*The Ubiquitous Butt
By Maeve Maddox
The word butt in the sense of buttocks was once considered unsuitable for general use. Comedians used it to get a laugh, but it was not considered acceptable in polite conversation. Children were taught to use less offensive colloquialisms like rear-end or backside. Nowadays the word has become so acceptable that it has largely replaced buttock and buttocks, even in formal contexts:
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Speakers used to attaching only one meaning to butt may be unfamiliar with other words that are spelled the same but have meanings unrelated to human or animal anatomy.
The Oxford English Dictionary has fourteen entries for the word butt as a noun.
Its sense of “human posterior” developed from this definition:
The thicker end of anything, especially of a tool or weapon, the part by which it is held or on which it rests; e.g. the lower end of a spear-shaft, whip-handle, fishing-rod, the broad end of the stock of a gun or pistol.
The etymology of butt in the sense of “thicker end” is obscure, but the word seems to be cognate with foreign words with such meanings as blunt, short, thickset, and stumpy.
Boston butt
This cut of meat does not come from the rear of an animal. It is the upper portion of a pork shoulder containing a small piece of the shoulder blade and characterized by leanness. The origin of this use of butt comes from this definition: “a cask for wine or ale; later, also a measure of capacity.”
On the upper east coast of colonial America, butchers packed less prized cuts of pork like the shoulder of the pig into butts (barrels) for storage and transport. The shoulder cut packed in this way became associated with New England, chiefly Boston, hence, “Boston butt.”
shooting an arrow at the butt
Another definition of butt is “a hillock (small hill) or a mound.”
A meaning that developed from butt as mound is “a mark for shooting.”
Archery targets were set up on a mound or embankment. Because there were usually two butts on an archery range, one at each extremity of the range, one might speak of “a pair of butts.” Another term for an archery range is “the butts.” This butt comes from French but: “goal, target.” This meaning of butt as target gives us the expression “to be the butt of a joke”: “an object at which ridicule, scorn, or abuse, is aimed.”
The word butt can also be used as a verb. One of its verbal meanings is “to strike, thrust, shove or push with the head or horns.” This butt is related to modern French bouter, “to strike, thrust, project” and gives us these expressions:
to butt in: to intrude where one is not wanted.
Example: Stop butting in our conversation.
to butt out: to stop intruding or interfering.
Example: I told him to butt out of my private affairs.
A curious fact about the shortening of buttock to the shorter form butt is that buttock is itself a diminutive form of butt (“thicker end of something”). The suffix -ock is the same one that makes hillock mean “a small hill.”
*http://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-ubiquitous-butt/
Showing posts with label Daily Writing Tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daily Writing Tips. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Daily Writing Tips - The Yiddish Handbook: 40 Words You Should Know
The Yiddish Handbook: 40 Words You Should Know
by Michael
*The Yiddish language is a wonderful source of rich expressions, especially terms of endearment (and of course, complaints and insults). This article is a follow up on Ten Yiddish Expressions You Should Know. Jewish scriptwriters introduced many Yiddish words into popular culture, which often changed the original meanings drastically. You might be surprised to learn how much Yiddish you already speak, but also, how many familiar words actually mean something different in real Yiddish.
There is no universally accepted transliteration or spelling; the standard YIVO version is based on the Eastern European Klal Yiddish dialect, while many Yiddish words found in English came from Southern Yiddish dialects. In the 1930s, Yiddish was spoken by more than 10 million people, but by 1945, 75% of them were gone. Today, Yiddish is the language of over 100 newspapers, magazines, radio broadcasts, and websites.
baleboste
A good homemaker, a woman who’s in charge of her home and will make sure you remember it.
bissel
Or bisl – a little bit.
bubbe
Or bobe. It means Grandmother, and bobeshi is the more affectionate form. Bubele is a similarly affectionate word, though it isn’t in Yiddish dictionaries.
bupkes
Not a word for polite company. Bubkes or bobkes may be related to the Polish word for “beans”, but it really means “goat droppings” or “horse droppings.” It’s often used by American Jews for “trivial, worthless, useless, a ridiculously small amount” – less than nothing, so to speak. “After all the work I did, I got bupkes!”
chutzpah
Or khutspe. Nerve, extreme arrogance, brazen presumption. In English, chutzpah often connotes courage or confidence, but among Yiddish speakers, it is not a compliment.
feh!
An expression of disgust or disapproval, representative of the sound of spitting.
glitch
Or glitsh. Literally “slip,” “skate,” or “nosedive,” which was the origin of the common American usage as “a minor problem or error.”
gornisht
More polite than bupkes, and also implies a strong sense of nothing; used in phrases such as “gornisht helfn” (beyond help).
goy
A non-Jew, a Gentile. As in Hebrew, one Gentile is a goy, many Gentiles are goyim, the non-Jewish world in general is “the goyim.” Goyish is the adjective form. Putting mayonnaise on a pastrami sandwich is goyish. Putting mayonnaise on a pastrami sandwich on white bread is even more goyish.
kibbitz
In Yiddish, it’s spelled kibets, and it’s related to the Hebrew “kibbutz” or “collective.” But it can also mean verbal joking, which after all is a collective activity. It didn’t originally mean giving unwanted advice about someone else’s game – that’s an American innovation.
klutz
Or better yet, klots. Literally means “a block of wood,” so it’s often used for a dense, clumsy or awkward person. See schlemiel.
kosher
Something that’s acceptable to Orthodox Jews, especially food. Other Jews may also “eat kosher” on some level but are not required to. Food that Orthodox Jews don’t eat – pork, shellfish, etc. – is called traif. An observant Jew might add, “Both pork and shellfish are doubtlessly very tasty. I simply am restricted from eating it.” In English, when you hear something that seems suspicious or shady, you might say, “That doesn’t sound kosher.”
kvetsh
In popular English, kvetch means “complain, whine or fret,” but in Yiddish, kvetsh literally means “to press or squeeze,” like a wrong-sized shoe. Reminds you of certain chronic complainers, doesn’t it? But it’s also used on Yiddish web pages for “click” (Click Here).
maven
Pronounced meyven. An expert, often used sarcastically.
Mazel Tov
Or mazltof. Literally “good luck,” (well, literally, “good constellation”) but it’s a congratulation for what just happened, not a hopeful wish for what might happen in the future. When someone gets married or has a child or graduates from college, this is what you say to them. It can also be used sarcastically to mean “it’s about time,” as in “It’s about time you finished school and stopped sponging off your parents.”
mentsh
An honorable, decent person, an authentic person, a person who helps you when you need help. Can be a man, woman or child.
mishegas
Insanity or craziness. A meshugener is a crazy man. If you want to insult someone, you can ask them, ”Does it hurt to be crazy?”
mishpocheh
Or mishpokhe or mishpucha. It means “family,” as in “Relax, you’re mishpocheh. I’ll sell it to you at wholesale.”
nosh
Or nash. To nibble; a light snack, but you won’t be light if you don’t stop noshing. Can also describe plagarism, though not always in a bad sense; you know, picking up little pieces for yourself.
nu
A general word that calls for a reply. It can mean, “So?” “Huh?” “Well?” “What’s up?” or “Hello?”
oy vey
Exclamation of dismay, grief, or exasperation. The phrase “oy vey iz mir” means “Oh, woe is me.” “Oy gevalt!” is like oy vey, but expresses fear, shock or amazement. When you realize you’re about to be hit by a car, this expression would be appropriate.
plotz
Or plats. Literally, to explode, as in aggravation. “Well, don’t plotz!” is similar to “Don’t have a stroke!” or “Don’t have a cow!” Also used in expressions such as, “Oy, am I tired; I just ran the four-minute mile. I could just plotz.” That is, collapse.
shalom
It means “deep peace,” and isn’t that a more meaningful greeting than “Hi, how are ya?”
shlep
To drag, traditionally something you don’t really need; to carry unwillingly. When people “shlep around,” they are dragging themselves, perhaps slouchingly. On vacation, when I’m the one who ends up carrying the heavy suitcase I begged my wife to leave at home, I shlep it.
shlemiel
A clumsy, inept person, similar to a klutz (also a Yiddish word). The kind of person who always spills his soup.
schlock
Cheap, shoddy, or inferior, as in, “I don’t know why I bought this schlocky souvenir.”
shlimazel
Someone with constant bad luck. When the shlemiel spills his soup, he probably spills it on the shlimazel. Fans of the TV sitcom “Laverne and Shirley” remember these two words from the Yiddish-American hopscotch chant that opened each show.
shmendrik
A jerk, a stupid person, popularized in The Last Unicorn and Welcome Back Kotter.
shmaltzy
Excessively sentimental, gushing, flattering, over-the-top, corny. This word describes some of Hollywood’s most famous films. From shmaltz, which means chicken fat or grease.
shmooze
Chat, make small talk, converse about nothing in particular. But at Hollywood parties, guests often schmooze with people they want to impress.
schmuck
Often used as an insulting word for a self-made fool, but you shouldn’t use it in polite company at all, since it refers to male anatomy.
spiel
A long, involved sales pitch, as in, “I had to listen to his whole spiel before I found out what he really wanted.” From the German word for play.
shikse
A non-Jewish woman, all too often used derogatorily. It has the connotation of “young and beautiful,” so referring to a man’s Gentile wife or girlfriend as a shiksa implies that his primary attraction was her good looks. She is possibly blonde. A shagetz or sheygets means a non-Jewish boy, and has the connotation of a someone who is unruly, even violent.
shmutz
Or shmuts. Dirt – a little dirt, not serious grime. If a little boy has shmutz on his face, and he likely will, his mother will quickly wipe it off. It can also mean dirty language. It’s not nice to talk shmutz about shmutz. A current derivation, “schmitzig,” means a “thigamabob” or a “doodad,” but has nothing to do with filth.
shtick
Something you’re known for doing, an entertainer’s routine, an actor’s bit, stage business; a gimmick often done to draw attention to yourself.
tchatchke
Or tshatshke. Knick-knack, little toy, collectible or giftware. It also appears in sentences such as, “My brother divorced his wife for some little tchatchke.” You can figure that one out.
tsuris
Or tsores. Serious troubles, not minor annoyances. Plagues of lice, gnats, flies, locusts, hail, death… now, those were tsuris.
tuches
Rear end, bottom, backside, buttocks. In proper Yiddish, it’s spelled tuchis or tuches or tokhis, and was the origin of the American slang word tush.
yente
Female busybody or gossip. At one time, high-class parents gave this name to their girls (after all, it has the same root as “gentle”), but it gained the Yiddish meaning of “she-devil”. The matchmaker in “Fiddler on the Roof” was named Yente (and she certainly was a yente though maybe not very high-class), so many people mistakenly think that yente means matchmaker.
yiddisher kop
Smart person. Literally means “Jewish head.” I don’t want to know what goyisher kop means.
As in Hebrew, the ch or kh in Yiddish is a “voiceless fricative,” with a pronunciation between h and k. If you don’t know how to make that sound, pronounce it like an h. Pronouncing it like a k is goyish.
*http://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-yiddish-handbook-40-words-you-should-know/
by Michael
*The Yiddish language is a wonderful source of rich expressions, especially terms of endearment (and of course, complaints and insults). This article is a follow up on Ten Yiddish Expressions You Should Know. Jewish scriptwriters introduced many Yiddish words into popular culture, which often changed the original meanings drastically. You might be surprised to learn how much Yiddish you already speak, but also, how many familiar words actually mean something different in real Yiddish.
There is no universally accepted transliteration or spelling; the standard YIVO version is based on the Eastern European Klal Yiddish dialect, while many Yiddish words found in English came from Southern Yiddish dialects. In the 1930s, Yiddish was spoken by more than 10 million people, but by 1945, 75% of them were gone. Today, Yiddish is the language of over 100 newspapers, magazines, radio broadcasts, and websites.
baleboste
A good homemaker, a woman who’s in charge of her home and will make sure you remember it.
bissel
Or bisl – a little bit.
bubbe
Or bobe. It means Grandmother, and bobeshi is the more affectionate form. Bubele is a similarly affectionate word, though it isn’t in Yiddish dictionaries.
bupkes
Not a word for polite company. Bubkes or bobkes may be related to the Polish word for “beans”, but it really means “goat droppings” or “horse droppings.” It’s often used by American Jews for “trivial, worthless, useless, a ridiculously small amount” – less than nothing, so to speak. “After all the work I did, I got bupkes!”
chutzpah
Or khutspe. Nerve, extreme arrogance, brazen presumption. In English, chutzpah often connotes courage or confidence, but among Yiddish speakers, it is not a compliment.
feh!
An expression of disgust or disapproval, representative of the sound of spitting.
glitch
Or glitsh. Literally “slip,” “skate,” or “nosedive,” which was the origin of the common American usage as “a minor problem or error.”
gornisht
More polite than bupkes, and also implies a strong sense of nothing; used in phrases such as “gornisht helfn” (beyond help).
goy
A non-Jew, a Gentile. As in Hebrew, one Gentile is a goy, many Gentiles are goyim, the non-Jewish world in general is “the goyim.” Goyish is the adjective form. Putting mayonnaise on a pastrami sandwich is goyish. Putting mayonnaise on a pastrami sandwich on white bread is even more goyish.
kibbitz
In Yiddish, it’s spelled kibets, and it’s related to the Hebrew “kibbutz” or “collective.” But it can also mean verbal joking, which after all is a collective activity. It didn’t originally mean giving unwanted advice about someone else’s game – that’s an American innovation.
klutz
Or better yet, klots. Literally means “a block of wood,” so it’s often used for a dense, clumsy or awkward person. See schlemiel.
kosher
Something that’s acceptable to Orthodox Jews, especially food. Other Jews may also “eat kosher” on some level but are not required to. Food that Orthodox Jews don’t eat – pork, shellfish, etc. – is called traif. An observant Jew might add, “Both pork and shellfish are doubtlessly very tasty. I simply am restricted from eating it.” In English, when you hear something that seems suspicious or shady, you might say, “That doesn’t sound kosher.”
kvetsh
In popular English, kvetch means “complain, whine or fret,” but in Yiddish, kvetsh literally means “to press or squeeze,” like a wrong-sized shoe. Reminds you of certain chronic complainers, doesn’t it? But it’s also used on Yiddish web pages for “click” (Click Here).
maven
Pronounced meyven. An expert, often used sarcastically.
Mazel Tov
Or mazltof. Literally “good luck,” (well, literally, “good constellation”) but it’s a congratulation for what just happened, not a hopeful wish for what might happen in the future. When someone gets married or has a child or graduates from college, this is what you say to them. It can also be used sarcastically to mean “it’s about time,” as in “It’s about time you finished school and stopped sponging off your parents.”
mentsh
An honorable, decent person, an authentic person, a person who helps you when you need help. Can be a man, woman or child.
mishegas
Insanity or craziness. A meshugener is a crazy man. If you want to insult someone, you can ask them, ”Does it hurt to be crazy?”
mishpocheh
Or mishpokhe or mishpucha. It means “family,” as in “Relax, you’re mishpocheh. I’ll sell it to you at wholesale.”
nosh
Or nash. To nibble; a light snack, but you won’t be light if you don’t stop noshing. Can also describe plagarism, though not always in a bad sense; you know, picking up little pieces for yourself.
nu
A general word that calls for a reply. It can mean, “So?” “Huh?” “Well?” “What’s up?” or “Hello?”
oy vey
Exclamation of dismay, grief, or exasperation. The phrase “oy vey iz mir” means “Oh, woe is me.” “Oy gevalt!” is like oy vey, but expresses fear, shock or amazement. When you realize you’re about to be hit by a car, this expression would be appropriate.
plotz
Or plats. Literally, to explode, as in aggravation. “Well, don’t plotz!” is similar to “Don’t have a stroke!” or “Don’t have a cow!” Also used in expressions such as, “Oy, am I tired; I just ran the four-minute mile. I could just plotz.” That is, collapse.
shalom
It means “deep peace,” and isn’t that a more meaningful greeting than “Hi, how are ya?”
shlep
To drag, traditionally something you don’t really need; to carry unwillingly. When people “shlep around,” they are dragging themselves, perhaps slouchingly. On vacation, when I’m the one who ends up carrying the heavy suitcase I begged my wife to leave at home, I shlep it.
shlemiel
A clumsy, inept person, similar to a klutz (also a Yiddish word). The kind of person who always spills his soup.
schlock
Cheap, shoddy, or inferior, as in, “I don’t know why I bought this schlocky souvenir.”
shlimazel
Someone with constant bad luck. When the shlemiel spills his soup, he probably spills it on the shlimazel. Fans of the TV sitcom “Laverne and Shirley” remember these two words from the Yiddish-American hopscotch chant that opened each show.
shmendrik
A jerk, a stupid person, popularized in The Last Unicorn and Welcome Back Kotter.
shmaltzy
Excessively sentimental, gushing, flattering, over-the-top, corny. This word describes some of Hollywood’s most famous films. From shmaltz, which means chicken fat or grease.
shmooze
Chat, make small talk, converse about nothing in particular. But at Hollywood parties, guests often schmooze with people they want to impress.
schmuck
Often used as an insulting word for a self-made fool, but you shouldn’t use it in polite company at all, since it refers to male anatomy.
spiel
A long, involved sales pitch, as in, “I had to listen to his whole spiel before I found out what he really wanted.” From the German word for play.
shikse
A non-Jewish woman, all too often used derogatorily. It has the connotation of “young and beautiful,” so referring to a man’s Gentile wife or girlfriend as a shiksa implies that his primary attraction was her good looks. She is possibly blonde. A shagetz or sheygets means a non-Jewish boy, and has the connotation of a someone who is unruly, even violent.
shmutz
Or shmuts. Dirt – a little dirt, not serious grime. If a little boy has shmutz on his face, and he likely will, his mother will quickly wipe it off. It can also mean dirty language. It’s not nice to talk shmutz about shmutz. A current derivation, “schmitzig,” means a “thigamabob” or a “doodad,” but has nothing to do with filth.
shtick
Something you’re known for doing, an entertainer’s routine, an actor’s bit, stage business; a gimmick often done to draw attention to yourself.
tchatchke
Or tshatshke. Knick-knack, little toy, collectible or giftware. It also appears in sentences such as, “My brother divorced his wife for some little tchatchke.” You can figure that one out.
tsuris
Or tsores. Serious troubles, not minor annoyances. Plagues of lice, gnats, flies, locusts, hail, death… now, those were tsuris.
tuches
Rear end, bottom, backside, buttocks. In proper Yiddish, it’s spelled tuchis or tuches or tokhis, and was the origin of the American slang word tush.
yente
Female busybody or gossip. At one time, high-class parents gave this name to their girls (after all, it has the same root as “gentle”), but it gained the Yiddish meaning of “she-devil”. The matchmaker in “Fiddler on the Roof” was named Yente (and she certainly was a yente though maybe not very high-class), so many people mistakenly think that yente means matchmaker.
yiddisher kop
Smart person. Literally means “Jewish head.” I don’t want to know what goyisher kop means.
As in Hebrew, the ch or kh in Yiddish is a “voiceless fricative,” with a pronunciation between h and k. If you don’t know how to make that sound, pronounce it like an h. Pronouncing it like a k is goyish.
*http://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-yiddish-handbook-40-words-you-should-know/
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Daily Writing Tips
Is an Emoji a Word?
By Maeve Maddox
The Oxford English Dictionary has rocked the English-speaking, word-loving world by proclaiming an emoji the OED “word of the year.”
The emoji “face with tears of joy” has been declared the most popular “word” of 2015.
I can see that this symbol might deserve the title “emoji of the year” or “universal symbol of the year” or even “cartoon of the year.” But word?
In a video, Casper Grothwahl, the extremely young-looking President of Oxford’s Dictionaries Division, justifies the selection of this particular emoji as a word. He cites its importance in teen texting culture “before we saw it explode into the mainstream.” He points to the fact that, thanks to an input technology for iOS devices called SwiftKey, any keyboard symbol can now be tracked and analyzed for frequency.
As justification for naming this universal symbol as “word of the year,” Grothwahl refers to the OED’s century-long tradition of “tracking the English language” around the globe and “monitoring how language is being used.”
He declares that because the twenty-first century culture is “visually driven and emotionally expressive,” pictograms “add a deeper subtlety and richness” to traditional language.
I demur.
The Oxford English Dictionary, as stated on its own site, is “widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words— past and present—from across the English-speaking world.”
Keywords: English language, English-speaking world.
Pictograms are not words. They cannot be pronounced. They can be described with English words: “face with tears of joy.”
The OED tells me that a word is “any of the sequences of one or more sounds or morphemes (intuitively recognized by native speakers as) constituting the basic units of meaningful speech used in forming a sentence or utterance in a language (and in most writing systems normally separated by spaces); a lexical unit other than a phrase or affix; an item of vocabulary, a vocable.”
Figurative uses are, of course, possible. For example mathematicians use word to denote “a sequence of symbols in a particular context.” In computing, a word is “a consecutive string of bits that can be transferred and stored as a unit.” But even in such figurative uses, word remains a word that may be spoken and written.
In sum, words are spoken utterances that in English are represented in writing by letter combinations. The pictographs called emoji are a cultural phenomenon that merits study, but they are not English words.
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/is-an-emoji-a-word/
By Maeve Maddox
The Oxford English Dictionary has rocked the English-speaking, word-loving world by proclaiming an emoji the OED “word of the year.”
The emoji “face with tears of joy” has been declared the most popular “word” of 2015.
I can see that this symbol might deserve the title “emoji of the year” or “universal symbol of the year” or even “cartoon of the year.” But word?
In a video, Casper Grothwahl, the extremely young-looking President of Oxford’s Dictionaries Division, justifies the selection of this particular emoji as a word. He cites its importance in teen texting culture “before we saw it explode into the mainstream.” He points to the fact that, thanks to an input technology for iOS devices called SwiftKey, any keyboard symbol can now be tracked and analyzed for frequency.
As justification for naming this universal symbol as “word of the year,” Grothwahl refers to the OED’s century-long tradition of “tracking the English language” around the globe and “monitoring how language is being used.”
He declares that because the twenty-first century culture is “visually driven and emotionally expressive,” pictograms “add a deeper subtlety and richness” to traditional language.
I demur.
The Oxford English Dictionary, as stated on its own site, is “widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words— past and present—from across the English-speaking world.”
Keywords: English language, English-speaking world.
Pictograms are not words. They cannot be pronounced. They can be described with English words: “face with tears of joy.”
The OED tells me that a word is “any of the sequences of one or more sounds or morphemes (intuitively recognized by native speakers as) constituting the basic units of meaningful speech used in forming a sentence or utterance in a language (and in most writing systems normally separated by spaces); a lexical unit other than a phrase or affix; an item of vocabulary, a vocable.”
Figurative uses are, of course, possible. For example mathematicians use word to denote “a sequence of symbols in a particular context.” In computing, a word is “a consecutive string of bits that can be transferred and stored as a unit.” But even in such figurative uses, word remains a word that may be spoken and written.
In sum, words are spoken utterances that in English are represented in writing by letter combinations. The pictographs called emoji are a cultural phenomenon that merits study, but they are not English words.
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/is-an-emoji-a-word/
Monday, December 7, 2015
Daily Writing Tips
Emoji
By Maeve Maddox
Ancient Egyptians had hieroglyphics. Modern Man has emojis.
Since the 1980s, symbols to express emotions have proliferated in cyberspace.
At first they were made with what was available on the keyboard, like the smiley face made with a colon, a hyphen, and a parenthesis. Now, thanks to Unicode, they appear as true pictures: faces, hands, heads, cupcakes, robots, even a swirly pile of brown poop with eyes and a smile.
These symbols acquired a name in 1990: emoticon, a portmanteau word made by combining emotion and icon.
In 1997 or so, the Japanese word for pictograph—emoji—went international as a term for emoticons produced with Unicode.
Note: The similarity of emoji to emoticon is coincidental. The Japanese word was coined in 1928, perhaps on the model of English pictograph: Japanese e = picture; moji = letter or character.
So far, more than 700 emojis are available, with more on the way.
Vyvyan Evans, a professor of linguistics at Bangor University (Wales), refers to the use of emojis as a language called Emoji:
Emoji is the fastest growing form of language ever based on its incredible adoption rate and speed of evolution. As a visual language emoji has already eclipsed hieroglyphics, its ancient Egyptian precursor, which took centuries to develop.
According to a Table Talk Mobile survey of 2,000 Britons, ages 18-65, “more than eight in 10 Brits are now using emoji to communicate regularly.” Users in the 18 to 25-year-old age bracket said they found it easier to put their feelings across in emoji icons than in text. Of the over forties, 54% said they were confused by what the symbols meant.
Professor Evans doesn’t think that pictorial language will replace the kind that depends on words, but he does expect it to augment written language, making it “more appealing to younger readers”:
I think it’s conceivable that emoji will increasingly be used to complement digital versions of written works. For instance, the inclusion of emoji to help convey meaning in abridged versions of Shakespeare could help bring those great stories to life for a whole new generation.
Although I think that emojis are fun to use, I’m glad that I learned to understand and appreciate Shakespeare without the aid of picture writing. My high school generation not only read the plays as they were written, we memorized whole swathes of words from Julius Caesar (9th grade), As You Like It (10th grade), Romeo and Juliet (11th grade), and Macbeth (12th grade). I suppose this description from Macbeth could be rendered in Emoji, but I doubt the drawings of a bird and some trees would send goose bumps down my arms all these years later:
Light thickens, and the crow
Makes wing to th’ rooky wood.
Good things of day begin to droop and drowse;
Whiles night’s black agents to their preys do rouse.
But, different times, different customs.
BBC’s Newsbeat, a site aimed at a young audience, features a weekly news quiz written in emoji.
Tennis player Andy Murray tweeted about his wedding in emoji.
Note: There is disagreement as to the plural of emoji. Some speakers prefer to use the same form for both: one emoji/two emoji. Others think that emoji should follow the English rule and add s to form the plural: one emoji/two emojis. The AP Stylebook has ruled in favor of emojis.
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/emoji/
By Maeve Maddox
Ancient Egyptians had hieroglyphics. Modern Man has emojis.
Since the 1980s, symbols to express emotions have proliferated in cyberspace.
At first they were made with what was available on the keyboard, like the smiley face made with a colon, a hyphen, and a parenthesis. Now, thanks to Unicode, they appear as true pictures: faces, hands, heads, cupcakes, robots, even a swirly pile of brown poop with eyes and a smile.
These symbols acquired a name in 1990: emoticon, a portmanteau word made by combining emotion and icon.
In 1997 or so, the Japanese word for pictograph—emoji—went international as a term for emoticons produced with Unicode.
Note: The similarity of emoji to emoticon is coincidental. The Japanese word was coined in 1928, perhaps on the model of English pictograph: Japanese e = picture; moji = letter or character.
So far, more than 700 emojis are available, with more on the way.
Vyvyan Evans, a professor of linguistics at Bangor University (Wales), refers to the use of emojis as a language called Emoji:
Emoji is the fastest growing form of language ever based on its incredible adoption rate and speed of evolution. As a visual language emoji has already eclipsed hieroglyphics, its ancient Egyptian precursor, which took centuries to develop.
According to a Table Talk Mobile survey of 2,000 Britons, ages 18-65, “more than eight in 10 Brits are now using emoji to communicate regularly.” Users in the 18 to 25-year-old age bracket said they found it easier to put their feelings across in emoji icons than in text. Of the over forties, 54% said they were confused by what the symbols meant.
Professor Evans doesn’t think that pictorial language will replace the kind that depends on words, but he does expect it to augment written language, making it “more appealing to younger readers”:
I think it’s conceivable that emoji will increasingly be used to complement digital versions of written works. For instance, the inclusion of emoji to help convey meaning in abridged versions of Shakespeare could help bring those great stories to life for a whole new generation.
Although I think that emojis are fun to use, I’m glad that I learned to understand and appreciate Shakespeare without the aid of picture writing. My high school generation not only read the plays as they were written, we memorized whole swathes of words from Julius Caesar (9th grade), As You Like It (10th grade), Romeo and Juliet (11th grade), and Macbeth (12th grade). I suppose this description from Macbeth could be rendered in Emoji, but I doubt the drawings of a bird and some trees would send goose bumps down my arms all these years later:
Light thickens, and the crow
Makes wing to th’ rooky wood.
Good things of day begin to droop and drowse;
Whiles night’s black agents to their preys do rouse.
But, different times, different customs.
BBC’s Newsbeat, a site aimed at a young audience, features a weekly news quiz written in emoji.
Tennis player Andy Murray tweeted about his wedding in emoji.
Note: There is disagreement as to the plural of emoji. Some speakers prefer to use the same form for both: one emoji/two emoji. Others think that emoji should follow the English rule and add s to form the plural: one emoji/two emojis. The AP Stylebook has ruled in favor of emojis.
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/emoji/
Monday, November 30, 2015
Daily Writing Tips - 7 Essay Writing Tips To Ace Your Next Exam
7 Essay Writing Tips To Ace Your Next Exam
by Stephen Holliday
*Despite students’ wildest hope of avoiding the dreaded essay exam—one that requires either short or long essay answers rather than multiple choice answers—most find themselves taking such an exam, particularly for subjects like history, philosophy, literature, sociology, political science and others. This type of exam, however, can be successfully managed if you follow a few guidelines outlined here:
1. After the initial panic passes, read through all the questions before you begin to answer any of them, underlining key words and phrases that will help guide you in your answer. In many cases, instructors will incorporate key words and phrases from their lectures in the exam question, so make sure that you focus on these elements in your answer.
2. Based on your comfort level (or lack thereof) with particular questions, after you have reviewed all questions, decide approximately how much time you have for questions that are relatively easy for you to answer and, conversely, which questions will require more time to answer correctly and thoroughly. This is a very important step because it will help you organize your time and effort.
3. Think of each essay answer as a mini-essay in itself, and approach each answer with a shortened version of the process that you’ve been taught to use when writing full essays. If you are used to brainstorming or clustering when preparing to write an essay, go through the same, but greatly shortened, process for an essay answer. The time spent in some form of outlining will save time and effort as you answer the questions.
4. Given the time constraints of most essay exams, you can’t afford to write and re-write answers. From an instructor’s perspective, if a student’s answer contains a great deal of cross outs and perhaps whole paragraph deletions, the instructor will probably conclude that the student is not well prepared. It is critical, therefore, to outline the answer before you begin writing and to follow the outline as you write. Marginal notes of an outline or brainstorming process will probably impress the instructor.
5. The “rhetorical mode” for an answer may be determined by your instructor. For example, you may be asked to analyze, define, compare/contrast, evaluate, illustrate, or synthesize the subject of the question, and you need to focus on answering the question with an analysis, a definition and so on in order to respond to the question appropriately.
6. Just as you do when you draft an essay, try to begin the answer with one or two sentences that answer the question directly and succinctly. In other words, think of the first two sentences as a thesis statement of an essay, and after you’ve stated the answer’s “thesis,” support that thesis with specific examples in the body of the answer.
7. Lastly, one of the most important steps you can take is to proofread your answers and make any necessary corrections neatly and legibly.
*http://www.dailywritingtips.com/7-essay-writing-tips/
by Stephen Holliday
*Despite students’ wildest hope of avoiding the dreaded essay exam—one that requires either short or long essay answers rather than multiple choice answers—most find themselves taking such an exam, particularly for subjects like history, philosophy, literature, sociology, political science and others. This type of exam, however, can be successfully managed if you follow a few guidelines outlined here:
1. After the initial panic passes, read through all the questions before you begin to answer any of them, underlining key words and phrases that will help guide you in your answer. In many cases, instructors will incorporate key words and phrases from their lectures in the exam question, so make sure that you focus on these elements in your answer.
2. Based on your comfort level (or lack thereof) with particular questions, after you have reviewed all questions, decide approximately how much time you have for questions that are relatively easy for you to answer and, conversely, which questions will require more time to answer correctly and thoroughly. This is a very important step because it will help you organize your time and effort.
3. Think of each essay answer as a mini-essay in itself, and approach each answer with a shortened version of the process that you’ve been taught to use when writing full essays. If you are used to brainstorming or clustering when preparing to write an essay, go through the same, but greatly shortened, process for an essay answer. The time spent in some form of outlining will save time and effort as you answer the questions.
4. Given the time constraints of most essay exams, you can’t afford to write and re-write answers. From an instructor’s perspective, if a student’s answer contains a great deal of cross outs and perhaps whole paragraph deletions, the instructor will probably conclude that the student is not well prepared. It is critical, therefore, to outline the answer before you begin writing and to follow the outline as you write. Marginal notes of an outline or brainstorming process will probably impress the instructor.
5. The “rhetorical mode” for an answer may be determined by your instructor. For example, you may be asked to analyze, define, compare/contrast, evaluate, illustrate, or synthesize the subject of the question, and you need to focus on answering the question with an analysis, a definition and so on in order to respond to the question appropriately.
6. Just as you do when you draft an essay, try to begin the answer with one or two sentences that answer the question directly and succinctly. In other words, think of the first two sentences as a thesis statement of an essay, and after you’ve stated the answer’s “thesis,” support that thesis with specific examples in the body of the answer.
7. Lastly, one of the most important steps you can take is to proofread your answers and make any necessary corrections neatly and legibly.
*http://www.dailywritingtips.com/7-essay-writing-tips/
Friday, November 13, 2015
Daily Writing Tips
by Maeve Maddox
Since ancient times, speakers of every language have made up nonsense syllables to indicate contempt for what other people were saying to them.
We’ve even inherited the ancient Greek nonsense syllables bar-bar-bar in the word barbarian: The Greek word barbaros meant “foreign, strange, ignorant.” According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word barbaros was an onomatopoeic formation echoing the unintelligible speech of a foreigner.
The most common nonsense syllable used to represent empty talk in the United States is blah:
The earliest OED documentation of blah in the sense of “meaningless, insincere, or pretentious talk or writing; nonsense, bunkum” is 1918.
Blah is usually repeated when the sense is “empty talk”:
"When big data is just so much “blah, blah, blah”
Getting Past “Blah, Blah, Blah” When Talking to Prospects
Sometimes a single blah means the same thing:
I’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of jabber in the world – it’s a vast cloud of blah.
As a plural noun, “the blahs” are a state of despondency:
You’ve got the blahs. You’re not feeling hopeless, but you’re not feeling good either.
As an adjective, blah means “lethargic, unenthusiastic, listless, or torpid”:
What to Do When You Feel Blah About Your Job
“Blah, blah, blah” recently found its way into the news when a political candidate in Oregon blasted a newspaper reporter who demonstrated his lack of interest in what another candidate was saying by writing down “blah, blah, blah” instead of her actual words.
And perhaps the longest sequence to date of this string of nonsense syllables occurs in a television ad in which actor Gary Oldman holds a telephone to his ear and says “blah blah blah” for five seconds straight.
Another set of nonsense syllables is “yada yada yada.” Variations of this utterance are documented in the OED beginning in 1947. I first heard it on the Jerry Seinfeld show where I understood it to mean “details too boring to mention.”
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/blah-blah-blah/
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Daily Writing Tip - What Is a Sentence?
What Is a Sentence?
by Mark Nichol
Multiple definitions exist for sentence, and various sources differ in their interpretation of what constitutes a valid sentence and which forms are incorrect. Here’s a brief survey of what a sentence is.
A sentence is generally understood to be a unit of one or more words distinct from preceding and following text. Sentences are categorized as declaratives, or statements (“I walked the dog”), imperatives, or commands (“Walk the dog”), or interrogatives, or questions (“Should I walk the dog?”). A variation of the declarative form is the exclamation, or exclamatory sentence (“I walked the dog!”).
A sentence can be both imperative and exclamatory (in which case the exclamation point preempts the period) or both interrogative and exclamatory (in which case the question mark preempts the exclamation point, though some writers include both in that order — a style considered improper in formal contexts). A sentence can also be both imperative and interrogatory, though the former function overrides the latter one, and such statements are not treated as questions. (“Would you be so kind as to close the door” is simply a more courteous way to direct someone to close the door.
Traditionally, the first letter of the first word of a sentence is capitalized, although some writers have chosen to eschew capitalization of the first word and perhaps proper nouns. (This style, however, is eccentric and frowned on in formal writing.) Terminal punctuation — a period, a question mark or an exclamation point, or ellipses — is also a general feature.
Sentences usually include a subject and a verb, but those parts of speech are not essential, though they are almost invariably employed in formal writing.
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary includes the following definition for sentence: “A word, clause, or phrase or a group of clauses or phrases forming a syntactic unit which expresses an assertion, a question, a command, a wish, an exclamation, or the performance of an action, that in writing usually begins with a capital letter and concludes with appropriate end punctuation, and that in speaking is distinguished by characteristic patterns of stress, pitch, and pauses.”
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/what-is-a-sentence/
by Mark Nichol
Multiple definitions exist for sentence, and various sources differ in their interpretation of what constitutes a valid sentence and which forms are incorrect. Here’s a brief survey of what a sentence is.
A sentence is generally understood to be a unit of one or more words distinct from preceding and following text. Sentences are categorized as declaratives, or statements (“I walked the dog”), imperatives, or commands (“Walk the dog”), or interrogatives, or questions (“Should I walk the dog?”). A variation of the declarative form is the exclamation, or exclamatory sentence (“I walked the dog!”).
A sentence can be both imperative and exclamatory (in which case the exclamation point preempts the period) or both interrogative and exclamatory (in which case the question mark preempts the exclamation point, though some writers include both in that order — a style considered improper in formal contexts). A sentence can also be both imperative and interrogatory, though the former function overrides the latter one, and such statements are not treated as questions. (“Would you be so kind as to close the door” is simply a more courteous way to direct someone to close the door.
Traditionally, the first letter of the first word of a sentence is capitalized, although some writers have chosen to eschew capitalization of the first word and perhaps proper nouns. (This style, however, is eccentric and frowned on in formal writing.) Terminal punctuation — a period, a question mark or an exclamation point, or ellipses — is also a general feature.
Sentences usually include a subject and a verb, but those parts of speech are not essential, though they are almost invariably employed in formal writing.
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary includes the following definition for sentence: “A word, clause, or phrase or a group of clauses or phrases forming a syntactic unit which expresses an assertion, a question, a command, a wish, an exclamation, or the performance of an action, that in writing usually begins with a capital letter and concludes with appropriate end punctuation, and that in speaking is distinguished by characteristic patterns of stress, pitch, and pauses.”
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/what-is-a-sentence/
Friday, November 6, 2015
Daily Writing Tips
Jail vs. Prison
By Maeve Maddox
A reader asks,
Can the words jail and prison be used interchangeably?
In colloquial usage, the words jail and prison are often used interchangeably in reference to any place where people are locked up for a legal offense.
Jail is the usual choice when speaking of imprisonment in the abstract. For example:
A man like that belongs in jail.
If you ask me, I’d put him in jail and throw away the key.
The connotation of jail is less severe than that of prison.
When the words are used in reference to actual places of legal confinement, there is a distinct difference between a jail and a prison.
In most US states, jails are short-term facilities operated by local authorities, whereas prisons are long-term facilities operated by the state or federal government.
When people are arrested for anything, from drunk driving to murder, they will be temporarily confined in a jail. For lack of more appropriate facilities, mentally ill people are often placed in jail.
Note: So many mentally ill people are jailed or imprisoned in the United States that, according to clinical psychologist Dean Aufderheide, “[T]here is no doubt that our jails and prisons have become America’s major mental health facilities, a purpose for which they were never intended.”
Typically, jail is for:
1. People who are being held pending a plea agreement, trial, or sentencing;
2. People who have been convicted of a misdemeanor criminal offense and are serving a sentence of less than a year;
3. People who have been sentenced to a term longer than a year and are waiting to be transferred to a long-term facility.
Prisons are for convicted felons who have been sentenced to a term of one year or longer.
Here are some quotations that fail to distinguish between jail (short-term) and prison (long-term):
Al Capone was sentenced to 11 years in jail for failure to pay four years’ worth of taxes.—Political blogger.
I hope his sentence is long enough so his jail cell will become his coffin.—Victim of convicted swindler Bernard Madoff, whose sentence is for a term of 150 years.
Man remains in jail 6 years without conviction—Headline, Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Man faces 11 years in jail for ‘punching elderly man’ over free Nutella samples—Headline, The Independent.
Venezuela’s opposition denounced the sentencing of politician Leopoldo Lopez to nearly 14 years in jail.—News article, The Huffington Post.
Most speakers will probably continue to use jail informally to mean “a place of incarceration.” Professional writers, on the other hand, may be expected to observe a distinction between jail and prison in formal contexts.
By Maeve Maddox
A reader asks,
Can the words jail and prison be used interchangeably?
In colloquial usage, the words jail and prison are often used interchangeably in reference to any place where people are locked up for a legal offense.
Jail is the usual choice when speaking of imprisonment in the abstract. For example:
A man like that belongs in jail.
If you ask me, I’d put him in jail and throw away the key.
The connotation of jail is less severe than that of prison.
When the words are used in reference to actual places of legal confinement, there is a distinct difference between a jail and a prison.
In most US states, jails are short-term facilities operated by local authorities, whereas prisons are long-term facilities operated by the state or federal government.
When people are arrested for anything, from drunk driving to murder, they will be temporarily confined in a jail. For lack of more appropriate facilities, mentally ill people are often placed in jail.
Note: So many mentally ill people are jailed or imprisoned in the United States that, according to clinical psychologist Dean Aufderheide, “[T]here is no doubt that our jails and prisons have become America’s major mental health facilities, a purpose for which they were never intended.”
Typically, jail is for:
1. People who are being held pending a plea agreement, trial, or sentencing;
2. People who have been convicted of a misdemeanor criminal offense and are serving a sentence of less than a year;
3. People who have been sentenced to a term longer than a year and are waiting to be transferred to a long-term facility.
Prisons are for convicted felons who have been sentenced to a term of one year or longer.
Here are some quotations that fail to distinguish between jail (short-term) and prison (long-term):
Al Capone was sentenced to 11 years in jail for failure to pay four years’ worth of taxes.—Political blogger.
I hope his sentence is long enough so his jail cell will become his coffin.—Victim of convicted swindler Bernard Madoff, whose sentence is for a term of 150 years.
Man remains in jail 6 years without conviction—Headline, Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Man faces 11 years in jail for ‘punching elderly man’ over free Nutella samples—Headline, The Independent.
Venezuela’s opposition denounced the sentencing of politician Leopoldo Lopez to nearly 14 years in jail.—News article, The Huffington Post.
Most speakers will probably continue to use jail informally to mean “a place of incarceration.” Professional writers, on the other hand, may be expected to observe a distinction between jail and prison in formal contexts.
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Daily Writing Tips - 20 Ways to Laugh
20 Ways to Laugh
by Mark Nichol
Go ahead and try this (if you’re alone, that is): Explore all the varieties of laughter you can produce, and label each one. There’s an often-distinct word or phrase for each type. Here are twenty ways to laugh, and some related expressions.
1. (Be) in stitches: to laugh.
2. Belly-laugh: to laugh in a deep, hearty manner, as if from the abdomen or in such a way that one’s abdomen moves from the exertion.
3. Break up: to laugh as if helplessly.
4. Cachinnate: to laugh loudly and/or obnoxiously.
5. Cackle: to laugh harshly or sharply.
6. Chortle: to chuckle or to otherwise laugh to express satisfaction or triumph.
7. Chuckle: to laugh mildly and/or quietly.
8. Crack up: see “break up.”
9. Crow: to laugh derisively or gloatingly.
10. Giggle: to laugh with short, repetitive sounds.
11. Guffaw: to laugh boisterously and/or loudly.
12. Hee-haw: a synonym for guffaw.
13. Horselaugh: To laugh in a way suggestive of or in imitation of a horse’s neighing or whinnying.
14. Jeer: to laugh disrespectfully or mockingly.
15. Scoff: to laugh derisively or dismissively.
16. Snicker: to partially suppress a laugh, as if to conceal one’s mirth.
17. Snigger: an alteration of snicker, with the additional connotation of mischief.
18. Split (one’s) sides: to laugh convulsively, as if continuing to do so will cause one’s body to rupture.
19. Titter: to laugh in an affected manner, or nervously; also a synonym ofsnicker and snigger.
20. Twitter: a synonym of giggle or titter, but also means to chatter or to tremble as if agitated.
One can howl, roar, scream, shriek, snort, or whoop with laughter. One can also be said to burst (or bust) out laughing, to convulse with laughter, to die laughing, and to be helpless with laughter, as well as to roll in the aisles (as if unable to keep from falling into the aisle while seated at a humorous performance). Other idioms include “laugh your head off” and “laugh yourself silly.” Can you think of any more words or idioms?
*http://www.dailywritingtips.com/20-ways-to-laugh/
by Mark Nichol
Go ahead and try this (if you’re alone, that is): Explore all the varieties of laughter you can produce, and label each one. There’s an often-distinct word or phrase for each type. Here are twenty ways to laugh, and some related expressions.
1. (Be) in stitches: to laugh.
2. Belly-laugh: to laugh in a deep, hearty manner, as if from the abdomen or in such a way that one’s abdomen moves from the exertion.
3. Break up: to laugh as if helplessly.
4. Cachinnate: to laugh loudly and/or obnoxiously.
5. Cackle: to laugh harshly or sharply.
6. Chortle: to chuckle or to otherwise laugh to express satisfaction or triumph.
7. Chuckle: to laugh mildly and/or quietly.
8. Crack up: see “break up.”
9. Crow: to laugh derisively or gloatingly.
10. Giggle: to laugh with short, repetitive sounds.
11. Guffaw: to laugh boisterously and/or loudly.
12. Hee-haw: a synonym for guffaw.
13. Horselaugh: To laugh in a way suggestive of or in imitation of a horse’s neighing or whinnying.
14. Jeer: to laugh disrespectfully or mockingly.
15. Scoff: to laugh derisively or dismissively.
16. Snicker: to partially suppress a laugh, as if to conceal one’s mirth.
17. Snigger: an alteration of snicker, with the additional connotation of mischief.
18. Split (one’s) sides: to laugh convulsively, as if continuing to do so will cause one’s body to rupture.
19. Titter: to laugh in an affected manner, or nervously; also a synonym ofsnicker and snigger.
20. Twitter: a synonym of giggle or titter, but also means to chatter or to tremble as if agitated.
One can howl, roar, scream, shriek, snort, or whoop with laughter. One can also be said to burst (or bust) out laughing, to convulse with laughter, to die laughing, and to be helpless with laughter, as well as to roll in the aisles (as if unable to keep from falling into the aisle while seated at a humorous performance). Other idioms include “laugh your head off” and “laugh yourself silly.” Can you think of any more words or idioms?
*http://www.dailywritingtips.com/20-ways-to-laugh/
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Daily Writing Tips - 7 Ethnic Names with Figurative Meanings
7 Ethnic Names with Figurative Meanings
by Mark Nichol
Names of ethnic groups have inspired nonliteral associations, many of them derogatory designations for the “other.” Here are seven such terms based on such names.
1. Bohemian: This word for one who adopts an unconventional lifestyle derives from the name of a historic region of Europe that now constitutes much of the present-day Czech Republic. Because many of the Romani people (see gypsy, below) had lived for a time in this area before settling in France, they were called Bohemians. In turn, this designation was attached to artists and writers who, because of poverty (voluntary or otherwise), often lived in city neighborhoods where the “original” Bohemians had concentrated.
Words derived from the term include the abbreviation boho and the neologism bobo, the latter from “bourgeois bohemian,” referring to an affluent person from a mainstream background who affects nontraditional attitudes and habits.
2. Goth: This designation for a modern subculture distinguished by somber attire and demeanor and a fascination with death and the supernatural has its roots in gothic literature and horror imagery inspired by German expressionism. Gothic literature, in turn, derives its name from the standard setting of stories in this genre: castles or monasteries of the Gothic architectural style.
This style, meanwhile, takes its name from a pejorative use of Gothic to mean “barbaric”; the Goths were a loose confederation of tribes from Scandinavia responsible for the conquest of Rome and other centers of civilization in the early Middle Ages.
3. Gypsy: The Romani, members of a far-flung ethnic group originally from the Indian subcontinent, were long believed to have come from Egypt, and their informal name, now sometimes considered pejorative, derived from Egyptian. The term has also been used to refer to people with nontraditional, nomadic lifestyles and is employed loosely in such terms as “gypsy dancer.” The truncation gyp, meaning “cheat,” in both noun and verb form, results from an association of the Romani with fraud and thievery.
4. Lesbian: This name for a person from the Greek island of Lesbos acquired a connotation of female homosexuality thanks to a resident named Sappho, a woman who wrote poetry expressing love and passion for both men and women. Her name also led to the use of the adjective Sapphic to describe female homosexuality.
5. Philistine: Influenced by biblical references to a people of the Near East called the Philistines as archenemies of the Israelites (the land they had lived in was later called Palestine), the term came to be used to refer to uncivilized people; later by extension, a philistine was a person lacking refined artistic or cultural tastes and values.
6. Tartar: Though the term is now used rarely, a tartar is an irritable or violent person. The name comes from a variation of Tatar, the designation for an ethnic group originating near what is now Mongolia and now found in Russia and nearby countries; the Tatars, long allied with the Mongols, were stereotyped as being ruthless.
7. Vandal: This Germanic tribe, originating in Scandinavia, came to be associated with looting and pillaging because, after migrating throughout Europe and settling in North Africa, the Vandals conquered Rome in the early Middle Ages. However, recent historians have argued that the Vandals did not destroy the late Roman civilization but rather adopted the culture. Nevertheless, the word still refers to someone who damages property.
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/7-ethnic-names-with-figurative-meanings/
by Mark Nichol
Names of ethnic groups have inspired nonliteral associations, many of them derogatory designations for the “other.” Here are seven such terms based on such names.
1. Bohemian: This word for one who adopts an unconventional lifestyle derives from the name of a historic region of Europe that now constitutes much of the present-day Czech Republic. Because many of the Romani people (see gypsy, below) had lived for a time in this area before settling in France, they were called Bohemians. In turn, this designation was attached to artists and writers who, because of poverty (voluntary or otherwise), often lived in city neighborhoods where the “original” Bohemians had concentrated.
Words derived from the term include the abbreviation boho and the neologism bobo, the latter from “bourgeois bohemian,” referring to an affluent person from a mainstream background who affects nontraditional attitudes and habits.
2. Goth: This designation for a modern subculture distinguished by somber attire and demeanor and a fascination with death and the supernatural has its roots in gothic literature and horror imagery inspired by German expressionism. Gothic literature, in turn, derives its name from the standard setting of stories in this genre: castles or monasteries of the Gothic architectural style.
This style, meanwhile, takes its name from a pejorative use of Gothic to mean “barbaric”; the Goths were a loose confederation of tribes from Scandinavia responsible for the conquest of Rome and other centers of civilization in the early Middle Ages.
3. Gypsy: The Romani, members of a far-flung ethnic group originally from the Indian subcontinent, were long believed to have come from Egypt, and their informal name, now sometimes considered pejorative, derived from Egyptian. The term has also been used to refer to people with nontraditional, nomadic lifestyles and is employed loosely in such terms as “gypsy dancer.” The truncation gyp, meaning “cheat,” in both noun and verb form, results from an association of the Romani with fraud and thievery.
4. Lesbian: This name for a person from the Greek island of Lesbos acquired a connotation of female homosexuality thanks to a resident named Sappho, a woman who wrote poetry expressing love and passion for both men and women. Her name also led to the use of the adjective Sapphic to describe female homosexuality.
5. Philistine: Influenced by biblical references to a people of the Near East called the Philistines as archenemies of the Israelites (the land they had lived in was later called Palestine), the term came to be used to refer to uncivilized people; later by extension, a philistine was a person lacking refined artistic or cultural tastes and values.
6. Tartar: Though the term is now used rarely, a tartar is an irritable or violent person. The name comes from a variation of Tatar, the designation for an ethnic group originating near what is now Mongolia and now found in Russia and nearby countries; the Tatars, long allied with the Mongols, were stereotyped as being ruthless.
7. Vandal: This Germanic tribe, originating in Scandinavia, came to be associated with looting and pillaging because, after migrating throughout Europe and settling in North Africa, the Vandals conquered Rome in the early Middle Ages. However, recent historians have argued that the Vandals did not destroy the late Roman civilization but rather adopted the culture. Nevertheless, the word still refers to someone who damages property.
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/7-ethnic-names-with-figurative-meanings/
Friday, October 23, 2015
Daily Writing Tips
Punctuation Review #7: Family Relationships
By Maeve Maddox
A random Web search suggests that people writing about families are not all on the same page when it comes to hyphenating terms for family relationships. For example:
A step-sister is the daughter of a step-parent to whom one is not biologically related.
I drew closer to my stepsister because I thought that we had something in common.
This is exactly what I loved about my grand Aunt, her passion for life and living.
My grandaunt’s husband was a businessman who ran a printing press.
Is “adoptive mother” the same as “foster-mother”?
Nakeita took Jamal back in and remains his dedicated foster mother.
My dad always speaks very highly of my great grand mother.
The sister of my great grand-mother, named Anne, married her first cousin.
My great-grandmother was a quarter Cherokee.
The Chicago Manual of Style offers these rules for family terms that include the words foster, grand, great, half, and step:
foster
The noun forms are open: foster mother, foster father, foster parents, foster home.
The adjective forms are hyphenated: foster-home background, foster-parent role.
grand
Grand compounds are closed: grandmother, grandparent, granddaughter.
great
Great compounds are hyphenated: great-grandmother, great-great-grandfather.
Note: The OED shows great-aunt and grand-aunt. M-W has great-aunt and grandaunt. Fortunately, great-aunt and grandaunt mean the same thing: “the aunt of one’s parent.” American speakers can avoid the strange compound grandaunt by sticking to great-aunt when referring to that particular relationship.
half
When referring to a sibling, the compound is open: half sister, half brother.
step
Step compounds are closed, except with grand and great: stepdaughter, stepsibling, step-grandfather, step-grandparents.
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/punctuation-review-7-family-relationships/
By Maeve Maddox
A random Web search suggests that people writing about families are not all on the same page when it comes to hyphenating terms for family relationships. For example:
A step-sister is the daughter of a step-parent to whom one is not biologically related.
I drew closer to my stepsister because I thought that we had something in common.
This is exactly what I loved about my grand Aunt, her passion for life and living.
My grandaunt’s husband was a businessman who ran a printing press.
Is “adoptive mother” the same as “foster-mother”?
Nakeita took Jamal back in and remains his dedicated foster mother.
My dad always speaks very highly of my great grand mother.
The sister of my great grand-mother, named Anne, married her first cousin.
My great-grandmother was a quarter Cherokee.
The Chicago Manual of Style offers these rules for family terms that include the words foster, grand, great, half, and step:
foster
The noun forms are open: foster mother, foster father, foster parents, foster home.
The adjective forms are hyphenated: foster-home background, foster-parent role.
grand
Grand compounds are closed: grandmother, grandparent, granddaughter.
great
Great compounds are hyphenated: great-grandmother, great-great-grandfather.
Note: The OED shows great-aunt and grand-aunt. M-W has great-aunt and grandaunt. Fortunately, great-aunt and grandaunt mean the same thing: “the aunt of one’s parent.” American speakers can avoid the strange compound grandaunt by sticking to great-aunt when referring to that particular relationship.
half
When referring to a sibling, the compound is open: half sister, half brother.
step
Step compounds are closed, except with grand and great: stepdaughter, stepsibling, step-grandfather, step-grandparents.
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/punctuation-review-7-family-relationships/
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Daily Writing Tips - Condole vs. Console
Condole vs. Console
By Maeve Maddox
A reader has asked for clarification regarding the use of the verbs condole and console.
In searching for illustrations of current usage, I find that confusion between the words is more common in the writing of non-native English speakers, although native speakers do err with this pair.
Both verbs refer to expressions of sympathy and comfort. The corresponding nouns are condolence (most often in the plural) and consolation.
“To condole” is “to grieve with; to express sympathy with another in his affliction.”
Condole is usually followed by with:
We condoled with our friends over the loss of their parents.
The airline official condoled with the relatives of the crash victims.
Condole is used transitively when the object is death, as in formal expressions of sympathy:
Politicians unite to condole the death of APJ Abdul Kalam.
The US State Department yesterday released a press statement to condole the death of Tulku Tenzin Delek Rinpoche.
Condole may also be used in an absolute sense:
The hall was filled with hundreds of mourners who had come to condole.
It seemed the entire village was there to condole.
“To console” is “to comfort in mental distress or depression; to alleviate the sorrow of (someone).”
Console is always transitive:
How do I console a friend who just lost his brother in a tragic accident?
Prince Harry Reunites with His Former Teacher Who Consoled Him After His Mother Died
Here are some examples of the misuse of condole and console, with corrections:
INCORRECT: At a funeral you are greeted by many people that wish to console with you and it can be difficult to thank all those who were there for you throughout your difficult time.
CORRECT : At a funeral you are greeted by many people who wish to console you and it can be difficult to thank all those who were there for you throughout your difficult time.
Console is transitive. It is not followed by a prepositional phrase like “with you.”
INCORRECT: I just really wanted to come here, talk to the family and condole the family, let them know there are other people out here worrying about them.
CORRECT : I just really wanted to come here, talk to the family and console the family, let them know there are other people out here worrying about them.
One “condoles a death,” but “consoles the family.”
INCORRECT: He said that no amount material assistance could undo the loss of life, however, it was a gesture to console with the families of the victims.
CORRECT : He said that no amount material assistance could undo the loss of life, however, it was a gesture to condole with the families of the victims.
“Console the families” would also be correct.
INCORRECT: At this sad moment, we pray that his bereaved family gets the strength to console with the irreparable loss they are facing.
Neither condole nor console works in this sentence. The solution is to change console to another word altogether:
CORRECT: At this sad moment, we pray that his bereaved family gets the strength to cope with the irreparable loss they are facing.
cope: deal competently with a situation.
By Maeve Maddox
A reader has asked for clarification regarding the use of the verbs condole and console.
In searching for illustrations of current usage, I find that confusion between the words is more common in the writing of non-native English speakers, although native speakers do err with this pair.
Both verbs refer to expressions of sympathy and comfort. The corresponding nouns are condolence (most often in the plural) and consolation.
“To condole” is “to grieve with; to express sympathy with another in his affliction.”
Condole is usually followed by with:
We condoled with our friends over the loss of their parents.
The airline official condoled with the relatives of the crash victims.
Condole is used transitively when the object is death, as in formal expressions of sympathy:
Politicians unite to condole the death of APJ Abdul Kalam.
The US State Department yesterday released a press statement to condole the death of Tulku Tenzin Delek Rinpoche.
Condole may also be used in an absolute sense:
The hall was filled with hundreds of mourners who had come to condole.
It seemed the entire village was there to condole.
“To console” is “to comfort in mental distress or depression; to alleviate the sorrow of (someone).”
Console is always transitive:
How do I console a friend who just lost his brother in a tragic accident?
Prince Harry Reunites with His Former Teacher Who Consoled Him After His Mother Died
Here are some examples of the misuse of condole and console, with corrections:
INCORRECT: At a funeral you are greeted by many people that wish to console with you and it can be difficult to thank all those who were there for you throughout your difficult time.
CORRECT : At a funeral you are greeted by many people who wish to console you and it can be difficult to thank all those who were there for you throughout your difficult time.
Console is transitive. It is not followed by a prepositional phrase like “with you.”
INCORRECT: I just really wanted to come here, talk to the family and condole the family, let them know there are other people out here worrying about them.
CORRECT : I just really wanted to come here, talk to the family and console the family, let them know there are other people out here worrying about them.
One “condoles a death,” but “consoles the family.”
INCORRECT: He said that no amount material assistance could undo the loss of life, however, it was a gesture to console with the families of the victims.
CORRECT : He said that no amount material assistance could undo the loss of life, however, it was a gesture to condole with the families of the victims.
“Console the families” would also be correct.
INCORRECT: At this sad moment, we pray that his bereaved family gets the strength to console with the irreparable loss they are facing.
Neither condole nor console works in this sentence. The solution is to change console to another word altogether:
CORRECT: At this sad moment, we pray that his bereaved family gets the strength to cope with the irreparable loss they are facing.
cope: deal competently with a situation.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Daily Writing Tips - Migrants vs. Refugees
Migrants vs. Refugees
By Maeve Maddox
A reader wonders about the use of these words in the media:
Please explain the difference between “migrants” and “refugees.” The news has provided nonstop coverage of migrants flocking to Europe from the Middle East and northern Africa. It seems to me these people should be more accurately described as refugees. Why are they suddenly considered migrants?
Applied to human beings, the word migrant has a basic meaning of “a person who moves temporarily or seasonally from place to place.” The noun is also used attributively, as in “migrant camps” and “migrant policies.”
In the United States, the most common use of migrant is in the context of agricultural workers:
Between one and three million migrant farm workers leave their homes every year to plant, cultivate, harvest, and pack fruits, vegetables and nuts in the U.S.
In Australia, the word migrant is commonly applied to immigrants who have come to make a permanent home in the country:
Settlement services are intended to assist new migrants to participate as soon and as fully as possible in Australia s economy and society.
A migrant chooses to leave home, but a refugee is forced to seek a place of safety elsewhere, often in a foreign country.
People flee their homes for causes that include war, religious persecution, political troubles, and natural disaster. The earliest use of the word refugee in English was in reference to Protestants who fled France in the seventeenth century.
In the media, the word migrant is sometimes used alone in reference to the hordes of people presently moving into Europe, but increasingly, the two words are used together:
Tens of thousands of migrants and refugees have entered Germany in recent weeks after making arduous journeys through multiple countries.
All of the people flooding into Europe from Syria and elsewhere are migrants, but not all are refugees according to the international legal definition.
As defined by international law, a refugee is a person who has fled a country to escape war or persecution and can prove it. Refugees are entitled to basic protections as defined by a United Nations convention. Verified refugees cannot be sent back to countries where their lives would be in danger.
Migrants, on the other hand, move from one place to another for reasons that may be understandable, but are not sufficient to classify them as refugees. For example, some migrants are fleeing poverty. Others may have been living above poverty in their home countries, but decide to emigrate in search of better economic opportunities.
Note: Although people fleeing the devastation of natural disasters are often referred to as refugees, they are not at present included in the international legal definition.
By Maeve Maddox
A reader wonders about the use of these words in the media:
Please explain the difference between “migrants” and “refugees.” The news has provided nonstop coverage of migrants flocking to Europe from the Middle East and northern Africa. It seems to me these people should be more accurately described as refugees. Why are they suddenly considered migrants?
Applied to human beings, the word migrant has a basic meaning of “a person who moves temporarily or seasonally from place to place.” The noun is also used attributively, as in “migrant camps” and “migrant policies.”
In the United States, the most common use of migrant is in the context of agricultural workers:
Between one and three million migrant farm workers leave their homes every year to plant, cultivate, harvest, and pack fruits, vegetables and nuts in the U.S.
In Australia, the word migrant is commonly applied to immigrants who have come to make a permanent home in the country:
Settlement services are intended to assist new migrants to participate as soon and as fully as possible in Australia s economy and society.
A migrant chooses to leave home, but a refugee is forced to seek a place of safety elsewhere, often in a foreign country.
People flee their homes for causes that include war, religious persecution, political troubles, and natural disaster. The earliest use of the word refugee in English was in reference to Protestants who fled France in the seventeenth century.
In the media, the word migrant is sometimes used alone in reference to the hordes of people presently moving into Europe, but increasingly, the two words are used together:
Tens of thousands of migrants and refugees have entered Germany in recent weeks after making arduous journeys through multiple countries.
All of the people flooding into Europe from Syria and elsewhere are migrants, but not all are refugees according to the international legal definition.
As defined by international law, a refugee is a person who has fled a country to escape war or persecution and can prove it. Refugees are entitled to basic protections as defined by a United Nations convention. Verified refugees cannot be sent back to countries where their lives would be in danger.
Migrants, on the other hand, move from one place to another for reasons that may be understandable, but are not sufficient to classify them as refugees. For example, some migrants are fleeing poverty. Others may have been living above poverty in their home countries, but decide to emigrate in search of better economic opportunities.
Note: Although people fleeing the devastation of natural disasters are often referred to as refugees, they are not at present included in the international legal definition.
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Daily Writing Tips - Buck Naked and Butt Naked
Buck Naked and Butt Naked
By Maeve Maddox
A reader has two questions about the idiom “buck naked”:
1. When did people start saying, “butt naked” instead of “buck naked”?
2. What does “buck naked” mean, anyway?
buck naked, adjective: completely unclothed.
In Old English, the word that is now spelled buck referred to a male deer. Later, the word also came be applied to the male of other species. For example, buck is the term for the male of the following animals:
deer
goat
kangaroo
mouse
rabbit
rat
reindeer
squirrel
Not surprisingly, buck became a slang term for a male of the human species. The earliest OED citation for buck used to mean man or fellow is dated 1303.
In the eighteenth century, buck was popular slang for a man who attended plays and other fashionable social events to be seen and admired.
In Australia, buck was used to refer to male aborigines. In the United States, buck referred to both American Indians and men of African descent. Examples of this usage may be found in nineteenth-century entries in the US Congressional Record.
Although various explanations have been offered, no one can say with certainty how the word buck came to be attached to naked.
The earliest evidence of “buck naked” on the Ngram Viewer, which is based on printed sources, appears in 1914. “Butt naked” comes along in 1924, but doesn’t make much of a showing until 1980, when it begins to soar.
*http://www.dailywritingtips.com/buck-naked-and-butt-naked/
By Maeve Maddox
A reader has two questions about the idiom “buck naked”:
1. When did people start saying, “butt naked” instead of “buck naked”?
2. What does “buck naked” mean, anyway?
buck naked, adjective: completely unclothed.
In Old English, the word that is now spelled buck referred to a male deer. Later, the word also came be applied to the male of other species. For example, buck is the term for the male of the following animals:
deer
goat
kangaroo
mouse
rabbit
rat
reindeer
squirrel
Not surprisingly, buck became a slang term for a male of the human species. The earliest OED citation for buck used to mean man or fellow is dated 1303.
In the eighteenth century, buck was popular slang for a man who attended plays and other fashionable social events to be seen and admired.
In Australia, buck was used to refer to male aborigines. In the United States, buck referred to both American Indians and men of African descent. Examples of this usage may be found in nineteenth-century entries in the US Congressional Record.
Although various explanations have been offered, no one can say with certainty how the word buck came to be attached to naked.
The earliest evidence of “buck naked” on the Ngram Viewer, which is based on printed sources, appears in 1914. “Butt naked” comes along in 1924, but doesn’t make much of a showing until 1980, when it begins to soar.
*http://www.dailywritingtips.com/buck-naked-and-butt-naked/
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Daily Writing Tips - Apostrophe Placement in Proper Names
Apostrophe Placement in Proper Names
by Mark Nichol
What do the brand names Bakers Choice, the Diners Club, and Mrs. Fields Cookies have in common? Besides prompting hunger, they’re all “supposed” to have apostrophes in their names.
So, why don’t they? A choice that belongs to bakers is a bakers’ choice, a club that belongs to diners is a diners’ club, and cookies that belong to Mrs. Fields are Mrs. Fields’s (or, depending on which style tradition you adhere to, Mrs. Fields’) cookies. The name for the Diners Club gets a pass because it can also be argued that it refers to a club for diners, and thus is attributive (for the same reason that, for example, the name of the California Teachers Association lacks an apostrophe — it serves, rather than is a possession of, teachers).
But the baking-products company and the cookie maker, like Barclays Bank and many other businesses, evidently decided that apostrophes are confusing or distracting and opted to omit them. Similarly, the Hells Angels opted for a streamlined look at the expense of proper style, and I don’t know about you, but I’m not about to walk into the local chapter headquarters and start complaining about the motorcycle club’s error. (You go ahead — I’ll wait for you here.)
The Levi’s brand name for jeans and other apparel is problematic; technically, something that belongs to the company would be referred to as Levi’s’s, but we’ll yield to practicality and pretend that the owner is Mr. Strauss, and anything of his is Levi’s. And though I prefer that the possessive case be signaled with an apostrophe and an s, not the symbol alone, though “Thomas’s” would look better, I’ll cut Thomas’ English Muffins some slack.
But the one company name that is indefensibly wrong is Lands’ End; this labels clumsily conjures multiple capes or points converging on one geographical coordinate. The misplaced apostrophe is reportedly the result of an early typographical error deemed too costly to correct; on such small but momentous decisions is derision based.
Regardless of which possessive style you or your employer prefers, when it comes to proper names, writers and editors must bow to the usage of a name’s owners — and in order to guarantee that the usage you use is correct, verify company, organization, and brand names on the website of the business or group itself.
*http://www.dailywritingtips.com/apostrophe-placement-in-proper-names/
by Mark Nichol
What do the brand names Bakers Choice, the Diners Club, and Mrs. Fields Cookies have in common? Besides prompting hunger, they’re all “supposed” to have apostrophes in their names.
So, why don’t they? A choice that belongs to bakers is a bakers’ choice, a club that belongs to diners is a diners’ club, and cookies that belong to Mrs. Fields are Mrs. Fields’s (or, depending on which style tradition you adhere to, Mrs. Fields’) cookies. The name for the Diners Club gets a pass because it can also be argued that it refers to a club for diners, and thus is attributive (for the same reason that, for example, the name of the California Teachers Association lacks an apostrophe — it serves, rather than is a possession of, teachers).
But the baking-products company and the cookie maker, like Barclays Bank and many other businesses, evidently decided that apostrophes are confusing or distracting and opted to omit them. Similarly, the Hells Angels opted for a streamlined look at the expense of proper style, and I don’t know about you, but I’m not about to walk into the local chapter headquarters and start complaining about the motorcycle club’s error. (You go ahead — I’ll wait for you here.)
The Levi’s brand name for jeans and other apparel is problematic; technically, something that belongs to the company would be referred to as Levi’s’s, but we’ll yield to practicality and pretend that the owner is Mr. Strauss, and anything of his is Levi’s. And though I prefer that the possessive case be signaled with an apostrophe and an s, not the symbol alone, though “Thomas’s” would look better, I’ll cut Thomas’ English Muffins some slack.
But the one company name that is indefensibly wrong is Lands’ End; this labels clumsily conjures multiple capes or points converging on one geographical coordinate. The misplaced apostrophe is reportedly the result of an early typographical error deemed too costly to correct; on such small but momentous decisions is derision based.
Regardless of which possessive style you or your employer prefers, when it comes to proper names, writers and editors must bow to the usage of a name’s owners — and in order to guarantee that the usage you use is correct, verify company, organization, and brand names on the website of the business or group itself.
*http://www.dailywritingtips.com/apostrophe-placement-in-proper-names/
Monday, September 28, 2015
Daily Writing Tips - 10 Tips About Basic Writing Competency
10 Tips About Basic Writing Competency
by Mark Nichol
*Here are ten areas to be sure to attend to if you wish to be taken seriously as a professional writer.
Formatting
1. Do not enter two letter spaces between sentences. Use of two spaces is an obsolete convention based on typewriter technology and will mark you as out of touch. If editors or other potential employers or clients notice that you don’t know this simple fact, they may be skeptical about your writing skills before you’ve had a chance to impress them.
2. Take care that paragraphs are of varying reasonable lengths. Unusually short or long paragraphs are appropriate in moderation, but allowing a series of choppy paragraphs or laboriously long ones to remain in a final draft is unprofessional.
3. If you’re submitting a manuscript or other content for publication, do not format it with various fonts and other style features. Editors want to read good writing, not enjoy aesthetically pleasing (or not) manuscripts; efforts to prettify a file are a distraction.
Style
4. Do not, in résumés or in other text, get carried away with capitalization. You didn’t earn a Master’s Degree; you earned a master’s degree. You didn’t study Biology; you studied biology. You weren’t Project Manager; you were project manager. (Search the Daily Writing Tips website for “capitalization” to find numerous articles on the subject.)
5. Become familiar with the rules for styling numbers, and apply them rationally.
6. Know the principles of punctuation, especially regarding consistency in insertion or omission of the serial comma, avoidance of the comma splice, and use of the semicolon. (Search the Daily Writing Tips website for “punctuation” to find numerous articles on the subject.) And if you write in American English and you routinely place a period after the closing quotation mark at the end of a sentence rather than before it, go back to square one and try again.
7. Hyphenation is complicated. In other breaking news, life isn’t fair. Don’t count on editors to cure your hyphenation hiccups for you; become your own expert consultant. (In addition to reading the post I linked to here, search the Daily Writing Tips website for “hyphenation” to find numerous articles on the subject.)
8. Avoid “scare quotes.” A term does not need to be called out by quotation marks around it unless you must clarify that the unusual usage is not intended to be read literally, or when they are employed for “comic” effect. (In this case, the implication is that the comic effect is patently unamusing.)
Usage
9. For all intensive purposes, know your idioms. (That should be “for all intents and purposes,” but you should also just omit such superfluous phrases.) On a related note, avoid clichés like the plague — except when you don’t. They’re useful, but generous use is the sign of a lazy writer.
Spelling
10. Don’t rely on spellchecking programs to do your spelling work for you, and always verify spelling (and wording) of proper nouns.
*http://www.dailywritingtips.com/10-tips-about-basic-writing-competency/
by Mark Nichol
*Here are ten areas to be sure to attend to if you wish to be taken seriously as a professional writer.
Formatting
1. Do not enter two letter spaces between sentences. Use of two spaces is an obsolete convention based on typewriter technology and will mark you as out of touch. If editors or other potential employers or clients notice that you don’t know this simple fact, they may be skeptical about your writing skills before you’ve had a chance to impress them.
2. Take care that paragraphs are of varying reasonable lengths. Unusually short or long paragraphs are appropriate in moderation, but allowing a series of choppy paragraphs or laboriously long ones to remain in a final draft is unprofessional.
3. If you’re submitting a manuscript or other content for publication, do not format it with various fonts and other style features. Editors want to read good writing, not enjoy aesthetically pleasing (or not) manuscripts; efforts to prettify a file are a distraction.
Style
4. Do not, in résumés or in other text, get carried away with capitalization. You didn’t earn a Master’s Degree; you earned a master’s degree. You didn’t study Biology; you studied biology. You weren’t Project Manager; you were project manager. (Search the Daily Writing Tips website for “capitalization” to find numerous articles on the subject.)
5. Become familiar with the rules for styling numbers, and apply them rationally.
6. Know the principles of punctuation, especially regarding consistency in insertion or omission of the serial comma, avoidance of the comma splice, and use of the semicolon. (Search the Daily Writing Tips website for “punctuation” to find numerous articles on the subject.) And if you write in American English and you routinely place a period after the closing quotation mark at the end of a sentence rather than before it, go back to square one and try again.
7. Hyphenation is complicated. In other breaking news, life isn’t fair. Don’t count on editors to cure your hyphenation hiccups for you; become your own expert consultant. (In addition to reading the post I linked to here, search the Daily Writing Tips website for “hyphenation” to find numerous articles on the subject.)
8. Avoid “scare quotes.” A term does not need to be called out by quotation marks around it unless you must clarify that the unusual usage is not intended to be read literally, or when they are employed for “comic” effect. (In this case, the implication is that the comic effect is patently unamusing.)
Usage
9. For all intensive purposes, know your idioms. (That should be “for all intents and purposes,” but you should also just omit such superfluous phrases.) On a related note, avoid clichés like the plague — except when you don’t. They’re useful, but generous use is the sign of a lazy writer.
Spelling
10. Don’t rely on spellchecking programs to do your spelling work for you, and always verify spelling (and wording) of proper nouns.
*http://www.dailywritingtips.com/10-tips-about-basic-writing-competency/
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Daily Writing Tips - 35 Synonyms for “Look”
35 Synonyms for “Look”
by Mark Nichol
*Look, it’s perfectly acceptable to use the verb look, but don’t hesitate to replace this fairly ordinary-looking word with one of its many more photogenic synonyms. Many of these substitutions come in especially handy when it comes to finding one word to take the place of look-plus-adverb or look-plus-adjective-and-noun, as the definitions demonstrate.
1. Blink: to look at with disbelief, dismay, or surprise or in a cursory manner
2. Browse: to look at casually
3. Consider: to look at reflectively or steadily
4. Contemplate: to look at extensively and/or intensely
5. Dip (into): to examine or read superficially
6. Eye: to look at closely or steadily
7. Fixate (on): to look at intensely
8. Gape: to look at with surprise or wonder, or mindlessly, and with one’s mouth open
9. Gawk: see gape
10. Gawp: see gape (generally limited to British English)
11. Gaze: to look steadily, as with admiration, eagerness, or wonder
12. Glare: to look angrily
13. Glimpse: to look briefly
14. Gloat: to look at with triumphant and/or malicious satisfaction
15. Glower: to look at with annoyance or anger
16. Goggle: to look at with wide eyes, as if in surprise or wonder
17. Leer: to look furtively to one side, or to look at lecherously or maliciously
18. Observe: to look carefully to obtain information or come to a conclusion, or to notice or to inspect
19. Ogle: to look at with desire or greed
20. Outface: to look steadily at another to defy or dominate, or to do so figuratively
21. Outstare: see outface
22. Peek: to look briefly or furtively, or through a small or narrow opening
23. Peep: to look cautiously or secretively; see also peek (also, slang for “see” or “watch”)
24. Peer: to look at with curiosity or intensity, or to look at something difficult to see
25. Peruse: to look at cursorily, or to do so carefully
26. Pore (over): to look at intently
27. Regard: to look at attentively or to evaluate
28. Rubberneck: to look at in curiosity
29. Scan: to look at quickly, or to look through text or a set of images or objects to find a specific one
30. Skim: see scan
31. Stare: to look at intently
32. Stare (down): to look at someone else to try to dominate
33. Study: to look at attentively or with attention to detail
34. Watch: to look carefully or in expectation
35. Wink: to look at while blinking one eye to signal or tease another person
* http://www.dailywritingtips.com/35-synonyms-for-look/
by Mark Nichol
*Look, it’s perfectly acceptable to use the verb look, but don’t hesitate to replace this fairly ordinary-looking word with one of its many more photogenic synonyms. Many of these substitutions come in especially handy when it comes to finding one word to take the place of look-plus-adverb or look-plus-adjective-and-noun, as the definitions demonstrate.
1. Blink: to look at with disbelief, dismay, or surprise or in a cursory manner
2. Browse: to look at casually
3. Consider: to look at reflectively or steadily
4. Contemplate: to look at extensively and/or intensely
5. Dip (into): to examine or read superficially
6. Eye: to look at closely or steadily
7. Fixate (on): to look at intensely
8. Gape: to look at with surprise or wonder, or mindlessly, and with one’s mouth open
9. Gawk: see gape
10. Gawp: see gape (generally limited to British English)
11. Gaze: to look steadily, as with admiration, eagerness, or wonder
12. Glare: to look angrily
13. Glimpse: to look briefly
14. Gloat: to look at with triumphant and/or malicious satisfaction
15. Glower: to look at with annoyance or anger
16. Goggle: to look at with wide eyes, as if in surprise or wonder
17. Leer: to look furtively to one side, or to look at lecherously or maliciously
18. Observe: to look carefully to obtain information or come to a conclusion, or to notice or to inspect
19. Ogle: to look at with desire or greed
20. Outface: to look steadily at another to defy or dominate, or to do so figuratively
21. Outstare: see outface
22. Peek: to look briefly or furtively, or through a small or narrow opening
23. Peep: to look cautiously or secretively; see also peek (also, slang for “see” or “watch”)
24. Peer: to look at with curiosity or intensity, or to look at something difficult to see
25. Peruse: to look at cursorily, or to do so carefully
26. Pore (over): to look at intently
27. Regard: to look at attentively or to evaluate
28. Rubberneck: to look at in curiosity
29. Scan: to look at quickly, or to look through text or a set of images or objects to find a specific one
30. Skim: see scan
31. Stare: to look at intently
32. Stare (down): to look at someone else to try to dominate
33. Study: to look at attentively or with attention to detail
34. Watch: to look carefully or in expectation
35. Wink: to look at while blinking one eye to signal or tease another person
* http://www.dailywritingtips.com/35-synonyms-for-look/
Monday, September 21, 2015
Daily Writing Tips - 10 Colloquial Terms and Their Meanings
10 Colloquial Terms and Their Meanings
by Mark Nichol
Why is there a taint surrounding ain’t? Why do editors get ornery or riled, or have conniptions or raise a ruckus, if writers try to use these and other words?
The ebb and flow of the English language’s vocabulary is caused by competing crosscurrents. Neologisms come in with each tide, some of them washing ashore and others drifting back out to sea.
But pronouncements from self-appointed experts and tacit disapproval by the self-selected better classes can also result in the relegation of certain terms and idioms to the realm of substandard or nonstandard usage. Here are ten words that, at least in terms of one sense, have been demoted by an association with rural dialect.
1. Ain’t: Once a fully legitimate contraction of “am not” employed at least in familiar conversation by speakers of all social classes, ain’t came to be identified with less well-educated people, and in the United States specifically with poor rural dwellers. It’s unfortunate that in writing, its use is restricted to humorous emphasis or idiomatic expressions (“Say it ain’t so!”).
2. Allow: The sense of allow meaning “concede” or “recognize” has been relegated to obscurity; seldom is this usage employed except in faux-rural contexts.
3. Conniption: This word for an emotional fit, usually appearing in plural form (“having conniptions”), is still employed occasionally in a jocular sense. It was first attested almost two hundred years ago, but its origin is obscure, though it’s possibly a corruption of corruption, which once had a connotation of anger, or might be derived from a dialectal form of captious (“fallacious”).
4. Fetch: Fetch has a colloquial air about it, and it’s unfortunate that the word lacks respectability, because it is more vivid and thorough a term than get (“Could you fetch that for me?”), and more compact than, for example, “Could you go over there and bring that back for me?” It survives in one formal sense, however: far-fetched (originally, “brought from afar,” but used figuratively for most of its centuries-long life span).
5. Ornery: This contraction of ordinary, influenced by the latter word’s less common senses of “coarse” and “ugly,” developed a connotation of cantankerous or mean behavior. Today, it’s used only in a humorous or scornful sense.
6. Reckon: The sense of reckon that means “suppose” (“I reckon I ought to get home”) is one of the most high-profile examples of stereotypical rural dialect, but it’s absent from formal usage.
7. Rile: This dialectal variant of roil, in the sense of “stir up,” is used informally to describe irritation or anger.
8. Ruckus: Ruckus, probably a mash-up of ruction (“disturbance”) and rumpus (“boisterous activity”) — themselves both dialectal terms — is now used only light-heartedly.
9. Spell: The sense of spell that means “an indefinite period of time,” related to the use of the word to mean “substitute,” is confined to rural dialect or affectation of such usage.
10. Yonder: This formerly standard term meaning “over there” is now known only in rural dialect (or spoofing of it) or in a poetic sense.
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/10-colloquial-terms-and-their-meanings/
by Mark Nichol
Why is there a taint surrounding ain’t? Why do editors get ornery or riled, or have conniptions or raise a ruckus, if writers try to use these and other words?
The ebb and flow of the English language’s vocabulary is caused by competing crosscurrents. Neologisms come in with each tide, some of them washing ashore and others drifting back out to sea.
But pronouncements from self-appointed experts and tacit disapproval by the self-selected better classes can also result in the relegation of certain terms and idioms to the realm of substandard or nonstandard usage. Here are ten words that, at least in terms of one sense, have been demoted by an association with rural dialect.
1. Ain’t: Once a fully legitimate contraction of “am not” employed at least in familiar conversation by speakers of all social classes, ain’t came to be identified with less well-educated people, and in the United States specifically with poor rural dwellers. It’s unfortunate that in writing, its use is restricted to humorous emphasis or idiomatic expressions (“Say it ain’t so!”).
2. Allow: The sense of allow meaning “concede” or “recognize” has been relegated to obscurity; seldom is this usage employed except in faux-rural contexts.
3. Conniption: This word for an emotional fit, usually appearing in plural form (“having conniptions”), is still employed occasionally in a jocular sense. It was first attested almost two hundred years ago, but its origin is obscure, though it’s possibly a corruption of corruption, which once had a connotation of anger, or might be derived from a dialectal form of captious (“fallacious”).
4. Fetch: Fetch has a colloquial air about it, and it’s unfortunate that the word lacks respectability, because it is more vivid and thorough a term than get (“Could you fetch that for me?”), and more compact than, for example, “Could you go over there and bring that back for me?” It survives in one formal sense, however: far-fetched (originally, “brought from afar,” but used figuratively for most of its centuries-long life span).
5. Ornery: This contraction of ordinary, influenced by the latter word’s less common senses of “coarse” and “ugly,” developed a connotation of cantankerous or mean behavior. Today, it’s used only in a humorous or scornful sense.
6. Reckon: The sense of reckon that means “suppose” (“I reckon I ought to get home”) is one of the most high-profile examples of stereotypical rural dialect, but it’s absent from formal usage.
7. Rile: This dialectal variant of roil, in the sense of “stir up,” is used informally to describe irritation or anger.
8. Ruckus: Ruckus, probably a mash-up of ruction (“disturbance”) and rumpus (“boisterous activity”) — themselves both dialectal terms — is now used only light-heartedly.
9. Spell: The sense of spell that means “an indefinite period of time,” related to the use of the word to mean “substitute,” is confined to rural dialect or affectation of such usage.
10. Yonder: This formerly standard term meaning “over there” is now known only in rural dialect (or spoofing of it) or in a poetic sense.
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/10-colloquial-terms-and-their-meanings/
Friday, September 18, 2015
Daily Writing Tips
Gurus and other Teachers
by Maeve Maddox
A reader expressed her disappointment when I left guru off my list of English words that end in u. I’ll endeavor to make up for the omission with this post about guru and other terms for teachers.
1. teacher
I’ll begin with the generic word teacher, an Old English word related to token. A token is something that serves to indicate a fact. “To teach” is to show in the sense of “to guide, to show the way.” To teach something is to convey knowledge or give instruction.
2. tutor
The Latin noun tutor derived from a Latin verb meaning “to watch or guard.” A tutor was a protector. In Roman law, a tutor was the guardian of a legally incapable person. The English word has been used in the sense of “custodian of property,” but its most familiar use is as “a person in charge of looking after or instructing a young person.” In modern American usage, a tutor is a paid or unpaid teacher who provides one-on-one instruction. Tutor is also used as a verb.
3. mentor
The word mentor is an eponym, a word derived from the name of a person. When Odysseus left for the Trojan War, he placed his son Telemachus in the care of a wise old friend named Mentor; the goddess Athena, disguised as Mentor, guides and counsels Telemachus. A mentor, therefore, is a person who guides and advises another–usually younger–person. In American usage, the word is often used to refer to an experienced person in a company who trains and counsels new employees. College students are assigned mentors to help them settle into academic life. Mentor is also used as a verb.
4. sage
A sage is a person of profound wisdom. The word derives from a Latin verb meaning “to be wise”; the verb’s present participle, sapiens, means wise. The noun sage is not much used in modern English, but the adjective sage is often seen, especially in the cliché “to offer sage advice.”
5. maestro
English has its own version of this word: master. A master or maestro is one who has achieved eminence in a skill or a profession. Taken from the Italian, maestro [MY-stro] usually refers to an eminent musician.
Note: Several words borrowed by English to denote a wise person–including guru– derive from Sanskrit.
6. pundit
This word for “a person who makes authoritative comments or judgments” is from a Sanskrit word meaning learned or skilled. In modern India, the word survives as pandit: “a learned person; a Hindu priest or teacher.” In modern American speech, the word pundit is usually applied to people who comment on current affairs or specialized fields.
7. guru
Originally an adjective meaning “weighty, grave, dignified,” Sanskrit guru came to mean a Hindu spiritual teacher or head of a religious sect. In modern American usage, the word is used loosely to refer to just about anyone who knows a lot about some subject.
8. swami
The Hindu word swami translates as “master, lord, prince” and is used by Hindus as a term of respectful address. Swami can also refer to a Hindu temple, idol, or religious teacher.
9. sadhu
If you’ve read Kim by Rudyard Kipling, you’ve seen this word spelled saddhu. A sadhu is an Indian holy man or saint. The word comes from a Sanskrit adjective meaning “effective, correct, good.”
10. rishi
A rishi is a holy seer, specifically one of the holy poets or sages credited with the composition of the Veda writings.
11. maharishi
A maharishi is a “great rishi,” a Hindu sage or holy man. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi achieved worldwide fame as guru to the Beatles.
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/gurus-and-other-teachers/
by Maeve Maddox
A reader expressed her disappointment when I left guru off my list of English words that end in u. I’ll endeavor to make up for the omission with this post about guru and other terms for teachers.
1. teacher
I’ll begin with the generic word teacher, an Old English word related to token. A token is something that serves to indicate a fact. “To teach” is to show in the sense of “to guide, to show the way.” To teach something is to convey knowledge or give instruction.
2. tutor
The Latin noun tutor derived from a Latin verb meaning “to watch or guard.” A tutor was a protector. In Roman law, a tutor was the guardian of a legally incapable person. The English word has been used in the sense of “custodian of property,” but its most familiar use is as “a person in charge of looking after or instructing a young person.” In modern American usage, a tutor is a paid or unpaid teacher who provides one-on-one instruction. Tutor is also used as a verb.
3. mentor
The word mentor is an eponym, a word derived from the name of a person. When Odysseus left for the Trojan War, he placed his son Telemachus in the care of a wise old friend named Mentor; the goddess Athena, disguised as Mentor, guides and counsels Telemachus. A mentor, therefore, is a person who guides and advises another–usually younger–person. In American usage, the word is often used to refer to an experienced person in a company who trains and counsels new employees. College students are assigned mentors to help them settle into academic life. Mentor is also used as a verb.
4. sage
A sage is a person of profound wisdom. The word derives from a Latin verb meaning “to be wise”; the verb’s present participle, sapiens, means wise. The noun sage is not much used in modern English, but the adjective sage is often seen, especially in the cliché “to offer sage advice.”
5. maestro
English has its own version of this word: master. A master or maestro is one who has achieved eminence in a skill or a profession. Taken from the Italian, maestro [MY-stro] usually refers to an eminent musician.
Note: Several words borrowed by English to denote a wise person–including guru– derive from Sanskrit.
6. pundit
This word for “a person who makes authoritative comments or judgments” is from a Sanskrit word meaning learned or skilled. In modern India, the word survives as pandit: “a learned person; a Hindu priest or teacher.” In modern American speech, the word pundit is usually applied to people who comment on current affairs or specialized fields.
7. guru
Originally an adjective meaning “weighty, grave, dignified,” Sanskrit guru came to mean a Hindu spiritual teacher or head of a religious sect. In modern American usage, the word is used loosely to refer to just about anyone who knows a lot about some subject.
8. swami
The Hindu word swami translates as “master, lord, prince” and is used by Hindus as a term of respectful address. Swami can also refer to a Hindu temple, idol, or religious teacher.
9. sadhu
If you’ve read Kim by Rudyard Kipling, you’ve seen this word spelled saddhu. A sadhu is an Indian holy man or saint. The word comes from a Sanskrit adjective meaning “effective, correct, good.”
10. rishi
A rishi is a holy seer, specifically one of the holy poets or sages credited with the composition of the Veda writings.
11. maharishi
A maharishi is a “great rishi,” a Hindu sage or holy man. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi achieved worldwide fame as guru to the Beatles.
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/gurus-and-other-teachers/
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Daily Writing Tips - Head Words
Head Words
By Maeve Maddox
*English has several words that derive from caput, the Latin word for head. Here are just a few.
The words cap, caparison, cape, and capuchin all trace their origin to a garment that was worn over the head.
1. cap
Originally, the word referred to a hood. Unlike a hat, a cap does not have a brim. When a cap does not refer to something worn on a person’s head, it can mean something applied to the top of something. Bottles have caps, as do chimneys.
2. caparison
A fancy covering for a horse is called a caparison. Medieval knights rode caparisoned horses in jousting tournaments. What’s the connection with head? The word comes from Medieval Latin caparo, which was a type of cape worn by old women; part of the cape covered the head.
3. cape
Although now we think of a cape as fastening at the neck and hanging down around the shoulders, older capes included a part that covered the head, hence the name.
4. capuchin
A Capuchin is a friar of the order of St. Francis. Capuchins got the name from the fact that they wore a cape called a capuchin; it included a hood. Capuchin monkeys are so-called because of black hair at the back of their heads; someone thought the patch of hair looks like a hood or cowl.
5. chaperon
The Latin word caparo that gave us caparison also gives us our word chaperon. Originally the chaperon was a cap or hood worn by noblemen, but later it became a garment for women. I suppose that when the fashion was dropped by younger women, the older ones continued to wear them. In time chaperon came to mean an elderly woman who accompanies a young unmarried lady in public to protect her reputation. In current usage, a chaperon is any responsible person, man or woman, young or old, who accompanies younger people in a supervisory capacity.
6. per capita
A legal term relating to inheritance, per capita is used generally to mean “on an individual basis”: The per capital GDP is a measure of the total output of a country that takes the gross domestic product (GDP) and divides it by the number of people in the country.
7. capital and Capitol
As a noun, capital can mean “the head of a pillar or column,” or “the chief town in a region.” The first Capitol was the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. In general usage, the word could mean any citadel on the top of a hill. In American usage, “the Capitol” is the building occupied by the United States Congress in Washington D.C. Similar buildings occupied by state legislatures in the various states are also called Capitols. The state Capitol (building) is located in the state capital (city).
As an adjective, capital means “very important.” In Roman law, “capital punishment” could be death, but it could also be exile and the loss of property and citizenship, things that made life worth living for a Roman. In current usage, a “capital offense” is a crime punishable by death. “Capital punishment” is “death by execution.”
8. capitate, decapitate, capitulate, chapter
An adjective, capitate means “having a head.” In botany and zoology an organ or the long narrow part of an organ is said to be capitate if it has a distinct head-like knob at one end. Decapitate is a verb meaning to separate the head from the body. Chapter comes from the Latin word capitulum, “little head.” A chapter is the main division of a book. Capitulate looks as if it would have something to do with the Latin source of the word for capture, but it too is from caput. Agreements, including terms for a town’s surrender, were written out under headings.
9. capo, captain, chief, chef
The leader of a branch of the Mafia is a capo, Italian for head. The Italian word comes from good old caput. A captain is the head of whatever group is being led. Both chief and chef also descend from caput; both words translate literally as head. In heraldry, the chief is the top of the shield. Among people, the chief occupies the head position.
Chief entered English from French in the 14th century with the meaning head, as in leader; its cognate chef followed in the 19th century with the meaning, “head cook.”
*http://www.dailywritingtips.com/head-words/
By Maeve Maddox
*English has several words that derive from caput, the Latin word for head. Here are just a few.
The words cap, caparison, cape, and capuchin all trace their origin to a garment that was worn over the head.
1. cap
Originally, the word referred to a hood. Unlike a hat, a cap does not have a brim. When a cap does not refer to something worn on a person’s head, it can mean something applied to the top of something. Bottles have caps, as do chimneys.
2. caparison
A fancy covering for a horse is called a caparison. Medieval knights rode caparisoned horses in jousting tournaments. What’s the connection with head? The word comes from Medieval Latin caparo, which was a type of cape worn by old women; part of the cape covered the head.
3. cape
Although now we think of a cape as fastening at the neck and hanging down around the shoulders, older capes included a part that covered the head, hence the name.
4. capuchin
A Capuchin is a friar of the order of St. Francis. Capuchins got the name from the fact that they wore a cape called a capuchin; it included a hood. Capuchin monkeys are so-called because of black hair at the back of their heads; someone thought the patch of hair looks like a hood or cowl.
5. chaperon
The Latin word caparo that gave us caparison also gives us our word chaperon. Originally the chaperon was a cap or hood worn by noblemen, but later it became a garment for women. I suppose that when the fashion was dropped by younger women, the older ones continued to wear them. In time chaperon came to mean an elderly woman who accompanies a young unmarried lady in public to protect her reputation. In current usage, a chaperon is any responsible person, man or woman, young or old, who accompanies younger people in a supervisory capacity.
6. per capita
A legal term relating to inheritance, per capita is used generally to mean “on an individual basis”: The per capital GDP is a measure of the total output of a country that takes the gross domestic product (GDP) and divides it by the number of people in the country.
7. capital and Capitol
As a noun, capital can mean “the head of a pillar or column,” or “the chief town in a region.” The first Capitol was the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. In general usage, the word could mean any citadel on the top of a hill. In American usage, “the Capitol” is the building occupied by the United States Congress in Washington D.C. Similar buildings occupied by state legislatures in the various states are also called Capitols. The state Capitol (building) is located in the state capital (city).
As an adjective, capital means “very important.” In Roman law, “capital punishment” could be death, but it could also be exile and the loss of property and citizenship, things that made life worth living for a Roman. In current usage, a “capital offense” is a crime punishable by death. “Capital punishment” is “death by execution.”
8. capitate, decapitate, capitulate, chapter
An adjective, capitate means “having a head.” In botany and zoology an organ or the long narrow part of an organ is said to be capitate if it has a distinct head-like knob at one end. Decapitate is a verb meaning to separate the head from the body. Chapter comes from the Latin word capitulum, “little head.” A chapter is the main division of a book. Capitulate looks as if it would have something to do with the Latin source of the word for capture, but it too is from caput. Agreements, including terms for a town’s surrender, were written out under headings.
9. capo, captain, chief, chef
The leader of a branch of the Mafia is a capo, Italian for head. The Italian word comes from good old caput. A captain is the head of whatever group is being led. Both chief and chef also descend from caput; both words translate literally as head. In heraldry, the chief is the top of the shield. Among people, the chief occupies the head position.
Chief entered English from French in the 14th century with the meaning head, as in leader; its cognate chef followed in the 19th century with the meaning, “head cook.”
*http://www.dailywritingtips.com/head-words/
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