Arlene Miller's Blog, page 24

Bear!!!!

Image by Marcel Langthim from Pixabay

I love dogs. I absolutely love dogs. But I never had a dog before I moved to California in 1993 when my kids were 5 and 6 years old. I had always wanted a dog (and would have settled for a cat), but I think my mother was afraid of animals. She had never had a pet. So when I was a kid, all I had was a canary who died too soon, a couple of dime-store turtles (not sold anymore), and goldfish. At this point I have now had a basset hound, a maltese-shihtsu, and two chihuahuas. 

To tell you the truth, I was afraid of dogs when I was a kid. Back then there were no leash laws, and it seemed as if all the dogs were big mutts with some German Shepherd in them. I lived in a pretty urban neighborhood, where there were lots of  houses and no real land. Dogs used to just wander around, and you never knew which ones might not be friendly. And you never knew whom they belonged to.

Cynophobia – The fear of dogs.

There is a phobia for just about everything. Here are some phobias that apply to animals. Note that some phobias have multiple names, like the fear of cats, but I have just put one of the names here. See if you can guess which animal each phobia applies to. Some will be obvious; others not so much.

Here is the list of animals to use.Use each only once: mice, bats, tigers, sharks, bulls, cats, toads, elephants, shellfish, otters, amphibians, reptiles, horses, chickens, wild animals, birds, wolves, great mole rat, lions, animal fur or skins, fish, snakes

Agrizoophobia – 

Ailurophobia – 

Alektorophobia – 

Batrachophobia –

Bufonophobia – 

Chiroptophobia –

Doraphobia –

Equinophobia – 

Herpetophobia – 

Ichthyophobia – 

Leophobia – 

Lupophobia – 

Lutraphobia – 

Musophobia – 

Ophidiophobia –

Ornithophobia – 

Ostraconophobia – 

Pachydermophobia – 

Selachophobia – 

Taurophobia –

Tigriphobia – 

Zemmiphobia – 

 

Scroll down for the answers

 

 

Keep scrolling

 

 

One more time

 

 

 

Agrizoophobia – The fear of wild animals.

Ailurophobia – The fear of cats

Alektorophobia – The fear of chickens

Batrachophobia – The fear of amphibians

Bufonophobia – The fear of toads

Chiroptophobia – The fear of bats

Doraphobia – The fear of fur or animal skins

Equinophobia – The fear of horses (of course)

Herpetophobia – The fear of reptiles

Ichthyophobia – The fear of fish

Leophobia – The fear of lions

Lupophobia – The fear of wolves

Lutraphobia – The fear of otters

Musophobia – The fear of mice

Ophidiophobia – The fear of snakes

Ornithophobia – The fear of birds

Ostraconophobia – The fear of shellfish

Pachydermophobia – The fear of elephants

Selachophobia – The fear of sharks

Taurophobia – The fear of bulls

Tigriphobia – The fear of tigers

Zemmiphobia – The great mole rat

And, oh, the fear of bears is  Arkoudaphobia.

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It’s here! Available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited (read for free), and in paperback on Amazon — and soon all other online retailers.

Next week: Back to some real grammar because I know you like it!

Memorial Day

Memorial (adjective) – from the late 14th century, “remembered, committed to memory.”  From the Old French memorial, “mindful of, remembering.” Directly from the Latin memoralis, “of or belonging to memory.“

Image by Hier und jetzt endet leider meine Reise auf Pixabay aber from Pixabay

When I think of Memorial Day, I remember my childhood. We had parades on Veterans Day (November 11) and Memorial Day, with the Memorial Day parade being the really big one back in Lynn, Massachusetts. I would always go to the parade and buy a balloon from the woman known as the “balloon lady.” One particular Memorial Day stands out in my mind. After the parade, later that afternoon, we saw black smoke coming from a couple of streets away. It was actually coming from the street we watched the parade from. A large apartment building burned to the ground that afternoon. My neighbor’s two adult sisters lived there together. I was a child, but I won’t ever forget that Memorial Day.

While Veterans Day is for living veterans, Memorial Day is for those who gave their lives for this country.

Originally known as Decoration Day, the holiday began in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. 

By the late 1860s, Americans in various towns and cities began to hold tributes to the countless fallen soldiers of the Civil War, decorating their graves with flowers and reciting prayers.

Some records show that one of the earliest Memorial Day commemorations was organized by a group of formerly enslaved people in Charleston, South Carolina, less than a month after the Confederacy surrendered in 1865. In 1966 the federal government declared Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day.

For decades, Memorial Day was observed on May 30. But in 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees. The change went into effect in 1971.

“Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay.”- Barack Obama

“Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.”- Theodore Roosevelt

“Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility.”- Eleanor Roosevelt 

“Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory there would be no civilization, no future.”- Elie Wisel 

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We did not pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”– Ronald Reagan

“It’s not the voting that’s democracy; it’s the counting.” – Tom Stoppard

“A healthy democracy requires a decent society; it requires that we are honorable, generous, tolerant and respectful.” – Charles W. Pickering

“Democracy is when the people keep a government in check. – Aung San Suu Kyi

“The bedrock of our democracy is the rule of law and that means we have to have an independent judiciary, judges who can make decisions independent of the political winds that are blowing.“- Caroline Kennedy

“Democracy is messy, and it’s hard. It’s never easy.” -Robert Kennedy, Jr.

 

“Home of the free, because of the brave.” – Unknown

June 1 is almost here! What is so special about June 1? 

 

Available on Kindle or in paperback (also Kindle Unlimited).Preorder now! Find out everything you ever wanted to know about me…..

 

 

Gor Bleshyer, Guvnor!

[image error] Image by philm1310 from Pixabay

Another guest post from the wonderful Jags Arthurson.  I will be back next week with new posts!

Jags Arthurson is the pen name of a Brighton, UK writer. Jags has been a research chemist and company director.  He has lived and worked in over 40 countries. His novel, the crime thriller  Pagan Justice , is available on Amazon with all proceeds going to charity.

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I’m a Londoner by birth, and there seems to be a perception around the world that all Londoners are Cockneys. That is not true. To be a real Cockney one needs to be born within the sound of The Bow Bells: the carillon of the church of St Mary-le-Bow in the East End of London. The bells do not actually need to be ringing at the time of birth, which is fortunate as they did not ring at all from when the church was bombed in World War II until 1961 when the restoration was complete. Otherwise, we would have lost an entire generation of Cockneys.

The church and its predecessors have stood on this site since about the 8th century, and you don’t need to be a linguist to see the French influence in the name.

It was Cockney Londoners who suffered 57 days of sustained bombing in the so-called Blitz in 1940 in which 300 were killed, 1,200 were seriously injured, and thousands were made homeless.  In the whole war about 30,000 Londoners were killed. Cockneys invented The Blitz Spirit of keeping going no matter how dire the situation.

The term Cockney was, in Middle English, an insult that country people applied to city dwellers whom they regarded as weak, soft, effete, or simpletons.  Geoffrey Chaucer in The Reeve’s Tale has the cuckolded miller saying:

And when this jape is told another day,
I shall be held a daffe or a cockenay.

Like many insults, those insulted stole it and “owned” it.  And I’m not sure I would have wanted to call the average London docker “weak, soft, effete, or a simpleton.”

Cockneys have their own particular (and some might say peculiar) customs.  The Pearly Kings and Queens are all Cockneys. If you’ve never seen one I suggest you ask Professor Google for some photos.  Their traditional food was said to be stewed eels.

It’s the Cockney accent that Dick Van Dyke aimed for in Mary Poppins (and missed by such a huge margin that he actually apologised for it several years later.)  But the really interesting thing about their “dialect” is Cockney Rhyming Slang.

Every subgroup develops its own vernacular as I know from experience … sometimes I find it easier to converse with my Spanish friends than my 18-year-old grandson!  Such argot has many uses. It acts as a social adhesive, identifying who is in and, often more importantly, who is not.  For that reason criminals invariably use their own slang, which they hope their victims and the police won’t understand.  Also, like business jargon, it provides a verbal shorthand that avoids long descriptions or explanations when the topic is one that, though mystifying to the uninitiated, is familiar to the speakers.

The docks in East London were once the busiest in the world, and thousands were involved in loading and unloading cargoes that came from around the Empire and, of course, trading the produce. Rhyming slang was believed to have developed among the market traders so they could communicate without their customers knowing what they were saying.

What is interesting about rhyming slang is that it is so comprehensive.  Almost every single item one may mention has a rhyming slang equivalent.  It’s also very easy to learn.

So here we go, your first lesson in Cockney Rhyming Slang.

German bands = hands.  Barnett Fair = hair.

See how it works?  A nice, snappy phrase that rhymes with the object under discussion.  So now you’re an expert.

WOAH!!!  STOP!!!

Because here’s where the uninitiated reveal themselves. It wouldn’t be much of a “secret code” if listeners could make an educated guess at the meaning, would it?  So a true Cockney would never say, “Apples and Pears” for stairs.  He or she would only ever say, “Apples.”  Those who speak the lingo will be able to mentally complete the phrase and follow the conversation. Outsiders will be lost in seconds.

The rhymes can be taken from any area of life.  Quite common are the names of famous people: Gregory (Peck) = neck, Bob (Hope) = dope (marijuana), and so on.  Like all languages, it evolves.  Those of my generation would go out for a Ruby (Murray) = curry, because the lady was a famous British singer of the fifties whereas the youth of today would have an “Andy,” after the world famous tennis star.

If only having half the phrase is not complicated enough, some of the more unseemly words may even be double-encoded, so Aris (totle) gives us “bottle,” but that leads us to ‘bottle and glass’ (and you can take it the rest of the way on your own.)

Rhyming slang has even gone international. The next time you hear somebody call money ‘bread’ remember that it was once “bread and honey.”  Or a prisoner “doing bird” may not even know it was originally “bird lime,” time.

So, are you up for a bit of rhyming slang?  (Don’t forget that any modifications that would be made to the unspoken part of the phrase now have to be made to the spoken part.  “Boat’” (race) is “face” but “faces” can’t be “Boat races”;  it has to be “Boats.”

See if you understand this.

I was out for a ball down the frog when I met me old china, the bubble who cashed me skin.  We went for a kitchen at the rubber and had a few pigs.  He got totally Brahms so when we left he was tom and his trouble went radio.

Want some clues?

Ball of chalk

Frog and toad

China plate

Bubble and squeak

Cash and Carry

Skin and blister

Kitchen sink

Rub-a-dub-dub

Pig’s ear

Brahms and Liszt

Tom and Dick

Trouble and strife

Radio Rental

I was out for a walk down the road when I met my old mate (friend) the Greek who married my sister.  We went for a drink at the pub and had a few beers.  He got totally pissed (drunk) so when we left he was sick and his wife went mental.

So now you’re ready for your next trip to London.

The Best of the Grammar Diva: Using “I” and “Me”

 

Originally printed in July 2013

You probably remember someone once saying Me and my friend went… Or maybe it was even you who said that. And you probably remember being

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

corrected: No, it’s “My friend and I went…”

And that is true. However, it seems that people have now overcorrected themselves by using I even when the correct pronoun is me.

So, how do we know which word to use? Well, let’s look at this sentence:

Him loves I.

Well, unless you are Tarzan perhaps, you would never talk this way. You would say He loves me.

The pronouns he, she, we, they, and I are the ones we usually use at the beginning of the sentence, or before the verb (action word). They are the subjective forms of the pronouns.

The pronouns him, her, us, them, and me are the ones we usually use if they appear after the verb and are not the doers of the action, but the receivers. These are the objective forms of the pronouns.

We usually know which pronoun to use. It’s when we add another subject or object that we get confused. l Here are some examples:

Jack and me went out last night. Well, you might say this. However, you certainly wouldn’t say Me went out last night. 

To get your pronouns correct in this situation, just take out the other person, and see what makes sense. For example:

Jack gave the tickets to Sally and I. Take out Sally. Would you say Jack gave the tickets to I?? Of course, you wouldn’t. So you wouldn’t’ say Jack gave the tickets to Sally and I either!

Pretty, simple, huh? Here is another, slightly different, example:

Us students are holding a fundraiser. You wouldn’t say Us are holding a fundraiser. So, the correct way to say this is We students are holding a fundraiser, because you would say We are holding a fundraiser.

Another common misuse of I is in the expression between you and I. Just remember that it is between you and me. Always. Likewise, it is between him and her, between him and me, and between them and me (the objective forms on the pronouns).

For more helpful grammar information, see my books on Amazon! They make great graduation gifts and are appropriate for ages 10 through adult.

Be back with new posts in two weeks…Meanwhile…..available for pre order on Kindle. Available in e-book and paperback June 1.

Words You Didn’t Know You Needed

I am happy to present another guest post by Jags Arthurson.

Jags Arthurson is the pen name of a Brighton, UK writer. Jags has been a research chemist and company director.  He has lived and worked in over 40 countries. His novel, the crime thriller Pagan Justice , is available on Amazon with all proceeds going to charity.

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It may truly be said that, “Arlene Miller writes with authority and a ballpoint pen.”

Until we come across a sentence like that, few of us would even realise that it was possible to make an error using a simple conjunction but, to rub salt into the grammatical wound, there is even a word for it: zeugma, where a single word is used with two other parts of a sentence but must be understood differently in relation to each.

As any student of language knows, grammar is fluid and varies from one language or dialect to another or even within a single language over time. Because it is so fluid, grammar needs rules … purely artificial, but rules nonetheless … to ensure we all understand each other. For instance, how many of us had it beaten into us at school that we must never split an infinitive? Then years later we heard that Captain James T Kirk and his merry crew aboard the Starship Enterprise were allowed “to boldly go.”  The grammar police went into meltdown.

Each grammar rule must have a name. And any infringement of one of those rules also needs a name: zeugma is just the start.

The reverse of zeugma is syllepsis where a single verb is used in relation to two other parts of a sentence although the word grammatically or logically applies to only one: Both Tom and his lease expired on the same day.

In the first case the conjunction, with, has caused the verb phrase write with to have one meaning in respect to the adjective, authority, and a different meaning to the physical object, the pen.  In the second the and has caused the verb to take on, simultaneously, two different meanings in respect to the two nouns: Tom and lease.

Zeugma and syllepsis are often used interchangeably.

When we were young my brother and I had a game involving zeugma and syllepsis (and heteronyms: two words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently) to create sentences that either could not be written or could not be said. For instance, try saying While the violinist played, the conductor acknowledged the audience. They were both bowing.

(What has the X-box done for childhood?  I ask myself.)

Let’s look at some more odd words.

Diazeugma has nothing to do with zeugma but is where several verbs are strung together for a single subject: We’ll live, love, laugh, and be happy.

What do the words psychology, knowledge, and ascent have in common?  Silent letters.  But did you know that when you say those words you actually elide those letters?

And while we’re leaving things out, why not indulge in a little haplology?  That’s missing out whole syllables when we speak … we all prob’ly do it from time to time.

Of course, leaving things out can lead to problems. For instance, we can omit vowels when we contract phrases, so would not becomes wouldn’t.  NOT, you’ll notice wouldn’t because the n’t has become a clitic … that is, a contraction that cannot (or can’t) stand on its own.

If you’ve had enough of omitting things, we could add things.

How about, for example, injecting a little humour with the use of paraprosdokian by adding an unexpected twist at the end of a sentence?  My dog loves children … but he’s never eaten a whole one. Or how about Robert Bloch’s gruesome, Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk?

One of my pet hates is RAS Syndrome, which is the redundant use of a word that’s already included in an acronym or initialism such as PIN Number and HIV Virus.  RAS Syndrome?  Redundant Acronym Syndrome (yes, you guessed it) Syndrome.

As a writer I have to be careful to avoid the crime of the hidden verb where a verb-noun combination sneaks into the place of a strong verb: to make an improvement rather than simply to improve.

Personally, I love malaphors, where two similar aphorisms are mixed to provide a humorous alternative. Anybody can do it … it’s really not rocket surgery.

By now you may be becoming overwhelmed by all these obscure words and utter something like “un-freaking-believable.” And what you’d be doing is tmesis (the only word in English, by the way that starts with tm, but that’s a-whole-nother matter!)

Which leaves me just one more thing to do. Should anybody plagiarise my work, I may need to prove their theft in court so I would slip in a deliberately fake statement they may include in their piece and thus reveal their larceny.  That’s called a mountweazel.

Or is it?

All this is probably enough to make one atelophobic: that is, to develop an irrational fear of grammar.  Or maybe you’ll just resort to grawlix.  That’s when you write @!*£$#! rather than what you really want to say!

Welcome to all new subscribers! Thank you for subscribing, and I hope you enjoy the weekly posts.

Remember that the month of May will be a “Best of” and “Guest Post” month. I will see you back with new posts in June!

A little change of topic for The Grammar Diva!Now available for preorder on Amazon (Kindle format only available for preorder)Out in paperback and e-book on June 1.“The Grammar Diva tells all in a sometimes laughable and sometimes heart breaking memoir. Her frankness and candid reflections are relatable and fresh. You’ll cross your fingers, hoping that she’ll find her prince, in this fast and entertaining read.”-Jeanne Jusaitis, author of Journey to Anderswelt and Lilah Dill and the Magic Kit

The Final Exam!

We have been through the entire alphabet A through Y of confused words, so you are ready for the final exam! Here we go…

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from PixabayThe (principal, principle) idea of this game is to get all the red tiles to your side.Albany is the (capital, capitol) of New York.I think I am taller (than, then) my sister.The Senate (censored, censured) Senator Brock for his racist language. When I found him, he was lying (prostate, prostrate) on the floor, fast asleep.(Any one, Anyone) of you can probably take my place at the benefit.We were not (appraised, apprised) about the meeting tomorrow morning.The (venal, venial) judge could be persuaded by offers of money.The United States is (composed, comprised) of fifty states.I hope you own the (copyright, copy write) for this information you wrote.This is the (last, latest) in her series of books; I can’t wait to read the next one, due out next month.The humid weather has quite an (affect, effect) on my hair!The (amount, number) of people at the concert was surprisingly large.This pizza is (all together, altogether) too spicy for my taste.Why don’t you (lay, lie) down and rest for a while.Do you have (some time, sometime) to help me with this math problem? I was so proud to see my son as he (lead, led) the parade.The reason I am late is (because, that) there was a huge traffic accident on the highway.I was happy to find out that our raise is retroactive (from, to) the beginning of the year.I am not sure (who’s, whose) coming to the party.At Christmas we always hang our stockings on the (mantel, mantle).It is (meet, mete) that she is introduced first, since she is the club president. Did you suffer from any (adverse, averse) symptoms after your vaccine?The water you sometimes see up ahead on the road is just an (allusion, elusion, illusion). That magazine is (bimonthly, semimonthly) and comes out on the first and third Thursdays of each month.You know what to do….scroll down for the answers…. Keep on scrolling… A little more… One more time… 

 

AnswersThe (principal, principle) idea of this game is to get all the red tiles to your side. (the main one)Albany is the (capital, capitol) of New York. (only the actual buildings have the “o”)I think I am taller (than, then) my sister. (comparison)The Senate (censored, censured) Senator Brock for his racist language. (reprimanded; people don’t generally get censored)When I found him, he was lying (prostate, prostrate) on the floor, fast asleep. (prostate is the gland)(Any one, Anyone) of you can probably take my place at the benefit. (you could put a word between any and one, and it would make sense)We were not (appraised, apprised) about the meeting tomorrow morning. (notified)The (venal, venial) judge could be persuaded by offers of money. (can be bought off)The United States is (composed, comprised) of fifty states. (or comprises fifty states)I hope you own the (copyright, copy write) for this information you wrote. (copy write is to write copy)This is the (last, latest) in her series of books; I can’t wait to read the next one, due out next month. (there are more to come)The humid weather has quite an (affect, effect) on my hair! (the noun)The (amount, number) of people at the concert was surprisingly large. (use with things you can count or plurals)This pizza is (all together, altogether) too spicy for my taste. (we are all together today)Why don’t you (lay, lie) down and rest for a while. (you must lay something down. Lay my book on the table)Do you have (some time, sometime) to help me with this math problem? (come see me sometime.) I was so proud to see my son as he (lead, led) the parade. (lead pronounced the same way is in your pencil)The reason I am late is (because, that) there was a huge traffic accident on the highway. (don’t use “is because”)I was happy to find out that our raise is retroactive (from, to) the beginning of the year. (don’t use retroactive from)I am not sure (who’s, whose) coming to the party. (who is)At Christmas we always hang our stockings on the (mantel, mantle).( that is the fireplace one)It is (meet, mete) that she is introduced first, since she is the club president.  (appropriate)Did you suffer from any (adverse, averse) symptoms after your vaccine? (averse means being against something)The water you sometimes see up ahead on the road is just an (allusion, elusion, illusion). (elusion isn’t a word. allusion is a reference to something)That magazine is (bimonthly, semimonthly) and comes out on the first and third Thursdays of each month. (twice a month)I will probably take the month of May off from the blog. However there will be a couple of posts from the wonderful  Jags Arthurson, and then a couple of Best Of posts. Then I will see you again!If you are interested in the other side of The Grammar Diva, When Life Hands You Frogs is now available for pre-order on Kindle. It is to be released June 1 as an e-book, a paperback, and available on Kindle Unlimited.

 

 

Mete? Meet? Meet? Those Pesky Homonyms!

A Guest Post by Cate ParkeEtymology lovers will enjoy this guest post by Cate Parke.Those Pesky Homonyms

I want to tell you about a word I found that I’d been using incorrectly for I have no idea how many–(ahem) decades. It involves homophones. The word is meet. When I read the correct word usage in a novel I was reading, I’d been certain the word had been used incorrectly. I’m lucky to have an unabridged English dictionary so, of course, I looked it up. With the aid of my Advanced English Dictionary app, I also was able to get all the correct etymologies to the three homophones. The words are mete, meet, and meat. Mete had the shortest two meanings: Its noun form (which I hadn’t known) means “a line indicating a boundary, border, or a delimitation.” The verb form means to measure or allot, especially as in punishment or reward. Cool word! Right?

 Meat is a pretty well-used word in the English language, and as most of us do, I knew that one. So along comes the word meet. It has rather a lot more meanings, including verb, noun, and adjective forms. It was the adjective form—the very last one I read—that threw me. The sentence was, “It is only meet that she should be seated first.” I was sure that it had been used incorrectly. However, it seems that I was the one who’d been incorrect. Here’s what I wrote for my critique partners’ edification (and which I thought you might enjoy, too).

Homophones are pronounced the same, but are spelled differently and mean something quite different (such as reek and wreak—or bare and bear—or plain and plane.) Try cents, scents, and sense for another instance.  Don’t you just love the English language?

Homographs, on the other hand, are words that are spelled alike and sound alike, but have different meanings, such as plane, plane, and plane (one refers to a means of transport, the next is a woodworking tool, and the next refers to a term in geometry (as in plane geometry). There are quite a few of these. Try bank (as in a river bank) and bank (as in the place you stash your money) and bank (as in an aircraft maneuver—to bank a plane).

Heterophones, conversely, are spelled alike but are pronounced differently and mean different things: bow (to bend at your neck or waist respectfully) and bow (something like ribbons that you can tie into your hair).

It’s enough to give you a headache. Some people lump the whole mess into the general category of Homonym. I’ve always loved these darned things. 

In case you were wondering . . .

Mete: [Etymology: from ME (meten); from OE (meten): (“to measure, give out, mark off, compare, estimate, pass over, traverse”); from Proto-Germanic metaną (“to measure”); from Proto-Indo-European med- (“to measure, consider”); Cognate w/ Scots mete (“to measure”), West Frisian mjitte (“to measure”); Dutch metan (“to measure”); Swedish mäta (“to measure”); Latin modus (“limit, measure, target”); Ancient Greek μéδείμνοç (I think this alphabetic spelling is correct)—but which, in the English alphabet, is medímnos: (“measure, bushel”); or also in Ancient Greek, but using more or less an English alphabet—médesthai: (“care for”); Old Armenian (for which I don’t even have alphabetic symbols), but their word, in the English alphabet, is mit, (“mind”)]a. Noun: a line indicating a boundary, a border, or a delimitation
b. Verb: to measure or allot (especially as in punishment or reward) Meet: [Etymology 1. from ME meten, from OE mētan (“to meet, find, find out, fall in with, encounter, obtain”); from Proto-Germanic mōtijaną (“to meet”); Proto-Indo-European: mōd-, mad-(“to come, meet”); Cognate w/ Scots met, mete, meit (“to meet”), North Frisian mete (“to meet”); West Frisian moetsje (“to meet”) Dutch ontmoeten (“to meet”), Low German moten, möten (“to meet”), Danish møde (“to meet”); Swedish möta (“to meet”);Icelandic mæta (“to meet”). Related to moot.
[Etymology 2. From ME mete, imete, from OE ġemǽte (“suitable, having the same measurements”), from the Proto-Germanic gamētijaz (cognate with Dutch meten (“measure”), German gemäß (“suitable) etc.), itself from collective prefix ge- + Proto-Indo-European med- (to measure).]a. Verb
i. Come together (as in run into; encounter; run across; see)
ii. Get together socially or for a specific purpose
iii. Be adjacent to or come together (converge)
iv. Fill, satisfy, or meet a want or need or condition (as in fit, conform to, satisfy, fill, fulfill)
v. Collect in one place (gather, assemble, foregather)
vi. Get to know; get acquainted with
vii. Meet by design; be present at the arrival of
viii. Contend against an opponent in a sport, game, or battle
ix. Experience as a reaction (as with meeting with opposition to a proposal)
x. Undergo or suffer (as in meet a violent death; suffer a terrible fate)
xi. Be in direct physical contact with; make contact
b. Noun: a meeting at which a number of athletic contests are held
c. Adjective: being precisely fitting and right (“It is only meet that she should be seated first.”) ***I “met with” this definition this past week and that’s the sole reason I’m sharing this for your edification Meat: [Etymology: from ME mete, from OE mete (“meat, food”), from Proto-Germanic matiz (“food”, from Proto-Indo-European mad- (to drip, ooze; grease, fat”). Cognate with Frisian mete, Old Saxon meti, Old High German maz (“food”), Old Icelandic matr, Gothic (not even gonna try taking a whack at this alphabet) but the word in the English alphabet is mats, from Proto-Germanic matiz. A ja- derivation from the same base is found in Middle Dutch and Middle Low German met (“lean pork”), whence Modern Low German Mett (“minced meat”), (whence 16th c. German Mettwurst (a kind of sausage”). Probably cognate with Old Irish mess (“animal feed”), Welsh mes (“acorns”) or Albanian mish (“meat, flesh”). The further etymology is uncertain. Some suggest derivation from an Indo-European verb base cognate with Latin madere (“to be wet”), Greek (not attempting this alphabet again!) but in the English alphabet, the word is mastos, (“wet breast”)]a. Noun:
i. The flesh of animals (including fishes, birds, and snails) used as food.
ii. The inner and usually edible part of a seed or grain or nut or fruit stone (kernel)
iii. The choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience (such as: kernel; substance; core; center; essence; gist; heart; heart and soul; inwardness; marrow; nub; pith; sum; nitty-gritty.

By the way, the word Cognate means: (adjective): related in nature; 2. Having the same ancestral language; or 3. Related by blood. And (Noun): 1. One who is related by blood or origin; esp. on sharing an ancestor with another; or 2. A word is cognate with another if both derive from the same word in an ancestral language.

You can look these words and etymologies up yourself if you download the Advanced English Dictionary onto your computer from the Microsoft stores. I presume it is also available to download onto Apple computers. The best news is—it’s free! I’ve also added it my Kindle and cell phone. You just never know when you’ll want to look up a word!

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Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Cate spent her childhood and youth in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Albuquerque was also where Cate met and fell in love with a

Cate Parke

young naval officer who swept her off her feet. After twenty-six years and eighteen major moves, she and her Prince Charming built a home in the foothills of the beautiful Appalachian Mountains.

Cate is the author of three historical novels and one contemporary romance, Alex Campbell. However, before becoming an author she was a pediatric nurse. But a long-time interest in history remained a lure. What might have happened if only became an intriguing question. It is the premise for her two upcoming novels:  Once Upon a Duke, The Lost Prince set during 1306 and 1307; and A King’s Promise set in 1830 England.

When she’s not writing—or reading—or sewing (it’s true), Cate can be found at her website, blog, Amazon Author Central, Goodreads, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Bookbub.

She loves to hear from readers, so she hopes you’ll visit.

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Speaking of homonyms . . . remember those confusing word posts and the quizzes? Well, next week’s post will be a quiz on all of them from A to Z (well, I think it was actually Y)…with maybe a few thrown in that weren’t in any of the posts….NOW ON PRESALE ON KINDLE:

Grammar Pet Peeves: Mine!

I have been having mega issues with the blog posts getting mailing and arriving. I think things I straightened out now, but in case you were not able to read last week’s guest post, you really should. It’s great!

Mind Your Language: Verbs and Verbosity

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A few weeks ago, I asked you for your pet peeves. I didn’t receive much of a response, so I decided I would tell you some of mine:

1. Woke. Woke used to be the past tense of wake. I woke up at nine this morning.  Now it is an adjective, which means “socially aware.” I loved woke when I first saw it. I remember posting something on social media about being woke. But now, I am tired of it. 

Image by Markus Winkler from Pixabay

Example: You people who don’t care about climate change need to get woke!

2. Cancel Culture: This is the worst. I never liked it. You don’t cancel people. You cancel television shows. You cancel plans. Now cancel is used to indicate someone has been banished from something because of something they did or said. People have been canceled from Twitter. Mr. Potato Head has been canceled. Dr. Seuss books have been canceled. Argh!!!!! While I agree that some people should be canceled and we not  hear or believe anything they might say, I don’t like the term. (You can read whatever you like into that last sentence.) 

Possibly the first reference to canceling someone comes with the 1991 film New Jack City, in which Wesley Snipes plays a gangster named Nino Brown. After his girlfriend breaks down because of all the violence he’s causing, he dumps her by saying, “Cancel that bitch. I’ll buy another one.”

3. The wrong pronunciation of mischievous. Mischievous has three syllables, and the first syllable is the one that is stressed. There is no i in the last syllable, and it is not mis chee vee us.

4. Less and Fewer. Most grocery stores have gotten the hint that people in the express line have fewer than twelve items. But many people on the news haven’t. Fewer is for plurals and things that can be counted. Less is for singulars and things that you cannot count: 

Examples:There is less traffic this morning than yesterday morning. There are fewer cars on the road this morning.

5. Incorrect past tense. You just have to memorize those irregular verbs. 

It isn’t I have ate, I have went, I have swam, I have drank, I have rang.

It is I have eaten, I have gone, I have swum, I have drunk, I have rung.

6. Me and I. The subject of the sentence is I. The object is me. 

It isn’t Me and him are leaving now. OR He gave the toy to he and I. 

It is He and I are leaving now. He gave the toy to him and me. (He gave the toy to I?????)

7. Don’t used for third person singular.

It is I don’t and you don’t and we don’t and they don’t. 

It is he doesn’t and she doesn’t and it doesn’t.

It isn’t he don’t and she don’t and it don’t. 

8. Any spelling, punctuation, or capitalization mistake in a headline or slide presentation.

9. On accident. This one has become so prevalent that I am now saying it. 

It is by accident, but on purpose. 

10. I seen. I haven’t really heard this one in a while, but I sure heard it frequently when I was growing up. And while I am at it, another pet peeve of verbs is using the present tense instead of past.

Example: So I goes up to him and I says hello. And then he punches me. 

Here’s hoping my e-mail is all straightened out and you receive this one!Coming June 1. On presale soon.  A change of pace!Release date: June 1, 2021

 

 

 

 

Mind Your Language: Verbs and Verbosity

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

You loved his previous guest post, and you will love this one!

Jags Arthurson is the pen name of a Brighton, UK writer. Jags has been a research chemist and company director. He has lived and worked in over 40 countries. His novel, the crime thriller Pagan Justice, is available on Amazon with all proceeds going to charity.

 

They—the ubiquitous “they,” who always know better than the rest of us—claim that, despite English being the most widely spoken language in the world ever, it is hard to learn.  I was recently assailed on the subject by a Thai friend who complained that we had a fruit we called “pineapple” that was neither an apple nor came from a pine tree. This from a speaker of a language which is “tonal,” so the meaning of a word can pretty much change  depending on the direction of the wind.  I wonder which Thai genius first picked up a prawn and thought, “I’ll use the same word for this strange creature that I use for you but, if I say it slightly differently, then every time an unsuspecting foreigner tries to order prawns he’ll actually be saying “you,” and every time he addresses his companions he will be calling them ‘”prawn.”

These clever people, who condemn our language as difficult always roll out the old shibboleth surrounding the pronunciation of the syllable ough—pontificating on how hard it is for foreigners to remember the differences.  “Although I have a cough, I’m tough so I ought to plough through.”  But years ago I knew a Swiss woman who pronounced every occurrence of ough as “ow,” as in “out.”

“Althow I have a cow, I’m tou so I out to plow throu.”  She would also say things like, “I vish ve could go to the willage in the wan.”  But, after one “got one’s ear in,” she was perfectly comprehensible.

And that’s the thing about English—it’s ultimately flexible.  Take a simple sentence such as, “Tomorrow I will go to the cinema.”  There isn’t a standard way of saying this, so “I will go to the cinema tomorrow,” is equally valid.  But actually, providing one keeps the article with its noun, almost any combination of the words works.  “I, tomorrow, to the cinema will go”, “The cinema will I, tomorrow, go.”  Sometimes even the wrong verb works: “I was to the cinema yesterday,” is quite clear.  Contrast that with German where a verb, slipping forward of its assigned location dangling somewhere off the back bumper of a sentence, will attract rolled eyes, a sigh, and an uncomprehending shrug that would earn the envy of the most Gallic Frenchman.

And while we’re on that subject …

Verbs!  The engines of language. Without control of verbs, the tyro linguist is reduced to the position of a two year old, meandering through the world, pointing at random objects exclaiming, “gate,” “bird,” “red,” and so on.  But it is the verb that differentiates English from the other European languages.

First, the student of English has to learn the seven personal pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we and they … or eight if you want to speak “American” and need you-all.  Now, say, you want to learn Spanish—the language claimed to be the easiest for English speakers—and you find almost twice as many: yo, tu, el, ella, usted, nosotros, nosotras, vosotros, vosotras, ellos, ellas and ustedes (South American Spanish even adds vos.)  Why do they need so many?  I, you (singular, informal), he, she, you (singular, formal), we (all male or mixed gender), we (all female), you (plural, all male or mixed gender, informal), you (all female, informal), they (all male or mixed gender), they (all female), you (plural, formal).  Note there is no it form because, like most European languages, every item has a gender that has to be learned by rote because each is assigned without any logic … breast (seno) is male, prostate (próstata) is female.  And if you think you can fudge the gender, forget it because all possessives, articles, and adjectives are dependent on it, so whereas students of English have just the definite and indefinite articles to learn, in Spanish there are four of each article: un, una, unos, unas, el, la, los and las!  Adjectives, immutable, concrete blocks in the flow of an English sentence, morph and change to fit the Spanish noun.  Many hours are wasted in every class learning, “nuestro sombrero rojo” but “nuestros sombreros rojos,” “nuestra manzana roja,” and “nuestras manzanas rojas.”  And there are even words that take the male articles but feminine adjectives, or that are masculine in the singular but feminine when plural! It all makes learning the difference between though and through feel like a walk in the park.

And the relative effort between learning English and learning Spanish diverges even more.  Apart from the occasional irregular verb, conjugation in English is ridiculously easy.  To conjugate, say, to eat one needs just two words: eat and eats.  I, you, we ,and they all eat.  He, she, and it eats.  That’s it.  Returning to Spanish we find that the same verb, comer, generates como, comes, come, comemos, coméis and comen.  In fact, because each form is different, it is conventional in Spanish not to use the pronoun at all.  This means the beginner can frequently be confused by whom is actually eating—especially when the third person forms also serve for the second person formal.

Then we move to the simple past tense, and again English wins because we need just one more word—ate.  That’s it.  Not so in Spanish where there is another complete conjugation: comí, comiste, comió, comimos, comisteis and comieron.  And as one progresses, the complications increase because in English we build our verbs.  To create the future tense we need will.  Everybody will eat, end of.  Spanish?  You’ve guessed it, another conjugation. Imperfect, (I was eating) another.  Conditional, (I would eat) …  In fact most European languages have, including the imperative form, fifteen separate tenses and moods, although maybe that should be sixteen because many of the imperatives have different negative forms.  And every single one has to be learned.

But you’ve finally cracked it, haven’t you?  Haven’t you?  Well, no, because we now come across the reflexive verbs. In most sentences, a subject does the transitive verb to the object, (I eat the food).  But in reflexive sentences the subject does the verb to itself (I wash myself).  And in English that’s how we do it … by making the object myself, yourself and so on.  In Spanish … you knew this was coming, didn’t you? … another verb form.  And there are lots and lots of reflexive verbs in Spanish.  In English we are called, but in Spanish even inanimate objects call themselves (llamarse).  And whereas we leave, they themselves leave.  We stand, they raise themselves.  On and on and on.  Nearly every intransitive verb has a reflexive form which is denoted by having the suffix se added to the infinitive.  But … did you see this coming? … this se is, itself (see what I did there?) conjugated (me, te, se, nos, os, se) thus doubling the number of verb forms to thirty—for EVERY VERB!

Surely that must be it, right?  Well, er, no because there’s one more class of verbs … the “gustar” verbs.  Gustar is generally translated as “to like” and is an example of a special construct that turns the normal subject-verb-object structure on its head to object-verb-subject.  In English “I like the food,” but in Spanish it is the food that is active and being likable, where I am passive to the process.  “Me gusta la comida” literally translates to “To myself is likable the food.”

But there is just a little relief because we can only talk about some thing or some things being likable to me so there are, instead of the full six-person conjugation, only two forms: gusta and gustan.

The gustar verb form is drilled in at every stage of the learning process.  Never, ever anything but the third person singular or the third person plural.  Me gusta el libro, me gustan los libros …  Great.

Or, at least, you would have thought so.

Because then I heard the song!

There I was, innocent as a baby, listening to Spanish radio and it leapt out at me like an angry tiger. It was by an Algerian-born Spaniard, Manu Chau.  I listened and could hardly believe my ears.  Did he really sing what I thought he did?

Me gustan los aviones, me gustas tú

Me gusta viajar, me gustas tú

Me gusta la mañana, me gustas tú

Me gusta el viento, me gustas tú

Me gusta soñar, me gustas tú

Me gusta la mar, me gustas tú

At the end, the presenter, just to rub salt into the wound, announced the title … Me Gustas Tú.  But how can that be?  Had I misunderstood all my lessons?  Had all my studies been in vain?  What to do?  I had no choice.  I sought the advice of María.

María Hernandez had taught (nurtured? nursed?) me thoughout my Spanish learning.  She responded to my email within an hour.  Spanish, she explained, is so structured that there are many things it is simply not possible to say, and one of them in particular revolves around gustar.  Young people, being naturally rebellious, do not like these constraints, so in recent years they have started to change the language of their forebears and begun to conjugate gustar as a normal, transitive verb.  She wrote all this in Spanish except, of course, the bit that it was not possible to say in Spanish—the phrase that had actually impelled the exchange.  Thus, the sentence my non-Spanish-speaking wife read, as she looked over my shoulder, was

Entonces, para los jovenes, me gustas tú significa en inglés: “I fancy you.”  Un abrazo, María.

For all my linguistic skills, it took a lot of fast talking to get me out of that one.

 

Le Quiz! W and Y

Image by mjimages from Pixabay

We have reached the end of the alphabet for confusing word pairs and groups. And yes, I am still using the mail program that is giving me headaches because I have not gotten around to facing the technology of switching! Maybe next week! So I hope you receive this quiz.

 

“You got a B on the algebra test, but you still have a (way, ways) to go before I move you into the advanced class,” said Ms. Brock.Someone mixed their potato chips with the broccoli! (Whoever, Who ever) does that?He told me he (wont,won’t) go unless you go too.If you sign this paper, you are (waiving, waving) the right to change your mind about this.This story will (wet, whet) your appetite for reading the whole book!“(Your, You’re) welcome,” he said after I said thank you.I need to call Amazon because I didn’t receive a (warrantee, warranty) with the food processor I bought.The toddler was very (wary, weary) of anyone who wasn’t his mother.I don’t know (who’s, whose) coming to the party.I hope you are all feeling (good, well) today!The recipe calls for three egg (yokes, yolks).My parents think playing computer games is a (waist, waste) of time.Scroll down for the answers:

 

 

 

Keep scrolling

 

 

 

One more time

 

 

 

ANSWERS

“You got a B on the algebra test, but you still have a ( way , ways) to go before I move you into the advanced class,” said Ms. Brock.Someone mixed their potato chips with the broccoli! (Whoever, Who ever) does that?He told me he (wont, won’t ) go unless you go too.If you sign this paper, you are ( waiving , waving) the right to change your mind about this.This story will (wet, whet ) your appetite for reading the whole book!“(Your, You’re ) welcome,” he said after I said thank you.I need to call Amazon because I didn’t receive a (warrantee, warranty ) with the food processor I bought.The toddler was very ( wary, weary) of anyone who wasn’t his mother.I don’t know ( who’s, whose) coming to the party.I hope you are all feeling (good, well) today! Either one is fine. Good is technically the answer because we use adjectives with feeling verbs (verbs of the senses). However, well is fine to use as a state of health in this situation. The recipe calls for three egg (yokes, yolks ).My parents think playing computer games is a (waist, waste ) of time.My next book is in a different genre entirely! More about that later.