Arlene Miller's Blog, page 15

To Valentine’s Week, With Love

Image by Stefan Schweihofer from Pixabay

Do you know any songs that are about cleaning out the garage? How about doing taxes? Driving in traffic? Cooking dinner? 

Probably not. Most songs are about — well, you know — love.

So this post is about one of my other loves (besides grammar and my kids) — music. I like all genres of music, particularly any song with a good melody and a good beat — maybe because I was a dancer. I am most fond of the music of the late 1950s and early-to-mid 1960s. That is when I started listening to the radio, even before my preteen years. I had a transistor radio that I received for my ninth birthday. It was next to my ear almost constantly — that is, when I wasn’t playing 45s or albums. I can remember exactly what my beige Motorola transistor radio looked like.  I even looked on eBay to see if I could get one now. I found one on another site, but it wasn’t for sale.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I wanted to do a post about love songs. First, I wanted to see the differences in love songs from the 1960s and the 2000s. I would have guessed that more of the older songs would have the word love in the title. 

I decided to compare the Billboard Hot 100 songs of 1960 with those of 2020. I was surprised to find out that  six songs from the Top 100 from 1960 had love in the title, compared to five songs in 2020. Pretty close.

1960: Puppy Love, Cradle of Love, Love You So, I Love the Way You Love Me, Tell Laura I Love Her, When Will I Be Loved.

2020: Someone You Loved, Lose You to Love Me, Savage Love, ILY (I Love You Baby), Lovin’ On You.

I then wanted to see how many of the top songs had girls’ names in them:

1960:  Cathy, Laura, Tracy, Sandy

2020: Only Roxanne

I then looked at the titles of songs from those two years to see how they had changed. Here is a selection from each year:

1960: Teen Angel, Sweet Nothin’s, Puppy Love, Pretty Blue Eyes, Mama, Stairway to Heaven, Heartaches by the Number, You Talk too Much

2020: WAP (ask your kids if you don’t know what this means), Ballin’, Good as Hell, Woah, Death Bed, We Paid, Godzilla, Hot, Emotionally Scarred, Suicidal, Juicy, Pussy Fairy

Yup, some differences there!

More LOVE music trivia:

Since 2000, 365 Hot 100 songs had some form of the word love in the title.66 Elvis songs included love in the title.15 Dylan songs included love in the title.Although the Beatles had only about a dozen songs with love in the title, they used the word love 613 times in their songs.As of 2011, 1187 recorded songs had love in the title.It is estimated that more than 100 million love songs have been recorded.The top-ranking song of the 1960s decade with love in the title is Will You Love Me Tomorrow (sometimes known as “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” words by Gerry Goffin and music  by Carole King, recorded by the Shirelles.)

Billboard’s Top five love songs with love in the title — of all time:

5. Silly Love Songs by Wings – 1976

4. We Found Love by Rhianna – 2011

3. How Deep Is Your Love by the Bee Gees – 1977

2. I’ll Make Love to You by Boyz II Men – 1994

1.  Endless Love by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie – 1981

However, according to many sources, the top love song of all time is I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston, 1992

 

 

 

And The Winner Is . . . (Part 2)

Image by Prawny from Pixabay

Last week’s post included some of the Words of the Year (2022) determined by the American Dialect Society (actually voted on by their public).  In this post, we conclude the categories of Words of 2022. 

INFORMAL WORD OF THE YEAR
 it’s giving (X): description of something exuding a particular vibe or energy (for example, “it’s giving rockstar”)
dickriding: currying favor or sucking up to someone 
(the) ick: feeling of disgust about one’s date 
menty b: mental breakdown 
rizz: effortless attractiveness or style (short for “charisma”) 

And the winner is . . . “it’s giving”

MOST CREATIVE WORD OF THE YEAR
 -ussy: suffix from “pussy” (as in “bussy” = “boy pussy,” now humorously attached to many
words) – I still don’t really get this one.
blorbo : a person’s beloved fictional character from television or other media 
-dle: suffix for Wordle-like games (Heardle, Absurdle, Foodle, Worldle, Redactle, etc.) 
moid/foid: derogatory terms for men and women in incel culture 
short king: positive or affectionate term for a man of modest stature 

And the winner is . . . “-ussy” of course

EUPHEMISM OF THE YEAR
special military operation: Russian designation for invasion of Ukraine 
camping: access to abortion, as used in informal networks circumventing state anti-abortion
laws
diverse-owned: said of a business owned by members of historically underrepresented groups 
leg booty: algospeak substitution for LGBT (algospeak are words created to avoid being censored by social media filters)
pronouns: trans/nonbinary gender identities, as used in transphobic rhetoric to mock
pronoun choice 
résumé embellishment: lying about one’s accomplishments  (George Santos, for example??)

And the winner is . . .”special military operation”

*SNOWCLONE/PHRASAL TEMPLATE OF THE YEAR
not X: ironic framing device expressing an attitude of mock horror or incredulity 
if I text you X, it means Y: explaining how to interpret an emoji or series of emojis 
#IStandWithX: expression of solidarity 
it’s the X for me: singling out a notable or funny aspect of something, or finding fault with
someone
she’s/he’s a 10, but X: pointing out a negative or quirky quality of someone 
X hits different: describing an experience that is affecting in a meaningful way 

And the winner is . . . “not x”

Snowclones  are phrases where the principal words are changed while the structure of the phrase remains the same. These phrases are most often documented by replacing the variable words with letters (such as “X” and “Y”). So I guess you put a word or phrase in for the X. Sort of like algebra?

EMOJI OF THE YEAR
skull: expressing figurative death (from laughter, frustration, etc.) 
 melting face: expressing embarrassment or dread 
 saluting face: sign of respect or solidarity 
 dotted line face: feeling of invisibility 
red flag: signaling danger or problems 
colored boxes: for Wordle results 

And the winner is . . . the skull

Next week: A little something for Valentines Day

And The Winner Is . . . (Part 1)

Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

If you read last week’s blog post, you know that The American Dialect Society’s  (ADS) Word of 2022 is  the suffix -ussy. However, the ADS has an entire ceremony with multiple categories for words of the year — kind of like the Academy Awards of words. Although -ussy is a little difficult to catch on to, some of the other words are a bit clearer. I have attended the ceremony on Zoom a couple of times in the past, and I had heard of most of the words. In 2021, of course, many of the words concerned the pandemic. This year, I did not attend, and some of the words are a little less familiar to me — most of the people deciding the winners are young. I guess I could compare it to not knowing many of the nominees at other award ceremonies either!

Note that words can be nominated in more than one category.

Other nominated words for Word of the Year (-ussy being the winner)

Dark Brandon: sinister, powerful alter ego of Joe Biden (play on “Let’s Go Brandon”) 
quiet quitting: doing no more than the minimum required for a job 
rizz: effortless attractiveness or style (short for “charisma”) 
Slava Ukraini: “Glory to Ukraine!” (said in solidarity with Ukrainian resistance) 
special military operation: Russian designation for invasion of Ukraine 

Most Useful Word/Most Likely to Succeed

quiet quitting: doing no more than the minimum required for a job 
climate criminal: celebrity who flies excessively via private jet 
longtermism: ethical position that prioritizes improving the long-term future 
nepo baby: celebrity who is the child of a celebrity 
rizz: effortless attractiveness or style (short for “charisma”) 

The winner? quiet quitting

Political Word of the Year

Dark Brandon: sinister, powerful alter ego of Joe Biden (play on “Let’s Go Brandon”) 
Dobbs: Supreme Court decision reversing abortion rights (as in “post-Dobbs”)
pink trickle/splash: result of Republican “red wave” in midterms not materializing 
Slava Ukraini: “Glory to Ukraine!” (said in solidarity with Ukrainian resistance) 
Woman, Life, Freedom: rallying cry for women’s rights in Iran and elsewhere

The winner? Dark Brandon

Digital Word of the Year

-dle: suffix for Wordle-like games (Heardle, Absurdle, Foodle, Worldle, Redactle, etc.)
BFFR: initialism for “be fucking for real” 
American Dialect Society 2022 Word of the Year Vote 
American Dialect Society: Words of the Year 
chief twit: self-designation of Elon Musk after acquiring Twitter 
chronically online: spending so much time online that it warps one’s sense of reality 
crypto rug pull: scam in which a fraudulent development team pumps a cryptocurrency
     token before disappearing with the funds, leaving investors with a valueless asset 
touch grass: go outside (antidote to spending too much time online)
-verse: online world, as in Metaverse (Facebook’s VR platform) or Fediverse (federated
   servers on Mastodon) 

The winner? Another suffix: -dle

 

Stay tuned for Part 2…

Words of the Year: 2022

Image by Наталия Когут from Pixabay

Every year, various dictionaries like to come up with a Word of the Year. Sometimes the dictionaries agree; sometimes they don’t. In 2022 dictionaries all went their own ways — as did the American Dialect Society, which does its own words (many of them in various categories) of the year at a special ceremony, which I have attended and participated in on Zoom, but not this year. 

Oxford English Dictionary (OED)

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) left it up to the public to decide its word of the year for the first time. (The American Dialect Society always lets the public decide, but more about them next week.) Over 340,000 people participated. The winner? goblin mode, which received 93% of the votes. And I never even heard of it.  The OED defines it as “a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations.”

Apparently, goblin mode was first coined in 2009 on Twitter, but went viral in 2022.  The term appealed to those who rejected the idea of returning to “normal life” and leaving their homes after the pandemic. It also can refer to rebelling against the “increasingly unattainable aesthetic standards and unsustainable lifestyles exhibited on social media.”

Merriam-WebsterThe Merriam-Webster Dictionary chose gaslighting as its word of the year. The word comes from a 1938 play, Gas Light, in which a man tries to make his wife believe she’s going mad. Gaslighting is an insidious form of manipulation and psychological control. Victims of gaslighting are deliberately and systematically fed false information that leads them to question what they know to be true. Dictionary.com

Dictionary.com named woman as its word of the year, after a 1,400% spike in searches over 2022.

The word was frequently searched as people explored what it meant amid debates over transgender rights.

While Dictionary.com defines the word as “an adult female person,,” it also emphasizes that “the word belongs to each and every woman – however they define themselves.”

Collins Dictionary

Collins Dictionary  (does anyone have one of these?)  named permacrisis as its word of the year. It describes permacrisis as “an extended period of instability and insecurity.”

The world has certainly faced a variety of crises this year, from the war in Ukraine to the cost-of-living crisis.

This dictionary says the term “perfectly embodies the dizzying sense of lurching from one unprecedented event to another, as we wonder bleakly what new horrors might be around the corner.”

American Dialect Society (ADS)

The American Dialect Society voters have selected the suffix -ussy as the all-around word of the year. I have never heard of it. My daughter has never heard of it. I guess you have to be of the TikTok generation. I have looked up the suffix in various websites, and I still cannot figure out what it means or how to use it. 

“The selection of the suffix -ussy highlights how creativity in new word formation has been embraced online in venues like TikTok,” Ben Zimmer, chair of the ADS New Words Committee and language columnist for the Wall Street Journal,  said. “The playful suffix builds off the word pussy to generate new slang terms. The process has been so productive lately on social media sites and elsewhere that it has been dubbed -ussification.”

In a Vulture article by Bethy Squires, she says, “Riffing off ‘bussy’ (a portmanteau of ‘boy’ and ‘pussy’), now everything is a cat or a cavity. A calzone is a pizzussy. A wine bottle has a winussy.”

You figure it out!

 

Memories of Nonfiction 2022

Image by Mystic Art Design from Pixabay

Last week I ran down the many novels I read in 2022. I read mainly fiction, but there were some nonfiction books I read and enjoyed. I tend to read mostly political books when I read nonfiction. And I also read some memoirs of not-famous people. I am sure I would enjoy them, but I rarely read memoirs of the famous, like Mick Jagger or Elton John (although I may have read Elton John’s bio). I don’t read history nonfiction; it is not a subject I enjoy. Perhaps some science and psychology. 

Here are the nonfiction books I read in 2022:

Dinners with Ruth by Nina Totenberg – I would recommend this one, which is about the long friendship, sometimes long distance, between journalist Nina Totenberg and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.Random by Penn Jillette – Written by half of Penn and Teller, this book was really unique and interesting. I would recommend it. Infant Guide for new Mothers by Martha Foster – Well, I read this one in preparation for being a grandmother!They Want to Kill Americans by Malcolm Nance – All his books are great, especially recommended for those leaning left. Nance has been around the political/military world for decades.Crying in H Mart by Zauner – I gave this memoir only three stars. A pretty well-known book , but I have read better.Camel from Kyzylkum by Lara Geyla – This book was written by a friend of mine. It is a great memoir about the physical, emotional, and spiritual journey of immigrating from the Soviet Union in the late twentieth century. Recommended.Democrats 101 by James Purvis – Nice and small. Interesting piece.Midnight in Washington  by Adam Schiff –  You will enjoy if you are a fan of Schiff.Untamed by Glennon Doyle – I actually read this book in 2023. It is the memoir of author Glennon Doyle and is a powerful book for women. 

Here is a list of recommended nonfiction books I have read and liked in the past couple of years:

Virus: Vaccination, the CDC, and the Hijacking of America’s Response to the Pandemic. The Reckoning by Mary Trump. I have read both her books. The Violence Inside Us: A Brief History of an Ongoing American Tragedy – The story of guns in America.Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build New Habits and Brea Old OnesDivergent Mind:Thriving in a World The Wasn’t Designed for You – I enjoyed reading this one because I have a divergent mind (synesthesia). Other types of divergent minds include autism and super sensitivity.The Beautiful No: And Other Tales of Trial Transcendence and Transformation – I saw this author speak and wanted to read the book, which I liked.Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson – This one is a MUST READ.My Vanishing County by Bakari Sellers – A memoir of Mr. Sellers.Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell – And all his other books too!What are you reading? What are your favorite books? What is your favorite book? What was your favorite book as a child? Has any book changed your life?I would love the answers to some or all of these questions for future blog posts. Please send me your thoughts on this in an email please (not a comment: but if you send it as a comment, I will save it but not print the comment) to bigwords101@yahoo.com or info@bigwords101.com.Thank you!

Books! Books! Books! 2022 Reading Challenge

Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

I am one of those people who cannot remember what a book (or movie) was about three minutes after I finish it, unless it was very special, in which case I might remember something about it — or only that I thought it was very special. Since I read a lot, and I don’t like to read the same book twice, especially if it is unintentional, I keep track of what I read on the Goodreads website. 

In the Goodreads 2022 Reading Challenge, I challenged myself to read 50 books. I read about 64. Most of them were fiction, but there were a few nonfiction — and a few that I started and didn’t finish. Life is too short and all that…

Many of the books I read are tailored more to women, but not all of them. I do like romance, but not the hardcore Harlequin type of romance.  Here are the novels that I gave five out of five stars to in 2022:

The Littlest Library by Poppy Alexander – I love most books that are about libraries and bookstores!The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel – Don’t remember anything about it, but it was recommended to me by a friend who was reading it in a book club.Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin – I think this was voted the best novel of the year by Goodreads readers.The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene – Yes, this is a Nancy Drew book. I read it again for old time’s sake. I loved them then, and I love them now. This is the second book in the series of many books. I remember my cousin bought me the first and second books in the series. The first is The Hidden Staircase. The Messy Lives of Book People by Phaedra Patrick –  I love reading any books about book people!The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley – I don’t remember anything about it, but I also am drawn to books about Paris. And if a book is about a Paris bookstore, well….Maus  by Spiegelman – Politics as it is, Maus was sold out on Amazon for a while this past year. I had never read it.  I read the graphic novel. Does it come as a regular novel???? I couldn’t find one on Amazon.The Arc by Hoen – I loved this book, and I actually remember something about it.  It is about a matchmaking service gone awry.The Newcomer by Andrews – I loved this one too, but I don’t remember it. I read it at the beginning of 2022. The Party Crasher by Sophie Kinsella – Definitely a girl’s book. I love everything Kinsella writes. Her most famous book is Confessions of a Shopaholic.

I would also recommend the novels I gave four stars to:

Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth StroutWhen We Were Bright and Beautiful by Gillian MedoffLast Night at the Telegraph Club by  Malinda LoMiss Benson’s Beetle – Recommended to me. Don’t remember it, but I liked it. The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka  I saw her interviewed another book (later in this list) that I think I had already read, and I was intrigued.The Huntress by Kate QuinnThe Swimmers by Julie Otsuka – Very interesting book. Recommend to either gender. Election by Tom Perrotta – This is a pretty easy read about a high school election. Good book about popularity and teen stereotypes. The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand – I like everything by Hildebrand.The Book Woman’s Daughter by Richardson – I also read The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek. and I enjoyed them both. Lessons in Chemistry by Garmus – Another entry for best novel of the year in Goodreads.Love Marriage by AliDonut Fall in Love by Lau – “Donut” remember it, but it sounds like a romance.Book Lovers by Emily Henry – I like Emily HenryBy the Book by Jasmine Guillory – She is a romance writer.Groundskeeping by Lee Cole – I really liked this one. Great characters and story.Shadows of Berlin by GillhamOne Italian Summer by SerleThe Lincoln Highway by Towles – A very popular book. Highly recommended for everyone. This book has no quotation marks at all for dialogue. Check it out!Vox by Baker – Recommended to me by a friend. I think it is about phone sex if I recall.The Unsinkable Greta James by Smith – I liked it. The Night She Disappeared by JewellThe Cat Who Saved Books by NatsukawaBefore She Disappeared by Gardner – Not to be confused with the book above! Liked then both.Somebody’s Daughter by FordDial A for Aunties  by Sutanto – Fun read.State of Terror by Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny – Good collaboration. Penny is a great suspense author.Little Black Book by Carlisle – Cozy mystery

Three stars, but I did get through them. They were good enough to read, but after I was done, I guess I said Meh! Or maybe just not as good as the book I read before it!

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney – Did I even finish it? I expected more of Feeney. I believe it was a popular book in 2022.Fairy Tale by Stephen King – Not a real King fan, but the few I have read I have liked. This one had too much fantasy world in it for me. On the Rooftop by Sexton – Also a finalist in the best book of the year. Maybe I should have given it four stars. It was a good book. Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match by Sally ThorneThe Most Likely Club by Elyssa FriedlandThe Mutual Friend by Carter BaysTracy Flick Can’t Win by Tom Perrotta – Related to Election about high school popularityThe Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill – I liked this one. Mystery/thriller, I think.The Change by Kirsten MullerThe Spanish Love Deception by Elena ArmasCounterfeit by Kristin ChenForever by Judy Blume – She writes teen books mostly. I think I read this because I heard it ws groundbreaking. Girl, Woman, Other by Evaristo

If I got through the book, I generally liked it well enough, and gave it a 3, 4, or 5. There are a few books that I didn’t get through. I don’t like to waste time reading books I don’t like, although I still feel a little guilty when I give up!

P.S. I apologize for not using the first names of some of the authors. It got tedious listing all of these books and authors!!!

Next Week: Some nonfiction books

Ten Years of the Grammar Diva Blog: Happy Birthday to Us!

Image by silverstylus from Pixabay

After I wrote my first couple of grammar books, I thought I needed a website. And I thought I might need a blog on my website, since a blog is routinely updated, thus improving a website’s search engine optimization (SEO). These days everyone (it seems) has a podcast. Back then, everyone had a blog.

So I started a blog and decided it would come out weekly. The first post was published on January 11, 2013 and was called “TYPO Is (Sometimes) Just a Euphemism.”

To prepare for the writing of this special 10th birthday blog post, I went through all 105 pages of my blog posts that are listed on the bottom of the blog page. I categorized them and listed many of the topics. Of course, some of the posts fell into more than one category, but my statistics are fairly accurate. Ten years is approximately 500 posts. Here are the categories and approximate number of  posts in each category:

Grammar instruction posts – 136Personal posts – 31Quirky or miscellaneous posts – 55Posts about writing – 19Holiday posts – 46Trivia posts – 9National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) posts – 3Posts about confusing words, such as homonyms – 38Posts about pronouns specifically – 20Posts about words – 48Guest posts – 28Quizzes – 33Posts about books – 17

Grammar Instruction – These topics warranted more than one post in the category :

Commas – 18 (at least two about the Oxford comma)Common grammar goofs and peeves – mine and yours – 15Lay and lie – 8Misplaced modifiers – 5Rules you can break -4Clauses – 4Colons; quotes with other punctuation; quotation marks; tenses; hyphens, dashes, ellipses; lists; prepositions; interrupters, possessives – each 3 postsFlat adverbs; quotes, italics, bold, or caps; British versus American English; conjunctions; adverbs; adjectives; nouns; capitalizing titles; like and as; got and have; irregular verbs; colons and semicolons; possessives before gerunds – each 2 posts.

Some other grammar topics included quotes in dialogue; online dating and grammar; using italics; OK, ok, and okay; interjections; the position of “only”; and  subjunctive mood.

Personal Posts

Topics that got more than one post:

Amazon: A love and hate relationship -3Social media and me – 2My writing life – 2Going to conferences – 3

Other personal topics included Facebook trauma; trademark trouble; moving to Florida; how I learned about grammar; my talents and limitations; Sonoma County fires; synesthesia; my experience with scientology; and an interview with me.

Quirky and Miscellaneous Posts 

Phobias (a favorite topic of mine) – 6 postsGrammar goofs on TV – 5 postsWords of the Year – 2 postsSlang, jargon, and regional speech – 3 posts

Here are some other “miscellaneous” posts:

palindromesmondegreenshistory of the ampersandparaprosdokiansdyphemismsparanymshyponyms, autonyms, euonyms, caconymseponyms, metonyms, toponymscontronymshistory of the exclamation pointstories from the pandemicfunny headlinesShakespeare idiomsrestaurant namesthe concept of and writing about time

Writing Posts

Well, posts about writing seem appropriate for a grammar blog! Cursive writing, redundancy, proofreading, and writing tips each got two posts.

Other writing post topics included:

concisenesssalutations and closingsbook designwhat editors doclaritytrusting Spell Checkplagiarismverbosityparallel writing

Holiday Posts

New Year’s Resolutions – 7 postsNational Grammar Day – 6 postsChristmas words and quotes – 4 postsMother’s Day – 4 postsThanksgiving posts – 4Valentines Day – 4 postsNational Punctuation Day – 4 postsIndependence Day – 3 postsSanta posts – 2Christmas jokes – 2

Other holiday posts included one about Halloween candy,  history of fireworks, Memorial Day, holiday songs, Black Friday, and Father’s Day.

Trivia Posts

I have written four posts about language/word trivia. I also wrote some recent trivia posts about New Years, Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa.

NaNoWriMo Posts

November is National Novel Writing Month. I have participated three or four times, and I have written three posts about it. 

Confusing Words Posts

I wrote a book about confusing words and malapropisms (Does Your Flamingo Flamenco?) and 38 posts about these words. The confusion among sometimes, sometime, and some time was talked about a few times!

Pronouns

Although pronouns come under the Grammar Instruction category, I wanted to call them out separately, since there were many of them:

me and himmyself –  4 postsone word or two (indefinite pronouns such as anyone/any one) – 4 postsI and me – 3 postsWho and whom – at least 2 posts

Words Posts

Who doesn’t love words? I have written about these words:

misspelledweird  – 13 poststrivia about wordsCovid wordsdead words – 2 postscuss wordstainted wordspolitical wordsnew definitions of old words – 5 postsmalapropisms – 3 postsmispronounced words – 7 postsHalloween wordslost wordselection words

Guest Posts

I have run 28 guest posts by a variety of guest authors on a wide variety of topics – and I am always looking for great guest posters.

Quizzes

I love quiz posts!

20 confusing words quizzes3 comma quizzes2 punctuation quizzes2 general grammar quizzesspelling quizquiz on National Spelling Bee wordsphobia quizitalics versus quotes quizword usage quiz

Books

My books posts have included reviews, banned books, my favorite books, and your favorite books.

Whew! That is a lot!

I try to give my posts fun and creative names. Here are some of them:

To Comma or Not to Comma: That Is the OxfordWhere Have All the Adverbs Gone?Winston Tastes Good Like (As) a Cigarette ShouldOops….I Did It Again: Redundancy in WritingWhat’s Love Got to Do with It? A Valentine Word TestI Put a “Spell” on You!“Whom” Cares?Technology: No Place for WimpsThe 7 Deadly Sins of WritingManspreading May Cause Butt DialingGo Slow: Flat Adverbs AheadI Brang You an Irregular VerbThe Curse of CursiveRebel Without a Clause (guest post)Verb Tense-ionThe Alien in Your Future (my favorite post of all time)Have Some M and N’s: More Confusing WordsDon’t Take This “Laying” Down

In the years since this blog started, I have

written a bunch more grammar bookssold a bunch of grammar books (thank you!)written two novelswritten a memoirmoved from California to Floridabecome a grandmotherjoined two boardsSee you next week to start year 11!

 

 

Onward to 2023 with 23 Facts About New Years!

Image by markito from Pixabay

Here are some fun facts about New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day:

“Times gone by” is the  translation of the title of the song “Auld Lang Syne.”About one billion people watch the Waterford crystal Times Square New Year’s Eve ball drop on television each year.At one minute before midnight in Spain, twelve grapes are eaten before the clock strikes for the New Year. The Waterford crystal ball that is dropped in Times Square is a geodesic sphere.In ancient Persia, eggs were given as gifts on New Year’s Day.If you are in Scotland on New Year’s eve, you kiss everyone in the room at midnight.  Guy Lombardo was the first broadcast host of the Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration. The first year there were fireworks for the New York New Year’s Eve celebration was 1904.The earliest known New Year’s celebration was 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamia.According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau more cars get stolen on New Year’s Eve than at any other time of the year.You are not supposed to take out the garbage or propose marriage in Scotland on the first day of the New Year.People in Cuba fill all the dishes in the house with water on New Year’s Eve and then throw the water into the street to wash away all their sins.Pork is served on New Year’s in Cuba, Hungary, Portugal, and Austria signifying progress and prosperity.Denmark’s New Year’s tradition is ending the evening meal with Kransekage, a cone-shaped, steeply sloped cake decorated with flags and firecrackers.In Italy, the tradition is to throw out old clothes, furniture, and dishes on New Year’s Eve in order to have more wealth and luck in the New Year.The shoreline of Australia’s Sydney Harbour stretches 40 miles and is crowded by more than a million people on New Year’s Eve for the fireworks display.One of the largest fireworks displays in the world is in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, and most of the profits from firework sales fund rescue operations in the country.Getting healthier is the most common New Year’s resolution.England and its American colonies officially adopted January 1st as New Year’s in 1752.The idea of a baby as a symbol for New Year’s was begun by the ancient Greeks.Brazilians wear brand-new yellow underwear to welcome in the New Year.The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra traditionally performs a New Year’s concert on the morning of New Year’s Day. Julius Caesar accepted January 1st as the date for the New Year In 46 B.C. The Grammar Diva wishes you and yours a happy and healthy 2023!!The Grammar Diva Blog (yes, this very one) will celebrate its 10th birthday next week! The first post appeared on January 11, 2013. Expect a special birthday post next week. 

Holiday Trivia Part 2 – Christmas

Image by Gundula Vogel from PixabayMerry Christmas to all who celebrate! You might think that toys or electronics are the biggest selling items at Christmas, but actually that is not the case: clothing and accessories leads at 74%; food, drink, and wellness at 70%; toys at 64%; electronics at 47%; and kitchen and home goods at 36%.85% of us prefer free shipping to fast shipping.Total holiday retail sales in 2020 reached $789.4 billion despite the pandemic.Holiday shopping can account for up to 30% of all retail sales. Men shop just as much as women, but men tend to spend more, with an average spend of over $725 for men and $609 for women in the United States.24% of millennials say they expect shipping in less than 24 hours.60% of U.S. consumers start their Christmas shopping before December. 60% of shoppers in the United States prefer to shop online. 24% of parents said they plan to spend $50 to $100 per child for Christmas gifts. 18% of parents had a budget of $150 to $200 per child, and 17% planned to spend more than $200 per child.Here are the top ten online retailers during the 2021 holiday shopping season, ranked by unique visits to the websites: Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Target, Apple Etsy, Best Buy, Home Depot, Macy’s, Kohl’s.The original title of “The Little Drummer Boy” was “Carol of the Drum.”Gingerbread houses originated in Germany in the 16th century.Candy canes are red and white to represent the purity of Jesus Christ and the blood he shed on the cross.Sherry is the alcohol added to the base of candy truffles.Wassail is made from apple cider, lemons, oranges, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg.The first Christmas tree was lit in Rockefeller Center in 1933.In Australia, people celebrate Christmas by gathering on the beach.Germany started the custom of putting up a Christmas tree.The first Christmas card was sent in 1843  and was designed by John Horsley, an English academic painter, illustrator, and designer.Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was created in 1939 by Robert L. May as an advertising gimmick for Montgomery Ward.Santa was born in 270 AD.Swedish children leave out coffee for Santa in case he is tired after delivering all those gifts!

Holiday Trivia Part I – Hanukkah and Kwanzaa

Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa as an opportunity for Black Americans to reaffirm their African roots and strengthen their bonds in a time of racial unrest. 

DID YOU KNOW . . .  

That the word Kwanzaa is Swahili?

That when Kwanzaa was first celebrated in the United States, it was celebrated in California?

That Kwanzaa is celebrated for seven days?

That the word Kwanzaa means “first fruits”?

That the three colors of Kwanzaa are red, green, and black?

That Kwanzaa begins on December 26 each year?

That Kwanzaa ends on January 1st?

That Kwanzaa was established as a holiday in 1966?

That corn is the food of Kwanzaa?

That Kwanzaa is a cultural holiday, not a religious holiday?

That the first Kwanzaa postage stamp was issued in 1997?

That President Bill Clinton was the first president to make a declaration about the celebration of Kwanzaa?

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Hanukkah  signifies a miracle from the Jewish religion, when after reclaiming the Holy Temple of Jerusalem that had been conquered by the Assyrian Greeks, Jewish people found only one vial of oil, but that little amount of oil burned for eight days. 

DID YOU KNOW . . .

That Hanukkah is called “The Festival of Lights” or “The Feast of Dedication”?

That Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days?

That the candle holder used for Hanukkah is called a “menorah”?

That the largest menorah in the United States is at Grand Army Plaza in New York?

That Hanukkah originates from the Hebrew word hinuch meaning “to teach”?

The first president to celebrate Hanukkah at the White House was Harry Truman?

That there are 16 ways to spell Hanukkah?

That the potato pancakes eaten at Hanukkah are called “latkes”?

That the money often given as a Hanukkah gift is called “Hanukkah gelt”?

That the gold-wrapped chocolate coins, first produced in the 1920s, are called Hanukkah gelt, and that gelt means “money”?

That the shamash, meaning “helper,” is the first candle lit and is used to light the other candles?

That there are nine candles on the menorah, the shamash in the middle and eight others, one for each night of Hanukkah?

That a dreidel is a spinning top with Hebrew letters on the sides, and that the dreidel game is played during Hanukkah?

That the round jelly donuts eaten at Hanukkah are called “sufganiyot”?

That Hanukkah begins on the twenty-fifth day of Kislev, the ninth month of the Hebrew calendar, and that it does not always begin on the same day on our calendar?

 

Next Week Christmas Trivia Quiz….Happy Holidays from The Grammar Diva!