Editor's Corner

It’s that time of the year when most dictionaries publish the most “looked up” word or words of the year. As you will see from this look at Merriam-Webster’s list, people are curious about day-to-day events in our country and words they read or hear in the news. This is just a partial list, but the full list is here, from Daily Writing Tips.

Happy holidays! I hope you enjoy your day off tomorrow!

The Word of the Year, justice, was newsworthy in several contexts. The primary sense is that of administration or maintenance of fairness and lawfulness, and increasing concern about social justice has brought the concept, and the term that represents it, to the forefront in our society. But justice is a job title as well as a concept, referring to a judge on a national or state supreme court or similar body, and the controversy over confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh as an associate justice of the US Supreme Court also led people to check the definition. (The senior member of a supreme court is often titled “chief justice,” while the others are designated “associate justices.”)

Lodestar, originally denoting Polaris, the North Pole Star, which for millennia has served as a navigational aid, now refers more broadly to a guide, inspiration, or model. (Lode is a Middle English word meaning “course” or “way”; it’s seen also in the context of mining: A lode is a deposit of ore.) The term had a vogue this year after it was used in an anonymous op-ed in the New York Times purportedly written by a senior Trump administration official. Because Vice President Mike Pence is known to use the fairly obscure term, some people suspected him of being the author.

Laurel, the word for a tree whose foliage was used to crown victors in athletic events in ancient Greece, became a hot search term when a debate erupted online about which of two words was being enunciated in an online dictionary’s pronunciation sound file. By extension of its original definition, the term came to apply to the celebratory object itself and to figurative honors; one idiom based on the term is “rest on (one’s) laurels,” which alludes to someone who, upon achieving an honor, refrains from attempting feats that bring further recognition. (Usage generally pertains to one who does not rest on one’s laurels, meaning that person does seek other honors.)

The death this year of Aretha Franklin, best known for her rousing rendition of the song “Respect,” prompted look-ups of that word, which literally means “look back.” (The second syllable of that word, meaning “look,” is also the root of spectacle, spectator, inspect, suspect, and so on.)

The death of Marvel Comics mogul Stan Lee this year resulted in references to excelsior, the word with which Lee typically signed off in the columns he wrote for his company’s comic books. Though the primary meaning of the word is mundane—it was a trademark for a brand of wood shavings used as protective packing material and later a generic term—its origin is the Latin word meaning “higher”; excel, excellent, and so on are related.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

Two commonly confused words are grisly and grizzly. Here are the definitions from Merriam-Webster:

• grisly: inspiring horror or intense fear; inspiring disgust or distaste
• grizzly: sprinkled or streaked with gray

Grizzly can also be short for grizzly bear, which was probably named for its gray fur.

• grizzly bear: a very large brown bear (Ursus arctos) of northwestern North America

Some people think that Meriwether Lewis and William Clark meant to describe the North American brown bear as scary, not gray. (They’re often both!) In 1814 (less than a decade after the Lewis and Clark Expedition), Henry Marie Brackenridge described grizzly bears as “the enemy of man” and wrote that they “literally thirst for human blood.”

The most common mistake writers make is misusing the word grizzly to mean horrible or disgusting. A Google search yields thousands of results for the phrase “grizzly details” (sic), though some of them are punning references to bears.

A less common mistake is misusing the word gristly:

• gristly: consisting of or containing gristle (tough cartilaginous, tendinous, or fibrous matter especially in table meats)

I like to use mnemonics to remember confusing word pairs. I couldn’t find any good ones online, so bear with me as I share two that I came up with.

Tip: If something is scary, it is grisly. Grisly contains the letter S for scary.

Tip: If meat is tough, it is gristly. Gristly contains the letter T for tough.

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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Ben Ritter | Technical Editor | Symitar®
8985 Balboa Avenue | San Diego, CA 92123
619-682-3391 | or ext. 763391 | www.Symitar.com

Symitar Documentation Services

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‘Tis the season to be jolly! I have decorated my cubicle with a Festivus pole and covered a small tree at home with red balls and green ribbons. Usually at this time of year, I take you through the 12 Days of English and give you a gem of a countdown each day. This year, we are skipping that, and instead, I have a present for you.

Today I’m going to address a question I hear often:

What is the difference between onto and on to?

Here are a few simple rules, some examples, and a quiz—my gift to you! (The rules are from GrammarBook.com. The other things are from me. You’re welcome!)

Rule 1: In general, use onto as one word to mean “on top of,” “to a position on,” “upon.”

Examples:
Joe climbed onto the top of the dog house.
Before you come in, step onto the rug and wipe your feet.

Rule 2: Use onto when you mean “fully aware of,” “informed about.”

Examples:Don’t try to fool me; I’m onto your shenanigans.
When Steve realized Jana was onto his proposal plans, he canceled their date.

Rule 3: Use on to, two words, when on is part of the verb.

Examples:He couldn’t hang on to the rope any longer. (Hang on is a phrasal verb.)
Once you log on to the computer, you can do almost anything. (Log on is a phrasal verb.)

Quiz
1. Chad, I think climbing on to/onto that tree limb is a bad idea.
2. When I retire, I think I’ll go on to/onto take some art classes.
3. Adam stepped off the ladder on to/onto the flower bed.
4. Margaret realized her husband was on to/onto her plans to throw him a surprise party.

5. If you think it’s a good idea, we’ll move on to/onto the next step.

Quiz Answers
1. Chad, I think climbing onto that tree limb is a bad idea.
2. When I retire, I think I’ll go on to take some art classes.
3. Adam stepped off the ladder onto the flower bed.
4. Margaret realized her husband was ontoher plans to throw him a surprise party.
5. If you think it’s a good idea, we’ll move on to the next step.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

Many of you have confided that you are “not good with commas.” I’m not surprised. There are quite a few rules, and some of them are a little confusing.

Today, I’m going to explain just one comma rule: commas with coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet). According to this rule, you should use a comma before any coordinating conjunction that links two independent clauses.

I want to emphasize the phrase “that links two independent clauses” because that’s the part that people often get wrong. But before I go any further, let me clarify what an independent clause is.

An independent clause is a group of words that can stand on their own as a sentence. It has (at least) a subject and a verb. For example, both “I work for JHA” and “I have been here over eight years” are independent clauses.

When you have two independent clauses that are of equal importance, like the two I just mentioned, you can join them with a comma and a coordinating conjunction (like and): “I work for JHA, and I have been her over eight years.”

The mistake people often make is to use a comma when joining one independent clause with a dependent clause that starts with a conjunction. Confused? Here’s an example that shows a comma used incorrectly: “I work for JHA, and have been here for over eight years.”

Why is that comma used incorrectly? It’s because the phrase “and have been her for over eight years” is not an independent clause. It does not have a subject.

There are two ways you can revise the sentence to correct it.

• You can add a subject: “I work for JHA, and I have been here for eight years.”
• You can remove the comma: “I work for JHA and have been here for over eight years.”

Do you want to read a little more about this subject? Here’s a helpful link (see rule #1).

Enjoy your day!

Donna Bradley Burcher | Senior Technical Editor | Symitar®

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

Symitar Documentation Services

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On Sunday, my husband and I went over to our friends’ house, where we celebrated Hanukkah and ate latkes. (Latkes are made of a shredded potato mixture, fried into a little “pancake” of sorts, and served with sour cream and apple sauce. Delicious!) We aren’t Jewish, but we are always up for trying new things, especially celebratory things!

The house we were in belongs to a family who celebrates Christmas, and I noticed that they had “decked the halls” with boughs of some type of evergreen. And that brings me to the word of the day: deck. Usually, when I hear deck, I don’t think of it as a verb. I think of the noun version, like a deck of cards or a deck on a house. Here are some etymologies of both the noun and verb use. No matter what holidays you celebrate, now you will know what it means when you deck your halls with any kind of decoration! From the Online Etymology Dictionary:

deck (noun)

mid-15c., dekke, "covering extending from side to side over part of a ship," from a nautical use of Middle Dutch dec, decke "roof, covering," from Proto-Germanic *thakam (source also of thatch (n.)), from PIE root *(s)teg- "to cover."

Sense extended early in English from "covering" to "platform of a ship."

Meaning "pack of cards necessary to play a game" is from 1590s, perhaps because they were stacked like decks of a ship.

Tape-deck (1949) is in reference to the flat surface of old reel-to-reel tape recorders.

Deck-chair (1844) so called because they were used on ocean liners. On deck (by 1740) was in nautical use especially "ready for action or duty;" extended sense in baseball, of a batter waiting a turn at the plate, is by 1867. To clear the deck (1852) is to prepare a ship for action; it is perhaps a translation of French débarasser le pont.

deck (verb 1)

"adorn, array or clothe with something ornamental" (as in deck the halls), early 15c., from Middle Dutch decken "to cover, put under roof."

deck (verb 2)

"to knock down," by 1955, probably from deck (n.) on the notion of laying someone out on a ship’s deck. Compare floor (v.) "to knock down." Related: Decked; decking.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

When I was in elementary school, I was taught to underline book titles regardless of whether I was typing or writing by hand. Now, I use the Chicago Manual of Style, which says to italicize book titles.

I was curious whether the Chicago Manual of Style ever calls for underlining text, so I did a search. The closest it comes is, “Occasionally, boldface or underscore (also called underlining) is used for emphasis. In formal prose, especially in print, italics are usually more appropriate.”

In another section, it says, “Underlined words in a quoted manuscript may be printed as italics, unless the underlining itself is considered integral to the source or otherwise worthy of reproducing” (for example, when transcribing handwritten letters).

Underlining hasn’t gone the way of cursive writing just yet, however. In the digital world, underlining is the de facto standard for indicating that a word or phrase is a hyperlink. Using italics for emphasis instead of underlining avoids confusing sentences such as, “I insist that you visit the Editor’s Corner blog.”

Additionally, as anyone who’s submitted a document to Symitar® Editing can attest, when you use tracked changes in Microsoft® Word, underlining indicates an insertion (like this).

The bottom line is, there are still various uses for underlining, but they do not include adding emphasis to a word or phrase or citing books or periodicals. In those cases, use italics instead.

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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Ben Ritter | Technical Editor | Symitar®
8985 Balboa Avenue | San Diego, CA 92123
619-682-3391 | or ext. 763391 | www.Symitar.com

Symitar Documentation Services

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Dear Editrix,

In the midst of exerting restraint from drinking at work while anxiously awaiting the election results, I wondered why we say, “wreaking havoc.” I don’t recall wreaking anything else (although my seat mate on the bus is frequently reeking of garlic) and we don’t seem to wreak anything happy like “wreaking joy.”

Perhaps you could explore “wreaking havoc”?

Fondly,

Your devoted reader

Dear devoted reader,

I would love to explore wreaking havoc! I have several ideas about how to do just that at my next holiday party!

No, I would never do something like that. J I did, however, investigate this term, because like you mention, we don’t ever hear about people wreaking positive things such as love, joy, and happiness. Here is some interesting information I found in an article about people misusing the phrase, saying “wreck havoc” rather than “wreak havoc.” From the Oxford Dictionaries blog:

The word wreak means “to cause or inflict” and is usually paired with nouns meaning either “a large amount of damage or harm” (as in wreak havoc or wreak devastation) or “vengeance” (as in wreak revenge). Although it would sound somewhat archaic today, the word wreak can also be used alone, without an object, to mean “avenge.”

On the other hand, the verb form of the word wreck, means to “destroy or severely damage (a structure or vehicle)” or “spoil completely.” Because wreck does not have the sense of “cause” or “inflict” like wreak does, the phrase “wrecking havoc” is illogical.

Using that definition of wreak, you can see that it would be tough to “wreak joy,” since that would mean “to cause, inflict, or avenge joy.” Inflict is another word that isn’t associated with pleasant things. In fact, let’s have a quick look at that word, too. From Etymology Online:

inflict (v.)

1560s, "assail, trouble;" 1590s, "lay or impose as something that must be suffered," from Latin inflictus, past participle of infligere "to strike or dash against; inflict," from in– "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + fligere (past participle flictus) "to dash, strike" (see afflict). You inflict trouble on someone; you afflict someone with trouble. Shame on you.

On that note, I’d like to say, “Have a lovely day!”

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

Good morning! Several of you have asked me about whether the pronoun me comes before or after another noun or pronoun in a sentence. For example, should you say, “My sister is coming to visit Dan and me”? Or should you say, “My sister is coming to visit me and Dan”?

This is not a topic I remember covering in any of my English or grammar courses, but instinctively, I have always put me after the other noun or pronoun.

I did some research and found that most experts agree that you should put me last. If you have a hard time remembering, it might be helpful to think of this etiquette rule: it’s always polite to put yourself last.

Oddly, we don’t seem to have the same uncertainty with the pronoun I.We know it goes last. You rarely hear, “I and Jenny are going to lunch.” But the pronoun me, for some reason, causes people more trouble.

Maybe now it won’t. You simply have to remember to put yourself last. Mom would be proud.

Donna Bradley Burcher | Senior Technical Editor | Symitar®

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

Symitar Documentation Services

About Editor’s Corner

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

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

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

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

NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
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Good morning!

I hope you all had an enjoyable Thanksgiving last week! Of course, five minutes after the holiday, stores started blaring Christmas music, the neighbors put up lights, and visions of Santa Claus and sugar plums are dancing in my head. Even though I’ve lived in Southern California for 27 years, it still seems a bit surreal to be wearing shorts and a tank top while the Joneses drive home with a Christmas tree strapped to their station wagon, and people on TV are bundled up in parkas and drinking hot cocoa.

But what does this have to do with English? Well, one of the most common problems I see and hear about during this time of year is how to address cards and make certain names (like Jones) plural. Yes, for those of you who still send cards or invitations to holiday parties, there is a proper way and an improper way to pluralize last names. Here is an article by Kate Brannen on the topic, complete with a handy-dandy chart at the end to help you out. To read the frequently asked questions at the end of the article, you can click here. Enjoy!

How to Make Your Last Name Plural This Christmas Season

Nothing quells my Christmas cheer as quickly as a stray apostrophe. Every year they assault me.

Usually it’s in the middle of an otherwise quaint moment: I am padding around my parents’ house, wearing pink slippers, sipping on some hot chocolate. Snow is falling outside the window, and Josh Groban’s Christmas CD is filling the downstairs with peace on earth and mercy mild. My mother is baking a pie. She’s about to ask if I want to lick the spatula (which, duh, I will).

First, though, I find a stack of Christmas cards and begin to flip through them—pausing to marvel at how big so-and-so’s kids have gotten. And then I spot it: an apostrophe in a last name that isn’t supposed to be possessive.

I shudder, flipping past the unwarranted punctuation. But as I keep flipping, the apostrophes do, too—flipping me off, that is. They defile Christmas card after Christmas card, last name after last name with their presence. Gone is my Christmas cheer! All my glad tidings, replaced with fury.

“Did no one teach these people how to make their last names plural!?” I scream as I chuck the cards into the fire heretofore crackling peacefully beneath the mantel.

I watch the cards curl and disintegrate in the flames, and I wonder if I’ve overreacted.

Is pluralizing last names more difficult than I realize? Apparently so. Because we get these cards every year—these cards with their adorable photos and their apostrophe catastrophes.

This year I’d like to preempt the pluralization problems. It’s mid-November now, time to order Christmas cards again. I have created a brief guide to help you pluralize your last name. It is my humble attempt to preserve not only apostrophe protocol but also the dignity of the letter S.

The Definitive Guide to Pluralizing Your Last Name

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services

I was keeping my eye open for something related to the upcoming holiday, and then I finally gave up and decided to write an article for you about proofreading. I know, I sure know how to party!

But today, I arrived at work and waiting on my desk was an article by Richard Lederer, the original verbivore. Here is an excerpt from his article “Thanksgiving is a Time When We Truly Eat Our Words.” (Thanks for supplying us with something entertaining, Ron!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day is mainly a celebration of the harvest, giving thanks for bountiful crops. Traditionally, a particular meal in 1621 is thought to be the first Thanksgiving. Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians sat down together to an autumn feast of venison and wild fowl.

Many of us decorate our homes with traditional signs of fall, such as the cornucopia, gourds, and autumn leaves. The cornucopia, or horn of plenty, is a representation of a hollow goat’s horn, overflowing with fruit and other produce.

This is a good time, then, to nibble on a tasty spicy, meaty, juicy honey of a topic that we’re sure to savor and relish. I’m talking about culinary metaphors that are packed like sardines and sandwiched into our everyday conversations. Let’s explore the role of the staples salt, meat and bread in your daily vocabulary to see how every day you eat your words and say a mouthful.

The ancients knew that salt was essential to a good diet, and centuries before artificial refrigeration, it was the only chemical that could preserve meat. Thus, a portion of the wages paid to Roman soldiers was “salt money,” with which to buy salt, derived from the Latin, sal. This stipend came to be called a salarium, from which we acquire the word salary. A loyal and effective soldier was quite literally worth his salt. Please don’t take my explanations with a grain of salt. In other words, you don’t have to sprinkle salt on my etymologies to find them tasty.

We think of carnivals as traveling entertainments with rides, sideshows, games, cotton candy and balloons; but the first carnivals were pre-Lenten celebrations — a last fling before penitence. The Latin word parts are carne, “meat, flesh,” and vale, “farewell,” indicate that the earliest carnivals were seasons of feasting and merrymaking, “a farewell to meat,” just before Lent.

Companion derives from the Latin com, “together,” and panis, “bread.” You and I are companions because together each week we break the bread of language. That wage earners are called breadwinners reminds us of the importance of bread in medieval life. Not surprisingly, both lord and lady are well-bread words. Lord descends from the Old English hlaf, “loaf,” and weard, “keeper,” and lady from hlaf, “loaf,” and dige, “kneader.”

So here’s a toast to all those subtle culinary metaphors that add spice to our English language. Does that use of toast relate etymologically to the familiar slice of heated bread? In a word, yes. In the days of Queen Elizabeth I and William Shakespeare, it was common practice to dip a piece of spiced toast into the bottom of one’s tankard of ale or glass of sack (a bitter sherry) to improve the flavor and remove the impurities. The libation itself thus became “a toast,” as did the gesture of drinking to another’s health.

I offer a toast to you, my wordstruck readers: “Here’s champagne to our real friends, and real pain to our sham friends!” Thank you for being real friends of language.

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services