Arlene Miller's Blog, page 26

Quiz Time! Again…

Image by Mary Pahlke from Pixabay

Here is the quiz on last week’s confusing words: O and P:

1 It’s really hot out, so don’t (overdo/overdue) it when you go out running.

2. We (only) have (only) five dollars. (Which place does the “only” go?)

3. My gas (pedal, peddle) is stuck!

4. I wonder how I should (preceed/precede/proceed) with my plan.

5.  From my (perspective/prospective), the painting looks like a group of people.

6. The (principal/principle) rule of the game is to match all the numbers.

7. In the play, I have to lie (prostate/prostrate) on the floor for a whole scene.

8. I stole a small (peak, peek, pique) at the contents of the box.

9. To me, a root beer float has no (peer/pier).

10. Some people (pray/prey) upon other people by manipulating them. 

11. The party (preceeded/preceded/proceeded) the football game.

12. I got the (principal/principle) role in the school play.

13. We walked right (passed/past) the store on our way home, but we forgot to stop there.

14.  Your (presence/presents) would be greatly appreciated at the birthday party.

15. It requires (patience/patients) to be a good doctor.

 

 

Scroll down for the answers….

 

 

 

Keep going….

 

 

 

And going …

 

 

 

And here you are…

It’s really hot out, so don’t (overdo/overdue) it when you go out running.

2. We (only) have (only) five dollars. (Which place does the “only” go?)

3. My gas (pedal, peddle) is stuck!

4. I wonder how I should (preceed/precede/proceed) with my plan.

5.  From my (perspective/prospective), the painting looks like a group of people.

6. The (principal/principle) rule of the game is to match all the numbers.

7. In the play, I have to lie (prostate/prostrate) on the floor for a whole scene.

8. I stole a small (peak, peek, pique) at the contents of the box.

9. To me, a root beer float has no (peer/pier).

10. Some people (pray/prey) upon other people by manipulating them. 

11. The party (preceeded/preceded/proceeded) the football game.

12. I got the (principal/principle) role in the school play.

13. We walked right (passed/past) the store on our way home, but we forgot to stop there.

14.  Your (presence/presents) would be greatly appreciated at the birthday party. Either one, depending on what you want!

15. It requires (patience/patients) to be a good doctor. Either one, depending on what you mean!

 

I Need Your Help…

This year I will be launching my first online grammar course, and I need your help. I would love your input. I have some questions below. You don’t have to answer them all, or even any of them, but they are some suggested things to think about. Any comments would be appreciated. Please do not submit comments or suggestions in the comments section of the blog post. Please e-mail them to me at :  bigwords101@yahoo.com

Would you take an online grammar course? Why or why not?Whom do you think would or should take an online grammar course?What should the scope of the course be? Just common grammar issues? Just punctuation? Just commas? Just confusing words? A complete grammar course?How long should the course be to keep you interested?What would you pay for such a course?What types of people need a grammar course?What types of media would be helpful? Live webinars? Videos? Lessons to read and then take quizzes? Worksheets? Slides with narration to explain the slides? Thank you so much for your help!

More Confusing Words: OH and Pea

It seems as if it has been forever since the last confusing-words post! But here we begin again with confusing word pairs that begin with O and P:

On/Onto 

On: To be suspended from or supported by – Put your books on the table.

Onto – To  a place or position – Climb onto the sofa.

Only

Only should be placed as close as possible to the word it belongs to, or modifies. Its position can really change the meaning of a sentence.

Only she likes pizza with pineapple. (No one else does.)

She only likes pizza with pineapple. (Technically, she likes it but she doesn’t love it, but often positioned this way to mean something else.)

She likes only pizza with pineapple. (She doesn’t like anything else with pineapple.)

She likes pizza only with pineapple. (She doesn’t like it with any other topping.)  She likes pizza with only pineapple and with pineapple only mean the same thing.

Overdo/Overdue

Books and babies are overdue. If you work too hard, you overdo.

My library books are two weeks overdue. I am so sore I can’t overdo it again today.

Past/Passed

Past is a preposition – We walked past her house.

Passed is a past tense verb. We passed her house.

Peace/Piece

Peace is the opposite of war.  Let there be world peace.

Piece is a part of something. I would like a piece of cake.

Peak/Peek/Pique

Peak – The top. Let’s climb to the mountain peak.

Peek  – To take a look. Don’t peak inside the box.

Pique – To irritate or excite. The noisy birds piqued my attention.

Pedal/Peddle

Pedal – The things that make the car and bicycles go.  Pedal faster, please.

Peddle – So sell your wares, usually from place to place. He peddles his paintings at all the fairs.

Peer/Pier

Peer is a person of equal status. It can also be a verb, meaning to look out at.  I peered at the students, who were my peers, also there for the exam. 

Pier – Structure built for boats. My new house has its own pier for my boat.

Perspective/Prospective

Perspective is the way someone sees things. He and I have different perspectives on life.

Prospective is in the future. He introduced his prospective wife to the family.

Pray/Prey

Pray is a spiritual verb. We pray every morning in the chapel.

Prey is something that is hunted by something or someone else. Some people are gullible and easy prey for scammers.

Precede/ Proceed

Precede is to come before. Breakfast precedes lunch.

Proceed is to continue along. The parade proceed down the avenue. 

Watch the spelling on those two.

Premise/Premises

An odd word pair. One is generally not the plural of the other, but has an entirely different meaning.

Premise is reasoning upon which some idea is based. I began with the premise that the house would have French architecture.

Premises usually indicates a place, for example a building and its land. Please stay off the premises after 5 p.m.

Presents/Presence 

They sound the same, but they aren’s. One is a plural/

Presents is the plural of presents, or gifts. Do you want to open your presents now?

Presence is the state of being there. We missed your presence at the meeting.

Principle/Principal

Principal is the head of a school, or money (principal and interest, for example)  or the main  one – The school hired a new principal. The principal on the loan is $3500. She has the principal role in the play.  

Principle is a rule or ethic. It is against my principles to kill animals.

Prostate/Prostrate

Prostate is a male gland. He had surgery on his prostate.

Prostrate means lying flat on the ground. The body was prostrate on the ground in a pool of blood.

 

Next Week – The quiz
Stay safe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Special Edition: 2020 Words of the Year

I have done “word walls” in the past at the end of the year: calling out those words that became popular in the preceding year. But official Word of the Year,  otherwise know as WODY, is a pretty common phenomenon. Most dictionaries and linguistic societies choose a WODY, or even words of the year in different

Image by Marek Studzinski from Pixabay

categories. And more about that later in this post. But to begin, my word wall for 2020.

 

No doubt about it: 2020 was a year. Of course the main event was Covid-19, But there was also a presidential election and lots of political news. Here are some of the Words of 2020:

Pandemic: Covid-19 turned from an epidemic to a pandemic. The last pandemic in the United States occurred back in 1918, so pandemics are fortunately not common occurrences. Pandemic went from a nonentity to one of the most uttered words of the past year.

Covid-19: Otherwise known as coronavirus, but a special one. Coronaviruses are common and have been around for a long time, but this dangerous one was named 19, after 2019, when it was discovered.

The Rona: A nickname for Covid-19.

Flattening the Curve:  Not a new diet, but the attempt to keep community spread of the disease down, so as not to overwhelm the healthcare system.

Social Distancing: One method of flattening the curve —  keeping at least 6 feet away from people. No hugging. No handshaking. And the first time we saw arrows in stores keeping aisles one way, and markers on the floor telling us where 6 feet apart was.

Quarantine: What you have to do if you are exposed to Covid-19. Keep to yourself for a couple of weeks. However, people called the whole experience of staying home for nearly a year now quarantining.

Pod/Bubble: The few people you always hang around with who are deemed “safe.” However, if any of those people stray at all from the bubble, like going to work or to the grocery store, then what?

Masks: Although in Japan, when people have a cold they wear a mask in public, we don’t do that here. Masks are for Halloween and for surgeons.  Now, masks are a fashion item. They can even be a political statement in what they say or even if you wear one at all.

PPE: Personal protective equipment. The masks, gowns, face shields, gloves that those who care for Covid patients wear. It has always been around, but we never talked about it….or about there being a shortage of it. 

Blursday: Not knowing what the hell day of the week it is since you don’t go anywhere anymore.

Ventilators: Who ever talked about ventilators before 2020? Ventilators were in short supply and not a good sign if a Covid patient needed one.

Hand sanitizer: It’s everywhere. Use it.

Toilet paper, Lysol spray, antiseptic wipes: Try to find these items! Just like panning for gold.

Curbside pickup: Did you ever pick up your groceries outside the grocery store — or have them delivered — before 2020? Be honest. Or your Chinese dinner from your favorite restaurant?.

Front-line workers: Those heroes who work directly with Covid patients.

Essential workers:  Not to be confused with front-line workers, essential workers are those who cannot work from home: grocery store workers, food service workers, police, etc.

Hydroxychloroquine, Remdesivir, Regeneron: Medications used to treat Covid. One doesn’t work. The other two are reserved for presidents and their friends.

Doomscrolling: Endlessly scrolling through Twitter for more bad news.

Quarantini: Your alcoholic beverage of choice.

Quaranbeard: What you are left with if you don’t shave for 8 months.

Zoom: Don’t you wish you had bought stock in this one? Who ever heard of it before 2020? I personally live on it. There is so much to do now with virtual  events that I have had Zoom conflicts.

Zoombombing: When someone hacks into your zoom meeting with ugly things like white supremacism and pornography. It happened at an event I was at. Use a password if you have a Zoom event.

Zumping: Dumping someone on Zoom. How sad.

The Before Times: Remember back then, when you could go to TJ Maxx?

Covidiot: One who doesn’t believe Covid is real.

Here are some political words:

Rigged:  The election. Or not. 

Mail-in ballots: The preferred method of voting in a pandemic. Certain people felt it led to a rigged election.

Systemic Racism: Still woven throughout our society after all these years.

Blue Lives Matter: Slogan for supporting the police for which there is also a flag. As if we don’t all support the police.

Proud Boys: I haven’t figured out what they have to be proud about.

Antifa: Stands for anti-Fascism, so I don’t understand why that is a bad thing.

Defund: Claim made by one side that the other side wants to take funding away from law enforcement.

A few more 2020 words include Zoom fatigue, Zoom mom, vaccine, Kracken, peaceful transition of power, Amazon Prime, bingeing, Netflix, Amazon delivery.

 

Official Words of the Year

Dictionaries and language-oriented associations choose words of the year and words of the decade. I participated in a couple of webinars from Planet Word (check out its website; it is a new brick-and-mortar word museum in Washington DC. Recently opened, it is closed to the public because of Covid. They were sponsoring the WODY in coordination with the American Dialect Society, members of the New Word Committee. In the second webinar, we got to vote on and defend our choices for their Word of the Year categories. It was great fun for a wordie like me.  The American Dialect Society has been choosing Word of the Year for 30 years, since 1990. Here are some of their winners:

1993 – Like (the overused kind) – It was actually voted Most Likely to Succeed

1996 – Soccer mom

1999 – Y2K

2000 – Chad

2015 – The singular “they” – which was also the Word of the Decade

Here are some of the dictionaries’ Words of the Year for 2020:

Webster – Pandemic
Dictionary.com – Pandemic

Those were based on how frequently words are looked up.

Collins Dictionary – Lockdown
Cambridge Dictionary – Quarantine
Oxford Dictionary – They could not pick just one word for the year.

AND…. here are the American Dialect Society’s Words of the Year, along with my votes.

Political Word of the Year  

My vote – dissent collar, which I defended by saying RBG was important enough to be credited this year. It came in second

Winner – Defund/abolish

Digital Word of the Year

My vote and the winner – Doomscrolling

Zoom-Related Word of the Year

My choice and the winner – “You’re muted.”

Other popular choice – oysgezoomt from the Yiddish, meaning bored by Zoom (oys-ga-zoomed, emphasis on the first syllable)

Coronavirus-Related Word of the Year

My choice – Covid-19

Winner – Social distancing

Slang/Informal Word of the Year

My choice and the winner – The Rona

Euphemism of the Year

My choices – Officer-involved shooting or essential workers

Winner – Essential workers, euphemistic because of the low pay involved

Emoji of the Year

My choices – The emoji wearing a face mask or the Facebook “care” emoji

Winner – Face with the medical mask

Most Creative Combining Form

My choice – Covid (covidiot, covid hair, etc.)

Winner – Quaran (quarantini, quaranbeard)

Most Useful Word of the Year

My choice – Blursday

Winner – Before times

Most Likely to Succeed

My choice and the winner – antiracism

Word of the Year

My choice and the winner – Covid  (How could it be anything else?)

Running a close second was simply the word “2020” with its implied meanings!

 

Credit to Planet Word and the American Dialect Society for this post! Check out their websites.
Happy New Year  & Thank You for Supporting Me Throughout 2020!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So You Want to Be Santa? Best of the Grammar Diva Blog, 2015

Yes, I know….I promised you the 2020 Word of the Year/Word Wall Post. And it will come:  next week. I decided since I already published the annual Christmas post last week, and it is barely Christmas, I would take a couple of days off and present a Best Of post this week.  Hope you enjoy it!

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Perhaps you have always wanted to get paid to be Santa. Well,  this year is not a good time to find one of those plum jobs, but here is some information you might

Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

want to know for next year. 

The pay isn’t great. The going rate for Santa is about $10 or $12 per hour — unless you are a Santa who is hired out for private parties, in which case you might make about $18 per hour.

Here are some requirements and information for would-be Santas from real Santa want ads. My comments are in italics and parentheses. I have printed the important information in boldface:

1.Real bearded Santa Claus for our mall location (is that a real Santa or a real beard???). Must be able to stay in character and be great with children and families. Provide the full Christmas and Santa experience to guests. Financially rewarding and  incredibly emotionally rewarding! We provide a competitive salary with bonus incentives. All applicants must pass a national background check.

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2. Actors to portray Santa Claus at a local store. We will provide a custom-made Santa suit; you must bring the jolly appearance and experience for the part. You must be customer-service orientated and truly enjoy working with children. You must possess a true care and concern for fulfilling the Christmas dream for thousands of children.

Previous experience as Santa

Possess a jolly personality and laugh

Must be able to attend training classes 

Ability to meet a high volume of children

Must be able to pass a drug test

Must pass a background check

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3. Santa Claus to engage patrons into conversation. Meet and greet customers interested in communicating and taking photographic picture with Santa Claus. (Is there another kind of photo?)

Duties and Responsibilities:

Regularly communicates with patrons as they approach to talk and/or prepare for photos.

In a jovial manner engages customers in conversation for purposes of relaxing children to take photo (picture) with Santa (in case you don’t know that a photo IS a picture!).

High degree of professionalism, both visually and verbally, which exceeds customer expectations at all times when speaking to customers (adults and children).

Adheres to uniform standards by wearing Santa Claus costume at all times when greeting and meeting customers.  

Exercises tact, good manners, and courtesy when interacting and assisting customers and fellow associates.

Job requires long hours in sedentary position, and lifting of children to place upon lap while communicating and/or preparing for photographic picture. (Photographic picture? Do they mean pornographic??)

Performs other related duties as assigned. (Cleaning the bathrooms??)

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4. Historic Hotel  is now hiring for a part-time Santa Claus.

POSITION SUMMARY:

Meet and greet children and their families dining at the Sunday Musical brunch.

SKILLS REQUIRED TO PERFORM ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

Strong customer service orientation

Strong listening skills and patience

Ability to deal well with people in a professional and courteous manner

Excellent phone skills (Are we calling Santa too?)

Proficiency in Open Table software (making dinner reservations?)

QUALIFICATIONS:

Must be 18 years of age or older. Must have a high school diploma or equivalent. Must be able to communicate effectively, both verbally and written, in English. Proficiency in Open Table is a must. Excellent hospitality skills. Self-motivated with excellent organizational skills and attention to detail. Ability to work a flexible schedule including extended hours, weekends and holidays.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

Applicants must have the physical capability to lift, push or pull at least 30-50 pounds. Also, applicants must have the ability to use abdominal and back muscles and be able to stand for the duration of the shift. Must also have the ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists, and to reach and stretch, bend, kneel and squat. (Is Santa going to dance?)

There will be a pre-employment drug screen, physical, and a nationwide criminal background check. Previous employment will be verified and references will be thoroughly checked.

Competitive wages based on experience and great work environment. Experience: Professional Santa Claus for 1 year

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5. Mall seeking an outgoing, jolly individual(s) to be Santa Claus for the 2015 Holiday Season! No Experience Necessary and Santa Suit Provided.

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6. This is a sales position for Santa Claus photos with children.

Employee will be required to show photos to parents, help them choose, make the sale and print the photos.

Applicant should be:

Friendly, reliable and have basic computer skills (iMac).

Salary: $12.00 /hour

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If you read this blog regularly, you know I have a fondness for phobias. They are entertaining and unusual. Here are some phobias that, if you have them,  might ruin your holiday season: 

fear of alcohol – methyphobia

fear of anything new – neophobia

fear of the color red – erythrophobia

fear of church – ecclesiophobia

fear of cooking  – mageirocophobia

fear of dolls – pediophobia

fear of eating – phagophobia

fear of food – cibophobia

fear of holy things – hagiophobia

fear of home – ecophobia

fear of ice or frost – pagophobia

fear of kissing – philemaphobia (watch the mistletoe!)

fear of laughter – geliophobia

fear of light – photophobia

fear of memories – mnemophobia

fear of religion – theophobia

fear of snow – chionophobia

 

Next Week: We celebrate the words of 2020

2020 Holiday Post

Yup. 2020 has been a year! So I thought you might like to take a look at Posts of Christmases Past:

Click Here for the Illustrated 26 Words of Christmas

Click Here  for Holiday Post 2016: The Audacity of Hope

Click Here for  Eleven Reasons Why Books  Make Great Gifts

Image by Louise Dav from Pixabay

Click Here for A Little Holiday Humor

Click Here for Happy Holidays from The Grammar Diva

Click Here for Quotes for the Holiday Season

Now to this year’s post . . .

Many, many songs have been written about the holidays. And obviously many of them have the word Christmas in the title. A few even have Chanukah in the title.  Kwanzaa? Maybe.  Here is a list of just a few of those songs. Do you know who sang these songs — and in some cases made them hits? Of course, there are some songs recorded by more than one person, so you might have an answer that I don’t have.  Some of these will be easy. Others not so much. Try your hand at this….

Who sang/played/made these songs hits?

Merry Christmas Darling
Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
All I Want for Christmas Is You
Christmas in Dixie
The Chanukah Song
White Christmas
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Blue Christmas
Wonderful Christmastime
Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo
Last Christmas
Christmastime Is Here
Christmas in Hollis
Last Christmas
The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)
Thank God It’s Christmas
Happy Kwanzaa
_______(Christmas Don’t Be Late)
All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth
Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
The Hanukkah Waltz
I Won’t Be Home for Christmas
Hanukkah Dance
Felix Navidad

Scroll down for the answers . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas Darling – The Carpenters
Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree – Brenda Lee
All I Want for Christmas Is You – Mariah Carey/Lady Antebellum/Vince Vance/Michael Buble
Christmas in Dixie – Alabama
The Chanukah Song – Adam Sandler
White Christmas – Bing Crosby
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas – Johnny Mathis/Michael Buble
Blue Christmas – Elvis Presley
Wonderful Christmastime – Paul McCartney and Wings
Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo – South Park gang
Last Christmas – Taylor Swift/Ariana Grande/Carly Rae Jepson
Christmastime Is Here – Vince Guaraldi
Christmas in Hollis – Run DMZ
Last Christmas – Wham
The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You) – Nat King Cole
Thank God It’s Christmas – Queen
Happy Kwanzaa – Teddy Prendergast
_______(Christmas Don’t Be Late) – The Chipmunks featuring Alvin
All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth – Spike Jones
Happy Xmas (War Is Over) – John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – Darlene Love
The Hanukkah Waltz – Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
I Won’t Be Home for Christmas – Blink-182
Hanukkah Dance – Woody Guthrie
Felix Navidad – Jose Feliciano

Wishing You and Yours a Wonderful Holiday!  Please Be Safe!
Don’t Miss Next Week’s New Year’s Post: 2020 Words of the Year/Word Wall!

Another Little Quiz

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Here is the little quiz on confusing M and N words.  We looked at these words in last week’s post. (But don’t look there now!)

 

I (maybe, may be) going to Europe when this pandemic is over.
The volunteers (meat, meet, mete) out food packages to all those cars in line. 
I passed the bar exam. (More important, More importantly), I got a great job.
There are seven stockings hanging from our fireplace (mantal,  mantel, mantle).
Most of the data (show, shows) that the vaccine is safe.
I was so worried when you climbed that mountain all alone; you (may, might) he gotten killed!
The little boy was (moot, mute) when I asked him questions about his family.
(Almost, Most) everyone in that family has had Covid-19. 
The (amount, number) of dogs she has owned is astonishing!
Whether or not I went to college is a (moot, mute) point now.
The house looked eerie under a (mantal mantel, mantle) of fog.
I am (loath, loathe) to tell her about her husband.
She said she can (may be, maybe) help with the decorations.
 I (may, might) or (may, might) not celebrate the holidays with family this year.
I want to make sure I bought the (inflammable, nonflammable) pajamas for the kids.

Please scroll down for the answers . . .

 

Again . . .

 

Again . . .

 

Again . . .

 

Again . . .

 

One more time . . .

I (maybe, may be) going to Europe when this pandemic is over.
The volunteers (meat, meet, mete ) out food packages to all those cars in line. 
I passed the bar exam. (More important, More importantly ), I got a great job.
There are seven stockings hanging from our fireplace (mantal,  mantel, mantle).
Most of the data (show, shows ) that the vaccine is safe. (Although data is plural, it generally takes a singular verb. The singular verb form takes the s at the end. However, both of these answers is correct, although shows is more common.)
I was so worried when you climbed that mountain all alone; you (may, might ) he gotten killed! 
The little boy was (moot, mute ) when I asked him questions about his family.
( Almost, Most) everyone in that family has had Covid-19. 
The (amount, number ) of dogs she has owned is astonishing!
Whether or not I went to college is a ( moot, mute) point now.
The house looked eerie under a (mantal mantel, mantle ) of fog.
I am ( loath , loathe) to tell her about her husband.
She said she can (may be, maybe) help with the decorations.
 I (may, might ) or ( may, might ) not celebrate the holidays with family this year. (Either one works, but use the same one both times.)
I want to make sure I bought the (inflammable, nonflammable ) pajamas for the kids.

 

Next week:  The Annual Holiday Post
Week after next: Word of the Year Post. Don’t miss it!
Remember: Books make great holiday gifts, even grammar books!
Happy Chanukah to All Who Celebrate!

 

Have Some M and N’s: More Confusing Words

Image by pixel1 from Pixabay

Today we continue the confusing words series with M and N words Check these out:

Mantel/Mantle: Mantel is the frame around your fireplace. Mantle refers to something that covers or cloaks.

We always hang our Christmas stockings on the mantel. He appeared under the mantle of night.

Many/Much: Many is used for plurals and things that can be counted. Much is used for things that cannot be counted.

I have many items arriving from Amazon. There is too much pepper in the mac and cheese!

May be/Maybe: May be is the same as might be. Maybe means possibly.

She may be visiting next week. Maybe she will visit next week.

May/Might: May implies permission or probability. Might implies probability as well. The words are very close in meaning – and often interchangeable  when they imply possibility/probability. However, it is accepted that may is used when something is more likely to occur than when might is used.

Yes, you may pet the dog. I may visit next week. I might visit next week. 
Here is another use of might: I wish you wouldn’t have gone skydiving; you might have gotten hurt or worse!

Meat/Meet/Mete: Meat is what you eat (unless you are a vegetarian, pescatarian, etc.). Meet is when you greet. And mete, the least common of the group, means to distribute or dole out.

I love meat and potatoes. I will meet you at eleven. She meted out the beef stew in equal portions to all the students.

Moot/Mute: Often misused, moot is not worth discussion or pointless. Mute is the inability to speak. 

That is a moot point (not mute). The little boy was mute and used hand signals.

More important/More importantly: More important is a phrase used in comparison. More importantly is usually used in transition.

Doing your best is more important than winning. More importantly, a good attitude is essential in competition.

News, mathematics, physics, and other such words: These words are singular even though they appear to be plural. They take a singular verb.

The news is good. Mathematics is my favorite subject. Physics confuses me. 

Be safe. Stay home (if you can). Wear a mask. 
2021 will be better.
Still looking for guest bloggers! And ideas!

 

More Weird -Nym Words. . .

Image by Prawny from Pixabay
Hope you all had a pleasant and safe Thanksgiving. 

You know when you say to someone, “I respect your idea, but  . . .,” sometimes you really mean, “What a stupid idea; I would never do that”? 

That literary device is called a paranym: A euphemism whose literal meaning is the opposite of what you said. Here are some other paranyms:

friendly fire – being killed by your side rather than the enemy’s. What is friendly about that?
eternal life – sounds good, but is death.
no offense but – I don’t care and you should probably take offense.

Not to be confused with paranym is paronym. Paronyms are words that are written in a similar way to other words, but have different meanings.  Here are some examples of paronyms:

paronym and paranym, coincidentally.
collusion and collision
effect and affect
healthful and healthy
corroborate and collaborate
excise and exercise

Likewise, there is a difference between anonym and ananym, another paronym. 

An anonyn (from anonymous) is an assumed name to hide one’s real identity. The more common word for this is pseudonym.

Ananyms are interesting. An ananym is a name intentionally spelled backwards to make a new word. It is a special type of anagram. Probably the most well-know ananym is Harpo Productions —  a word created to name Oprah’s company — which is Oprah spelled backwards. I could have named my publishing company Enelra, Arlene spelled backwards. But I didn’t.

A dionym is a name, usually in zoology or botany, consisting of two words, such as homo sapiens. Dionym is an uncommon word and cannot be used in Scrabble.

The paronym of dionym is deonym. And deonym, as the name suggests, is a synonym for theonym — the proper name for a god. This definition seems pretty straightforward to me, although I could find nary an example online. I would think Athena, Zeus, Neptune, etc. would be theonyms — and deonyms.

I do not wonder why we use mainly synonym, antonym, homonym, and acronym! Works for me!

Seeking Guest Bloggers

If any of you would like to write a guest post for this blog, please let me know. DO NOT put it in the comments section of the blog, please! Use the contact form on the website. Here are the rules:

Content must be something my readers would care about. Something to do with grammar, words, language, etc.
You must be able to write.
I reserve the right to turn down any submission —  and of course edit posts before publishing.
Post must be interesting.
Some kind of credentials help.

From the comments you send to me, I know you are a highly intelligent crowd, full of great ideas! If you don’t want to write a guest post — and even if you do — I am also taking ideas for new posts that I can write.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving-19

Image by John Hain from Pixabay

Way back in March, did you ever think that Covid-19 would still be around at Thanksgiving? You probably didn’t think about that at all. None of us did.

Well, here it is  — Thanksgiving — and Covid (for those who believe it exists) is worse than ever. We are warned by the experts that there should be no Thanksgiving airplane travel and no large gatherings. Actually, not even any smaller gatherings. The word is you are safest spending Thanksgiving only with the people you live with. And many of us live alone. I have not yet decided about Thanksgiving, but I have been pretty careful these past — what is it now — about nine months??? How time flies when you are in the house. How time flies when you are so busy you just cannot get everything done, and you have no idea why you are so busy! 

It is a good time to learn new things — an instrument, a language — I have heard it called “woodshedding,” which I assume means hunkering down and actually accomplishing something you might not accomplish if you are busy going out.

I guess it does somewhat depend on your age and where you are in life. If you are a student, changes are you are in school still — or again. If you are young and employed, you might be working at home, but you might have a job that makes that impossible, so you are out in the world every day. You might have a home business like me. Or you might be retired. 

Wherever you are in life, I hope you are being careful and are staying safe (and wearing a mask). And I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving, whether you are dining for two, or three. Whether you are dining alone and Zooming friends and family (why didn’t I buy stock in Zoom a year ago??). Whether you are pretending there is just no Thanksgiving at all this year and reading a book or watching movies on Thanksgiving. Whether you are cooking for one, two, three or more — or whether you are ordering Thanksgiving dinner from your favorite restaurant or grocery store. Or having spaghetti. Or ice cream.

I don’t mean to make you more fearful than you might already be with this post, but I thought it might be interesting to find some fears that have something to do with Thanksgiving, just because these phobia words are such fun. I couldn’t find fear of cranberry sauce or pecan pie, but I did find these:

Gyaliaphobia  – Fear of nuts (Did someone just say pecan pie?)

Alliumphobia – Fear of garlic (not one of mine)

Anthrophobia or Anthophobia- Fear of flowers  (a nice gift to bring to brighten up the table; who could be afraid of these?)

Autophobia– Fear of being alone. (More people than usual will be alone this holiday, but there is always Zoom, your pet, and your phone  — and books.)

Aviophobia or Aviatophobia- Fear of flying (Not recommended this year, but please stay safe if you do.)

Carnophobia– Fear of meat (You could have a nice field roast – I just found out what that is!)

Crystallophobia– Fear of crystals or glass

Deipnophobia– Fear of dining or dinner conversations (This one could be tricky).

Dipsophobia– Fear of drinking

Enochlophobia– Fear of crowds (Well, you probably won’t encounter any of those this year.)

Kathisophobia- Fear of sitting down (Unbutton those pants!)

Lachanophobia– Fear of vegetables (They make a nice side dish, though.)

Mageirocophobia– Fear of cooking (Takeout!)

Ornithophobia– Fear of birds (uh, oh! Field roast??)

Samhainophobia: Fear of Halloween (Whew! That one is over.)

Meleagrisphobia -Fear of turkeys (You knew that one was coming!)

Have a safe and peaceful Thanksgiving!
“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”

― Maya Angelou

 

Your “L” Ementary Quiz

Image by chenspec from Pixabay

Last week’s post presented those tricky word pairs that begin with L. You are now ready for the quiz!

1 I have been (laying, lying) in the sun for so long, I must be bright red!

2. I can (lend, loan) you a few dollars until tomorrow.

3. He was sued for (libel, slander) after he printed an untrue story in the newspaper.

4. The teacher (lead, led) the class to the assembly hall.

5. I am (loath, loathe) to hire someone with so little experience, even though she appears very capable.

6. My poor dog hides in the closet whenever there is a thunder and (lightening, lightning) storm.

7. These pretty shells were (laying, lying) on the beach at low tide.

8. I am reading the second book in the trilogy, which is the (last, latest) book she has written.

9. The (lead, led) in your pencil is likely really graphite.

10. I need to renew my driver’s (licence, license) this month.

11. I have a bunch of (loose, lose) change in my pocket.

12. Every day on this vacation, I have (laid, lain) in the sun from noon to two o’clock. 

13. If you are in the sun too long, you are (liable, libel) to get a burn.

14. You should (leave, let) those bug bites alone and stop scratching them.

15. I have played piano, drums, and saxophone, the (later, latter)  of which I am still doing.

Scroll down for the answers:

 

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1 I have been (laying, lying) in the sun for so long, I must be bright red!

2. I can (lend, loan) you a few dollars until tomorrow.

3. He was sued for (libel, slander) after he printed an untrue story in the newspaper.

4. The teacher (lead, led) the class to the assembly hall.

5. I am (loath, loathe) to hire someone with so little experience, even though she appears very capable.

6. My poor dog hides in the closet whenever there is a thunder and (lightening, lightning) storm.

7. These pretty shells were (laying, lying) on the beach at low tide.

8. I am reading the second book in the trilogy, which is the (last, latest) book she has written.

9. The (lead, led) in your pencil is likely really graphite.

10. I need to renew my driver’s (licence, license) this month. (Either is correct, but the American spelling uses the s.)

11. I have a bunch of (loose, lose) change in my pocket.

12. Every day on this vacation, I have (laid, lain) in the sun from noon to two o’clock. 

13. If you are in the sun too long, you are (liable, libel) to get a burn.

14. You should (leave, let) those bug bites alone and stop scratching them.

15. I have played piano, drums, and saxophone, the (later, latter)  of which I am still doing.

 

Books make great holiday gifts and stocking stuffers (yes, even grammar books!). I am selling signed (and personalized) copies of my books from my website. Prices include priority mailing and sales tax (sorry, U.S. only).  Click Here for more information and to purchase.