Word: This color comes from a kind of orchid named for William Cattley, a patron of botany whose enthusiasm for orchids helped fuel a British craze for the flowers in the 1700s. The most common form of one of Cattley’s original orchids (the cattleya labiata) highlights the color cattleya.

Full Definition: a moderate purple that is redder and paler than heliotrope, bluer and paler than average amethyst, and paler and slightly bluer than manganese violet

[KC – I had to look up heliotrope and manganese violet. You’re welcome!]

Heliotrope

Manganese Violet

Smalt

Color: Medium blue

About the Word: The color name comes from the blue glass of the same name. Smalt is created by fusing together—melting—potassium carbonate, silica, and cobalt oxide; the word’s Germanic ancestor means "to melt."

Full Definition: a moderate blue that is redder and duller than average copen, redder and deeper than azurite blue, Dresden blue, or pompadour, and greener and deeper than luster blue

Damask

Color: Grayish red

About the Word: It may or may not have originated in Damascus, but the name of the damask rose—a flower that traveled to Europe during the Middle Ages—honors that Syrian city. The hue of the blossom lives on as a color name.

Full Definition: a grayish red that is bluer than bois de rose, bluer, lighter, and stronger than blush rose, and bluer and deeper than Pompeian red or appleblossom

Jasper

Color: Blackish green

About the Word: The color name jasper comes from the name of the opaque quartz stone called jasper. The ancient Hebrew word from which jasper comes may have meant something like "glittering" or "polish."

Full Definition: a blackish green that is bluer than cannon

Bittersweet

Color: Deep reddish orange

About the Word: The oval berries of the European bittersweet plant taste first sweetish, and then bitter. But it was the American plant called "false bittersweet," with its orangey-colored fruits, that inspired the color name bittersweet.

Full Definition: a deep orange that is deeper than bittersweet orange; a dark to deep reddish orange

That’s it, everyone! You are now officially able to decipher paint colors at Home Depot®!

Kara Church

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Technical Editor, Advisory

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

Oh, my. I stumbled on a fantastic article from Merriam-Webster. Over the next couple of days, let me share a few of my favorite things: English, history, art, colors, raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens! I apologize in advance if you are colorblind, or if it seems like some of the descriptions of color from M-W seem like they are colorblind.

Vermilion

Color: Vivid reddish orange

About the Word: Spanish painter Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (who painted in the late 1700s and early 1800s) was so fond of this vibrant color that vermilion also became known as goya.

The word vermilion traces to the Late Latin vermiculus, meaning "kermes." Kermes are the dried bodies of insects (of the genus Kermes) used to produce this ancient red dye.

Full Definition: a strong red that is deeper than geranium, yellower and deeper than geranium red, and bluer and deeper than average cherry red

Verdigris Green

Color: Yellowish green

About the Word: Verdigris came into English in the 14th century from the Anglo-French vert de Grece, literally, "green of Greece." Ancient Greeks manufactured this pigment by hanging copper plates over hot vinegar in a sealed container.

When copper naturally oxidizes, a verdigris green film forms on its surface—as it has, for example, on the Statue of Liberty.

Full Definition: a moderate yellowish green that is greener, lighter, and stronger than tarragon or average almond green and paler and slightly greener than malachite green

Titian

Color: Brownish orange

About the Word: In the paintings of the great sixteenth-century Italian artist Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian, women often have distinctively brownish-orange hair. Such depictions (including "Madonna and Child," shown here) inspired the color name titian.

Full Definition: a brownish orange that is less strong, slightly yellower and lighter than spice, slightly yellower and lighter than prairie brown or Windsor tan, and slightly redder and darker than amber brown or gold pheasant [KC – I call foul! I’m watching
The Crown right now, and not a single Windsor is tan!]

Bisque

Color: Light grayish brown

About the Word: Bisque is probably a shortened and altered form of biscuit (meaning "earthenware or porcelain after the first firing and before glazing"), which comes in turn from the Anglo-French (pain) besquit, "twice-cooked bread." One example of twice-cooked bread, a teething biscuit, can indeed be the color of such earthenware.

Full Definition: a light grayish brown especially used in textiles

Puce

[KC – I had no idea that puce was this color! When we were kids, we’d use it as part of an insult, and we all thought it was greenish or something ugly—probably because it sounded like
“pew” or “puke.”]

Color: Dark red

About the Word: Puce entered English from French, where puce translates as "flea." The relationship between the flea and the color is complicated…but almost certainly one connection is the flea’s hunger for blood.

Full Definition: a dark red that is yellower and less strong than cranberry, paler and slightly yellower than average garnet, bluer, less strong, and slightly lighter than pomegranate, and bluer and paler than average wine

I’ll go over the remainder of the list next time. Until then, I hope your world is now brighter and more colorful!

Kara Church

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Technical Editor, Advisory

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

This is my first email of 2021, so happy New Year to you all! I wish us all good things this year.

Our friend, Tammy R., recently wrote to ask me about a phrase she’s been hearing lately in the TV shows she watches. Tammy said, “There’s a new way these shows are saying sentences and questions about going with someone. They end the phrases with the word ‘with.’ For instance, one says, ‘I’m going to the store. The other responds, ‘I’ll go with.’ I’ve noticed it on everything from Hallmark™ movies to Yellowstone, to The Crown, to Blue Bloods…It’s everywhere.”

Like Tammy, I’ve heard “come with” and “go with,” but the phrases are not new to me. Still, I’ve never thought about why some people use the phrases or where they (the phrases and the people) come from, so I did a little research. I figured it might be regional, and I was right! I read an article from Yale University (specifically from the Yale Grammatical Diversity Project) and found that this is common terminology used in the Upper Midwest, particularly in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The article said that only certain verbs can be used in this phrasing:

• come with
• go with
• bring with
• take with
• ride with (less common)
• carry with (less common)

And they provided this map that shows the “acceptability” of the “come with” construction. People were asked to “judge” the phrase on a scale from 1 to 5 (with 1 being unacceptable and 5 being fully acceptable). This map shows where people find it most acceptable (dark green) and least acceptable (white):

The words “acceptability” and “judge” seem like loaded, disapproving words to talk about a common phrase, don’t they? But I guess it shouldn’t surprise me. Many of us have language pet peeves that we get pretty uptight about. In fact, the goal of the grammatical diversity project was to “…collect data in the form of acceptability judgments in order to determine which kinds of sentences can be generated by individual speakers’ mental grammars and which cannot.” (Click here if you want to read the project description.)

But judgement and acceptability aside, where did the “come with/go with” construction come from? The article said that many Germanic languages, including the Scandinavian languages, have similar constructions, so it makes sense that people in Minnesota and Wisconsin would use the terminology since so many people there come are of Norwegian, Swedish, and German heritage.

So, there you go Tammy! Thanks for asking the question. And a hearty shout out to my Wisconsinite friend (you know who you are JBG). I’ve never been to your neck of the woods, but I’d love to visit. Next time you go, can I come with?

Donna Bradley Burcher | Senior Technical Editor | Symitar®

8985 Balboa Ave. | San Diego, CA 92123 | Ph. 619.278.0432 | Ext: 765432

Pronouns she/her/hers

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

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Good morning folks, and happy new year! I was hoping to do something fun with words today, so I paged through the book He Smokes Like a Fish and Other Malaphors, by David Hatfield, to see if there was something light I could share with you. Just to remind you, a malaphor is an unintentional blend of sayings or idioms, such as “I have it on the tip of my hand,” which mixes “on the tip of my tongue,” with “tip my hand.”

The author explains where each one comes from, but I decided not to include that because I want this to be entertaining rather than a lesson on clichés or an explanation of idioms you already know.

Here are the malaphors I enjoyed most from his book.

• Let’s roll up our elbows and get to work
• You wash my back; I’ll wash yours
• Rule with an iron thumb
• He deals out of both ends of his mouth
• This is a perfect example of the frying pan calling the kettle black
• Hit the ground flying
• He was born with a silver foot in his mouth
• Till the cows come home from Capistrano
• Off on a sour foot
• I’ll chew his brain a little bit down the road
• They’re just a bunch of bean pushers
• It’s music to my eyes
• You have a long road to climb
• She should face the piper
• He’s just an old stick in the poke
• I’m as happy as a clam in clover
• He’s three sheets in the bag
• Let’s float a carrot
• The last book I read was a real page burner
• That’s the way the cookie bounces
• That’s a real ball of worms
• There’s no time to waste like the present
• I don’t want to toot my own hat
• Better safe than never

Have a great day!

Kara Church

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Technical Editor, Advisory

619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773

Editing: Symitar Documentation Services

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

NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
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Any unauthorized review, use, printing, saving, copying, disclosure or distribution
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