Arlene Miller's Blog, page 18
June 17, 2022
A Little Quiz on Confusing Words
Image by Beverly Buckley from PixabayHomonyms, homophones, and other confusing word pairs…Here is a little quiz. The answers are provided, of course!I need to add a (copywrite/copy right/copyright) page to my new book.
Come by my house (anytime, any time) to pick up the book.
We (past/passed) by your house on our way to the party.
The (principle/principal) rule of the game is creating the most words in the shortest amount of time.
My brother is afraid of dogs (because of/due to) being badly bitten by a chihuahua as a child.
The valuable vase broke because I (accidently/accidentally) knocked it over.
My grandparents (immigrated/emigrated) from Ukraine to the United States.
Those things you read about me in the newspaper are false and are (libel/slander).
The homecoming parade always (proceeds/precedes/preceeds) the game.
Since the new traffic light was installed, the (amount/number) of accidents has greatly decreased.
I have all six issues of the (bimonthly/semimonthly) community magazine from last year.
The puppy ate all (it’s/its’/its) food and begged for more.
Amanda was the (soul/sole) student who got an A on that calculus test.
Always buy (inflammable/nonflammable) pajamas for babies and children.
I was so proud when my son (lead/led) the parade as the drum major.
After thinking about it for a while, I found I was not (averse/adverse) to your plan after all; I think it is a great idea.
Boston is the (capitol/capital) of Massachusetts.
(Almost/Most) everyone is going on the field trip.
The (foreword/foreward/forward) of the book is written by a famous musician.
It has been (awhile/a while) since I have seen you.
Scroll down for the answers . . .
Keep going . . .
A little more . . .
One more time (You wouldn’t need to do this if I could figure out how to use a quiz maker!)
I need to add a (copywrite/copy right/copyright) page to my new book.
Come by my house (anytime, any time) to pick up the book. (Any time means “some amount of time”: Do you have any time this week?)
We (past/passed) by your house on our way to the party.
The (principle/principal) rule of the game is creating the most words in the shortest amount of time. (Principle is a rule; principal means “the main one.”)
My brother is afraid of dogs (because of/due to) being badly bitten by a chihuahua as a child. (Because of is not used after the “is” verb. Due to means “resulting from.” I can’t really figure this one out either!)
The valuable vase broke because I (accidently/accidentally) knocked it over.
My grandparents (immigrated/emigrated) from Ukraine to the United States. (Immigrate to and emigrate from.)
Those things you read about me in the newspaper are false and are (libel/slander). (Libel is written. Slander is spoken.)
The homecoming parade always (proceeds/precedes/preceeds) the game. (Proceed is to move along; preceed isn’t a word.)
Since the new traffic light was installed, the (amount/number) of accidents has greatly decreased. (Number is used for things that can be counted or plurals — number of accidents, amount of danger.)
I have all six issues of the (bimonthly/semimonthly) community magazine from last year. (Bimonthly is generally every other month; semimonthly is twice a month.)
The puppy ate all (it’s/its’/its) food and begged for more. (No such thing as its‘.)
Amanda was the (soul/sole) student who got an A on that calculus test. (Sole means “only” — except when it is a fish or the bottom of a shoe.)
Always buy (inflammable/nonflammable) pajamas for babies and children. (Inflammable actually means the same as flammable and can catch fire.)
I was so proud when my son (lead/led) the parade as the drum major. (Sound the same, but lead is in your pencil — maybe.)
After thinking about it for a while, I found I was not (averse/adverse) to your plan after all; I think it is a great idea. (Adverse means “unfavorable” and is rarely used with people — sometimes the weather conditions are adverse.)
Boston is the (capitol/capital) of Massachusetts. (The only capitols are the actual buildings.)
(Almost/Most) everyone is going on the field trip. (If almost makes sense, use it. )
The (foreword/foreward/forward) of the book is written by a famous musician. (Remember it has word in it.)
It has been (awhile/a while) since I have seen you. (Awhile can be replaced by “for a while.”)
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GRAMMAR DIVA NEWSI hae pretty much given up complaining to Facebook. It has been 30 days since my account was taken over by hackers, so they are supposed to permanently take down my personal page and business page. Not much I can do about it. Facebook wouldn’t even take down the gaming videos that someone put on my business page. Facebook doesn’t care about hacking. They care only if content goes against their Community Standards. I am not being snide. They actually imply this. I am using my new personal page, and perhaps when (and if) they take down my old business page, I can start a new one — losing my 4000+ page likes. Oh, well… I am on the Board of FAPA (Florida Authors and Publishers), so I will be attending and working at their conference, FAPACon in Orlando July 29 and 30. If you are interested, go to https://myfapa.org/fapacon/
June 10, 2022
You Say Hello. I Say Adios.
After surviving the 50s and 60s, as well as twenty years in toxic academia as a professor, Lorraine Segal was inspired to start her own business, Conflict Remedy, happily teaching, coaching, blogging, and consulting around workplace conflict transformation. She is addicted to reading novels and enjoys walking in beautiful Northern California, where she lives with her wife. Her cartoon muse, Bookie, insisted that she write her memoir, Angels and Earthworms. For more information go to https://BooklingPress.com
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You Say Hello. I Say Adios.
Image by press 
and 
from PixabayI went to Mexico as part of a program called Women, Healing, and Social Change. This group of women from all over the United States. came to study Spanish, herbs, feminism, and liberation.
One beautiful example of intercultural differences came when we took a day trip to a tiny pueblo (village) called Tlayacapan. While I was walking down a dusty back street, a slender local housewife, wearing a faded housedress and apron, hair in a bun, approached me from the far end. As we moved closer, we both smiled, and as she passed me she suddenly said, “Adios.”
Her remark disconcerted me. But I realized, after some thought, that our connection lasted for only a few seconds. So, saying “goodbye” logically made just as much sense as “hello.” And adios could also mean “go with God,” blessing me on my way. It had simply never occurred to me before that someone would address the end rather than the beginning of these extremely short interactions. And truthfully, if someone I walked past like this in the United States had said “goodbye” to me, I would have thought they were nuts. Being the “crazy gringa” in Mexico, where, despite my best efforts, I made frequent amusing or offensive mistakes in communication because of gaps in my cultural or linguistic knowledge, changed forever how I view these situations. I knew that different styles didn’t mean either of us was wrong!
©Lorraine Segal 2022 Excerpted from her forthcoming memoir, Angels and Earthworms: an unexpected journey to love, joy, and miracles.
June 3, 2022
Losing Facebook
Image by Marlon Romanelli from PixabayI don’t know how many of you were my Facebook friends, or how many of you liked or followed The Grammar Diva Facebook page, but I assume that would be some of you (yes, I intentionally used the past tense). I had over 2600 Facebook friends and over 4000 Likes on my business page. I was, to say the least, a frequent Facebook user and poster.
On Tuesday, May 17, I woke up to find five e-mails from Facebook. These had arrived at my inbox between 2 and 3 a.m. The first two were verification codes to reset my password. The third was a message saying that my password had been reset. They gave me this information: Windows, Edge browser, IP address, and place. I don’t have Windows, I had never heard of Edge, it was not my IP address, and it said Orlando, which is not my location. I guess Facebook wasn’t suspicious. The next e-mail said I was removed as administrator of my business page, and they gave me that same information about the origin. The last e-mail said my video was ready. What video???? Possibly the video that was objectionable enough to shut “my” account down. Oh, and the next day I received notification of a $250 charge to my credit card through Paypal for Facebook ads . Thanks, hackers. So I needed to shut down my credit card, change all my finance-related passwords, my Apple password, my Amazon password (I got an e-mail that someone in Viet Nam had tried to get into my Amazon account and knew my password). And shortly after all this, I got a few e-mails about friends I had accepted. You can see their profile pictures on those e-mails. One said “Power to Palestine.” These were not people I knew or would request to be friends with.
I could not get into my account. Since that time, here is what I have done:
I tried to contact Facebook. Of course, there is no phone number or contact information.I tried to contact Facebook through Twitter. Facebook Security on Twitter has no means of messaging them. I messaged some Facebook thingie and they never answered, of course. They provide links for help. Ha!All their “helpful” links assume you can get into the account. My account was no longer visible to anyone on Facebook, although the business page may have been. I went in on someone else’s account to report what had happened. No response. I have changed my Facebook password a zillion times. Nothing. At first it would not accept my phone number and said it was not connected with any Facebook account. I finally found the “Shake Your Phone” option. You can shake you cell phone and report a problem. I have probably done that 50 times. I get a big message that says “I disagree with your decision.” I assume this means I disagree with whatever they found objectionable enough to shut me down — except it wasn’t me and I don’t know what it was anyway. My point is that I was hacked and I want my account back. They give you 30 days and then they permanently remove the account. It says that it usually takes “a little more than a day” to review the issue. What is a little more than a day???? That was, incidentally on May 20. They do say that because of Covid, they have fewer people to review things and it may never get reviewed. And once they decide, you can’t appeal. But then, the new TV ad says they have 40,000 security people to keep us safe.I got another e-mail later on asking me to verify my identity by sending a scan of my ID. I looked up on Google whether this was legit; does Facebook ask for ID verification this way? and Google entries said yes, so I sent a scan of my driver’s license. I got an e-mail back saying they received it. I looked at the e-mail requesting this a day or two ago, and it really looked questionable to me. A couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail from Facebook saying that some other e-mail address, which they provided me, had been verified and removed from my account, so now I could log in on my e-mail again. That e-mail made no sense, and I still could do nothing. I tweeted about my issue and saw many people had the same exact problem with no response at all. A couple of people offered to help, but I didn’t want to pay for a subscription and I didn’t trust the other one. I even went so far as to look up people on LinkedIn who worked in Facebook security and try to connect with them. I messaged my issue. I think they may have connected, but they didn’t answer my questions.A colleague of mine knew someone who might be able to help, but I e-mailed and got no response. Finally, I gave up and opened a new e-mail account and used it to open a new Facebook account. I started to collect friends and decided to just have people I knew. I still had no business page, but I posted a few business-related posts. Oddly enough, those posts traveled over to my old business page, although my new personal page did not show that I was connected to my business page — and I could not post directly on my business page. A couple of days later, Facebook notified me that they thought I was using multiple accounts, so they shut down my new account. My old account is still visible when I try to change my password, although no one can get in, including me. But the new one is completely gone. I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Facebook has lots of complaints like mine, but they never respond to the BBB. I am considering writing Facebook a certified letter. They do have an address on their e-mails. It says their address is One Facebook Way. Oddly enough, the Better Business Bureau lists their address as One Hacker Way, which is more like it.Losing Facebook also means that in addition to losing my personal and business pages, I lose Messenger and Instagram, both of which I used.
What else can I say? If you would like to go into your account and report this situation, I would appreciate it.
May 27, 2022
History of the Ampersand ( & )
Image by Stampf from PixabayAlthough the ampersand is frowned upon when used in writing, it appears in many company names, title, ads, etc. Oh, and probably in passwords too! Here are some facts about this useful symbol. 1. The ampersand symbol began back in the first century when Roman scribes wrote in cursive. These scribes wrote the letters e and t together forming the Latin word et, which means “and.” 2. Over time, these letters written together came to represent the word and, which was carried over into the English language. 3. In the early 1800s, the alphabet song included & as the twenty-seventh letter. To avoid the confusion of ending the alphabet saying “X, Y, Z, and,” the students were told to say “X, Y, Z and per se and.” (The Latin phrase per se means “in itself.”) Over time, per se and was corrupted and became the word ampersand. (When a new word is formed from mistakenly pronouncing another, it is called a mondegreen). 4. The invention of the ampersand is usually credited to Marcus Tullius Tiro, the slave and secretary to the Roman politician Cicero. He invented a shorthand writing system in 63 B.C. called Tironian Notes, which included the ampersand. 5. The ampersand appears in all languages derived from Latin, including German, French, and Spanish. 6. The French translation for ampersand (&) is “esperluette.” 7. We don’t know exactly when this symbol was first written down, but an early example has been found as graffiti on a wall in Pompeii, preserved by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79AD.———————————————————————————————————– I don’t know how many of you followed by Grammar Diva facebook page, but it is at the moment gone — or at least not being updated. Long story with Facebook that I will tell you about in next week’s post. I am still seeking guests posts from anyone who has anything to say that would interest my readers. E-mail me at either info@bigwords101.com or bigwords101@yahoo.com.
May 19, 2022
The Importance of Fairytales
Image by jplenio from PixabayEnjoy this guest post by author JL Jusaitis!
Jeanne Jusaitis (JL Jusaitis) has an MA in Education with a focus on
Curriculum. She lives in northern California, and is the author of
three books for young readers: Lilah Dill and the Magic Kit, Journey
to Anderswelt, and Journey to Autremonde. Her poems and stories are
published in ten anthologies. Jeanne draws from her memories of
growing up in northern California, and many years of teaching and
traveling. See her books on Amazon.
Did you look at this title and say, “That’s an oxymoron”? I’m not surprised.
Most people think of fairytales as make-believe stories told to children . . . not so important. Bruno Bettelheim, the famous child psychologist and author of Uses of Enchantment, would argue that “fairytales are important tools in helping children to find meaning and purpose in their lives. The fairytale confronts the child with basic human predicaments. Characters are typical rather than unique, and plots are clear and simple. By listening to or reading fairytales, children can begin to work through their own problems in a subconscious, symbolic way.”
The definition of fairytale that I am using here is synonymous with folktale. Every culture has its stories that have been passed down from generation to generation, either orally or eventually in written form. When I speak of fairytales, I’m referring to the Western European tradition made popular by the Grimm Brothers, Hans Christian Anderson, and the stories of the French court. These stories have common themes and archetypes that can be found in tales all across the globe. You’ll see many of the same stories repeated in different cultures, with just a few tweaks that make them different. Many times the characters are animals that have been personified. For example, did you know that Goldilocks was once a silver fox?
As a middle-grade teacher, I found that my students had a love of CS Lewis, Tolkien, Disney, and Star Wars, yet very few of them had been exposed to the original archetypes and themes that had come right out of the fairytale tradition. I planned an integrated unit that was cross-cultural, where they compared and contrasted the fairytales that they read, notating archetypes, magical objects, and themes. Out of this unit came some wonderful original student-generated writing and art employing the themes and archetypes of the stories they’d been reading.
Now, as an author, I have found myself going back to those tools to write two fantasy novels for middle grade and young adult kids: Journey to Anderswelt and Journey to Autremonde. The heroine is on a quest, the wise or kind helper shows up, and the witches and wizards are sometimes a threat to the realm, but might surprise the reader. Of course, what’s a fairytale without magical objects and talking animals?
I feel so lucky to have had storytelling grandparents and parents. Fairytales and folktales were read or told to me at bedtime or shared by the fireplace with family. From those stories I’ve learned perseverance, kindness, and optimism and have nurtured a rich imagination.
FYI . . . it’s never too late to start reading fairytales. They’re not just for kids. Try it; you’ll like it.
May 13, 2022
What Happens in Orlando — Gets Printed in This Blog!
photo c/o Independent Book Publishers Association. Used with permission.I hadn’t been to Orlando since I moved to Florida in September 2019, until two weeks ago when I attended the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) Publishing University. Yes, I have already written a post about it, but that was the virtual portion. This time I got to put on real clothes and drive (in the traffic) to Sea World where the hotel was.
It was a little challenging for an introvert like me to be among 300 or 400 people whom I had never met in person. I knew the people who run the organization from Zoom, but I had never met them. I ran into one person from Florida Writers Association who had interviewed me for their podcast about a year ago. And I finally got to meet several members of Florida Authors and Publishers Association, where I am a new board member. It was nice to meet these people in person; I have been zooming with them for a while.
The hotel was beautiful, although I spent very little time in the room that one night I stayed. It was one of those hotels where the rooms surround the downstairs where the ballrooms and restaurants are. The ones with the glass elevators and little balconies outside the rooms. It is a few levels above the usual places I stay!
The swag bag was beautiful and one that I will be using . . . full of the usual swag, including a really cute pair of sunglasses I am wearing when I drive. I think I like them better than my Ray Bans!
The first session was for first-time attendees. I felt weird not knowing anyone, but that is where I found the woman whose podcast I had done. So I joined her for lunch and the keynote address, which was the next thing on the agenda. The boxed lunches were really good and too much for even me to eat, but I did okay: a huge sandwich, macaroni salad, chips, an apple, and an enormous chocolate chip cookie.
The keynote was given by an entertaining speaker who has done well in a short period of time with children’s books with a social message.
Then I had to make my first choice: negotiation, project management, Amazon, or titles?? You guessed it. I can’t get enough Amazon information. Very glad I chose that one because it got me going on the new A+ content for Amazon. You can see mine if you look at the paperback versions of my orange workbook, my yellow grammar book, or my comma book on Amazon. Scroll down and you will see From the Publisher. That is the A+ content, which I worked very hard at this week.
The Day One wrap-up was next with coffee and pastries. That evening was the book awards ceremony, which I had not signed up for, since I had not entered any books. I signed up very last minute, right before my new friends from my publishing group invited me to go with them to a sports bar in the hotel. I was stuck going to the awards with mostly strangers. The food was good, but not for the money it cost!
So I didn’t get too much time to spend in my nice hotel room. And it was up early the next morning for breakfast and table top networking at 7:30 a.m. You could sit down and start a topic or you could join a table that had a topic you were interested in. Since most of the people at the conference were small publishers who publish other people’s books (many of them also write), and I am an author/publisher who publishes only my own books, I wanted to talk to other author/publishers and should have started a table with that topic. But I didn’t know if anyone would join me, so I thought I would try it at lunch where there was supposed to be more table t0p networking of the same type. But that never quite happened.
I sat with some people talking about marketing and then moved to a table talking about distribution, two other good topics.
After breakfast (continental, but lots of good choices) there was a general session about benefits provided by IBPA — and there are many. Discounts on lots of publishing-related services. I might add here that the main room was surrounded by the sponsors who each had a table. There must have been at least 25 of them. There was also a bookstore with some of the members’ books, located outside in the hallway.
Decision time again: book design, hybrid publishing, consumer data, or reviews. It was between design and consumer data. I chose book design, and was a little disappointed in the speaker. None of those topics really grabbed me.
Lunch was a repeat of the day before. There was a choice of three different sandwiches, so I picked a different one. No complaints. And the macaroni salad was different — and much better — this day.
Two more sessions to select after lunch before the closing session. For the first one, the choice was marketing to schools, inclusivity, and relationships. I chose marketing to schools, since that is an area of interest to me. My books do sell to schools, high schools and mostly colleges. The session was aimed at K-12 but was still interesting.
For the second session I could choose between translating children’s books, thinking like Amazon, audiobooks, or small presses. Yup, I chose thinking like Amazon, which was probably the best session I went to.
Since checkout time was 11 a.m., I had already checked out that morning, and my things were in my car. The final session before heading home was the wrap-up and raffle. There were lots of great raffle gifts … but I didn’t win anything.
Everything was kept very much on schedule the whole weekend, and I was glad since leaving at 6 p.m. meant I probably wouldn’t have to drive home in the dark. I didn’t, and once I got out of the Disney area, there wasn’t that much traffic. But once the traffic cleared, the skies didn’t, and the pouring rain followed me all the way home.
Glad I went? Yup! Going again next year? It’s in San Diego, so I don’t know . ..
May 5, 2022
Grammar Goofs as Heard on TV
I have been paying attention to television news and commercials (and chyrons, where I have seen a couple of misspellings recently). Here is some of what I have heard! Of course speech is different from writing, and you can’t go back and correct speech, so the guilty probably (hopefully) would not have written this way.
and my favorite from a TV commercial for a jewelry store:My mother handed down her diamond necklace to me, who wasn’t with us anymore.
April 27, 2022
Publishing University Fun!
The Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), located in Southern California, supports author/publishers and small publishers. Author/publishers write and
publish their own books. Small publishers publish other people’s books (and maybe their own as well). The IBPA is the umbrella organization for about a dozen regional associations across the United States, two of which I am a member of: BAIPA (Bay Area Independent Publishers Association in California) and FAPA (Florida Authors and Publishers), where I just joined the board. Although I moved away from California in 2019, I still belong to BAIPA because I love the people and the meetings, which have been on Zoom for a couple of years and for which there will continue to be a Zoom option.
Every year, IBPA has a conference, called Publishing University. Its location varies from year to year: San Francisco, LA, Chicago, NewYork…and this year Orlando, so I don’t even have to fly. And this is the first Publishing U that I have attended. I will be going to Orlando this weekend, and I spent three days last week at the virtual part of the conference, which was wonderful.
However, this year many members complained about the location: With its book banning, “Don’t Say Gay” law, and hoopla about critical race theory, they felt that Florida was hardly the place to celebrate book publishing. Conferences are planned a long time in advance, so there wasn’t much that could be done about it. The IBPA board considered what they could do, and they prepared a position paper on the Parental Rights in Education and the Individual Freedom laws and sent them to the Florida legislature. The IBPA stands for inclusivity and had strong feelings about LGTBQ+ rights and teaching real history n the schools.
I was surprised at how good the virtual part of the conference was. After two days of workshops (our choice of three during any one session), we could have one-on-one conversations with various experts. My two major concerns were
Would having a distributor for my books be advantageous and/or feasible?
What is going on with Amazon Advertising and am I being priced out?I took a workshop about All Things Amazon and talked to two experts about the advertising, which I have used (pretty successfully until lately). I discovered that I need to work much harder creating my Amazon ads. It is a complicated thing! Keywords and bids…my ads need some attention!
I talked to a couple of people about distribution and decided it was not financially feasible for me right now. I had a distribution contract about 10 years ago, and I remember at that time looking at the terms and saying Nope.
There was a panel of successful indie authors. I said to myself, They sound pretty successful. I wonder if I am doing as well as they are.
Another workshop dealt with all things audio and video from the simplest iPhone video to podcasts and book trailers. The speaker advised us all to just pick one thing and do it. Good advice when these types of events can really overwhelm one!
The keynote talk on the second day was a panel talking about book banning. The panel comprised mostly librarians. Seventy percent (sounds too low to me) of Americans oppose banning books . The majority’s moral compass points to equality. And, as one speaker said, “Book banning is never successful for a long period of time in a wide area. It might work for a short time in a localized area.”
Editorial Sensitivity in Publishing, Cover Design, and Getting into Chain Stores were other talks I attended…and for the ones I couldn’t attend, they were recorded and are all available to us for a month.
And now I am off to Orlando for part 2, and to meet in person a bunch of people I have seen only on Zoom!
April 22, 2022
Lost in Translation…
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Lost in Translation
…or obscured by transcription, adrift in adaptation, concealed by renditionBy Audrey Kalman
I took French in seventh grade. My rural junior high school offered a choice between that or German. Thus began my romance with French—although French may seem less romantic once you learn it derives from Vulgar Latin (which simply means spoken, non-Classical Latin). I dreamed of traveling to Paris. Failing that, I dreamed of a handsome French exchange student coming to live with us. I even created a French-inspired pen name: Cecile Marchand, a mash-up of my middle name and the French word for “merchant.” I took French through college, becoming proficient enough to read Camus, Sartre, and Flaubert in the original and get around on a trip to France after I graduated.
Then I never spoke it again.
My South American boyfriend attempted to teach me Spanish in my mid twenties, but by then French was imprinted in my brain as “the other language” of this native English speaker. I had to keep stopping to think, gracias or merci? hola or bonjour? It didn’t help that he teased me about my accent. I never achieved anything close to Spanish fluency, which I regretted when my kids were little sponges and everyone touted the benefits of getting an early start on a second language.
So today I am at the mercy of translators, not only for Spanish but for any of the world’s 7,000 or so other non-English languages.
It’s hard enough to get our words right even when we’re speaking the same language. We talk past each other. We say one thing and the listener hears something else. Or we outright say what we don’t mean. Layer onto this same-language communication challenge the task of, say, being a diplomat charged with ratcheting down an armed conflict, and suddenly the tremendous burden on the translator becomes obvious. Many a book and movie plot has hinged on a translator slyly shifting the speaker’s words to change the course of history. And there are real-world examples of diplomatic mistranslation.
The subtleties of translation play out in smaller, less dramatic ways. Recently, I’ve been closely reading and analyzing short stories, some written originally in Russian and Chinese. As I examine how each phrase stirs me as a reader, I have a niggling question: Is this exactly how the phrase would strike me as a native speaker? Probably not. Recently, for example, a new translation of Felix Salton’s 1922 book Bambi, a Life in the Forest, which became the basis of the popular Disney movie based on its first translation, was translated afresh. The new translator, Jack Zipes, told Publisher’s Weekly he was shocked at the book’s dystopian vision, a story, he said, that “was never intended for children.”
Inspired by thinking about translation, I returned to my dog-eared college copy of Michel Déon’s Les gens de la nuit (The People of the Night). I could still understand the first sentences without benefit of translation: “This past year,” the book begins, “I stopped sleeping. I couldn’t have said why.” To check my comprehension, I typed them into Google Translate, which returned, “That year, I stopped sleeping. I couldn’t confess why.” To my ear, “confess” sounds wrong in this context. But do I really know, as a college-level French speaker who abandoned the language for decades, exactly which English words Déon would have chosen?
Language, it turns out, is not just language. Sure, it consists of words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs put together by rules of grammar and syntax. But language comes with culture and history baked in. When we speak, history echoes. Concepts foreign to a culture often have no words in that culture.
So, on the translator’s shoulders falls not only the need to know words but the necessity of putting down stepping stones the reader can cross to understanding, conveying not only the meaning of individual words but the weight, intention, and nuance behind them.
Sometimes I think these dedicated wordsmiths may be the bridge builders holding our fragile world together.
April 14, 2022
Do I Capitalize After a Colon?
Do you capitalize the word that comes directly after a colon? Sometimes you do; sometimes you don’t. Here are the guidelines:
1. Do NOT capitalize the word after a colon if it doesn’t begin a complete sentence.
My dog knows these commands: sit, stay, and rollover.
2. Do NOT capitalize the word after a colon if it begins a sentence that explains the words before the colon.
I like most of my classes at school: math is not one of them!
3. DO capitalize the word after a colon if it begins a sentence that needs emphasis.
Whenever I went out to play as a little kid my mother said this to me: Don’t you dare get into any fights.
4. DO capitalize the word after a colon if two or more sentences follow the colon.
I do three things every morning as soon as I get up: First, I put on the coffee. Next, I open all the shades. Finally, I feed the dog.
5. DO capitalize the word after a colon if it begins a quote that is a sentence or more.
The mayor said this in his speech: “Our community is strong, and we will get through this crisis.”
6. DO capitalize the word after a colon if a short introductory word precedes the colon.
Remember: Take your second left to get to the freeway.
Announcements:Next week, we will have our second guest post by Audrey Kalman. She is an amazing writer, and you will love this post as much as you loved her first one.The week after that (the last week of April), I will be at the Independent Book Publishers Association Conference in Orlando. I will either run a “Best Of” post or a post live from the conference. I am still collecting grammar goofs you hear on TV, or read in the newspaper or a book, or hear someone say. I have collected some real winners! If you find one, please send it in the comments or to: info@bigwords101.com. I will do a future post about them.
