Arlene Miller's Blog, page 47

Holiday Post 2016: The Audacity of Hope

Hope. The usual cheer that is part of the holiday season may be diminished for many of us this year. Our hope for the future may have dimmed. Our families may be divided, much as the country is. For many, the holiday season is never very cheerful, as loneliness moves in. I usually write a holiday post, often with quotes about some aspect of the season. This year I have chosen quotes about hope, and I have “stolen” the title of the post from President Obama’s book and famous speech.  I “hope” you find some of the quotes reassuring; some may actually make you sad as you think of what might have been and what might be instead. And some of you may be hopeful the way things are. Whichever the case, I hope you draw meaning from the post and joy or solace from the season. 

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We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics. They will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks to come. We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check; we’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Barack Obama 

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: You don’t give up.  Anne Lamott

While there’s life, there’s hope.  Cicero

There are no hopeless situations; there are only men who have grown hopeless about them.  Clare Booth Luce

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul.

And sings the tune

Without the words,

and never stops at all.

Emily Dickinson 

History is moving, and it will tend toward hope, or tend toward tragedy.  George W. Bush 

Hope, like the gleaming taper’s light,

Adorns and cheers our way;

And still, as darker grows the night,

Emits a brighter ray.

Oliver Goldsmith

Take hope from the heart of man, and you make him a beast of prey.  Quida

Hope is necessary in every condition. Samuel Johnson

The past is a source of knowledge, and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future.

Stephen Ambrose 

Appetite, with an opinion of attaining, is called hope; the same, without such opinion, despair.

Thomas Hobbes 

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence. Helen Keller

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness. Desmond Tutu

A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning. Brad Henry

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us. Samuel Smiles

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning. Albert Einstein

Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will be as one. John Lennon

My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth. Abraham Lincoln

You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own. Michelle Obama

Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. Robert Kennedy

We talk a lot about hope, helping, and teamwork. Our whole message is that we are more powerful together. Victoria Osteen

I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe. Dalai Lama

I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die. Nelson Mandela

The happy Union of these States is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of Liberty throughout the world. James Madison

We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon. Franklin D. Roosevelt

There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and be healed, to have despaired and have recovered hope. George Eliot

 

Stalinism is linked with a cult of personality and massive violations of the law, with repression and camps. There is nothing like that in Russia and, I hope, will never again be. Vladimir Putin (I couldn’t resist!)

Never lose hope.

Unknown, Polish Slogan

Thank you to these websites for the quotes:

https://www.brainyquote.com

www.quotationspage.com/subjects/hope/

HAPPY HOLIDAYS
FROM THE GRAMMAR DIVA TO YOU AND YOURS!

(I hesitate to put a sales plug in this post . . .  but . . . if you are still looking for a gift, or if you know anyone whose New Year’s Resolution might be “better grammar,” some of my books are on special sale through Saturday night (the 24th) on Kindle.)

Do I Capitalize After a Colon?

Should I use a capital letter after a colon? This is a common question, and today’s blog post answers that question.

Here is the answer: Sometimes the information after a colon is a complete sentence; sometimes it isn’t. You do not need to use a capital letter after a colon even if what follows is a complete sentence —  with these few exceptions:

The word following the colon is generally capitalized (a name, for example)
The sentence following the colon is a direct quotation.
The sentences are items in a list. Thus, they would look better capitalized.

Here are some examples:

These people are coming to the party: Hermione, Lester, and Carter
The mayor made the following comment: “We plan to support the new development downtown.”
Follow these steps to make the pie filling:


Mix all the ingredients together.
Let the mixture thicken by putting it in the refrigerator for an hour.
Stir well again.

You do not need to capitalize the word after the colon in these examples:

These are the ingredients: cocoa, milk, butter, and vanilla.
He talked about the main item on the meeting agenda: the company will give Christmas bonuses this year.

You could capitalize the T in the in the second example, but it is not necessary.

Stay tuned for next week’s annual holiday post. And we will start the new year off with a post about colons and semicolons (like, what’s the difference??)

Grammar Diva News

The Best Little Grammar Book Ever! (Second Edition) is at a special sale price today, Saturday, and Sunday on Kindle. It will cost you only $2.99 instead of the usual $5.99 for the ebook. Makes a great gift for a student (hint, hint)
I was pleased and proud to be among the four top winners in the BAIPA (Bay Area Independent Publishers Association) 2016 Book Awards! The award-winning book is Fifty Shades of Grammar: Scintillating and Saucy Sentences, Syntax, and Semantics from The Grammar Diva.
Here is my news release about the book awards.
Beginning December 21 and running through January 21, I am doing a Goodreads Giveaway: five print copies of The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever! will be given away. You can sign up beginning on December 21.

 

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Goodreads Book Giveaway


The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever!
by Arlene Miller

Giveaway ends January 21, 2017.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

 

Enter Giveaway

Writing a Letter? E-Mail? Salutations and Closings

Yes, I think people still write letters, but most of them are business letters. Most “friendly” letters have gone the way of e-mails. However, there are also business e-mails. This blog post is about openings and closings of both letters and e-mails, business and personal.

Salutations

Most of us do the majority of our correspondence these days by e-mail. Yes, sometimes we do send a letter—usually a business letter—and many of the business letters we receive probably go into the  junk pile. 

Regardless of whether we are writing an e-mail or a snail-mail letter, the opening and closings are basically the same as far as capitalization and punctuation, which is what this blog post is about.

Much of the correspondence that is business related and e-mailed does take on a more friendly tone. However, there are still business e-mails that are more formal. Just because you are using e-mail doesn’t mean that you can address someone you have never met as “Hey, Joe.”

When you are addressing someone in a business setting for the first time, I would not recommend using just a first name unless you know it is fine with the person. (For example, perhaps they write to you first using just your first name; then it is up to you to decide. More formal is always safer at first.) If you know how someone likes to be addressed, then address them that way. If after you go formal the first time, they tell you it’s fine to use just a first name, or if they respond using your first name (unless they are “important”), go ahead and be more informal.

Please try never to use these salutations: 

Dear Sir or Dear Sirs
To whom it may concern

Notice that I did not initial cap whom it may concern. Unless it is (of course) a name, only the first letter in a salutation is capitalized. However, usually the words are names or other words that are generally capitalized, so initial cap them.

If you receive a letter or e-mail and the sender hasn’t even bothered to find out your name, you probably would assume it was junk mail. Try to find a name to address a letter or e-mail to.

As a general rule, business letter greetings are followed by a colon. Informal and friendly communication use a comma:

Dear Mr. Johnson:
Hi, Joe,
Mr. Johnson:
Joe,

Technically, when you use Hi, Joe, there is a comma after Hi. The phrase Hi, Joe, is direct address, sort of like Come here, Joe. On the other hand, Dear is an adjective describing the name, so no comma.

If you need the plurals of some of the address abbreviations, here they are:

The plural of Mr.  is Messrs.
The plural of Mrs. is Mmes.
The plural of Ms. is either Mses, Mss., or Mmes.

These abbreviations are followed by a period in American English, but not in British.

Omit the comma before Jr. in a title if it is OK with the person you are writing to: Mr. Hank Jeffers Jr.

 

Closings

In the closing of an e-mail or a letter, only the first word is initial capped in cases where there is more than one word:

Yours truly,
With regards,
Sincerely yours,
Sincerely, 

 

Let’s talk about “Thank you.” First, it is two separate words. Second, I don’t personally like it as a closing:

Thank you,

           Rick Mendoza

I don’t like that. If I am going to say thank you, which I generally do in a business letter, I make it its own sentence or put it in a sentence, and then I do the usual closing.

Thank you very much.
Thank you for helping me out.
Thank you for the fast response.
Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you.

I would do this:

Thank you very much.

Sincerely yours,

Arlene Miller

 

Grammar Diva News:

It’s holiday season, and here are eleven reasons why books make great gifts:

Easy to find, easy to send. (There is even book rate!) 
Easy to wrap! No funny shapes!
Come in a variety of prices.
Aimed at whatever audience and age you need.
Great for any gender.
Come in lots of different topics.
Can be shared or donated after they are read; they keep on giving.
Entertaining.
Portable, especially e-books.
Educational
With enough books you can build a great holiday tree!

Now that I have enticed you, please consider a grammar book for someone you love this season!

The Best Little Grammar Book Ever: Speak and Write with Confidence – Best Reference Book, 2011 (first edition) from Bay Area Independent Publishers Association

The Best Grammar Workbook Ever – Honorable Mention for Best Reference Book, 2016, New York Book Festival

Fifty Shades of Grammar – Runner-Up for Best Nonfiction Book, 2016, Bay Area Independent Publishers Association (Educational and entertaining: Makes a great gift!)

Check out these and my other books! And thank you!
 

 

 

Tricky: Quotation Marks with Other Punctuation

Although I have discussed using other punctuation with quotation marks in my blog and in my books, it is still one of the most common questions I am asked, so let’s review.  Punctuation can be messy!

Periods and commas always go inside the quotation marks. Always. Really. Believe me. Oh, unless you are using British English. But you probably aren’t. In American usage, even if the quotation marks belong to the entire sentence rather than to what is at the end of the sentence, the period or comma goes inside the quotes.

He said, “I would like a turkey sandwich.”
“I would like a turkey sandwich,” he said.
I just downloaded the song “Building the Bridge.”
I just downloaded the song “Building the Bridge,” which is my favorite new song.
“I just downloaded the song ‘Building the Bridge,'” he said. (Notice that here, we have a single quotation mark after the song title, as well as the double quotes that signify the end of the direct quote.)

In British English, the period or comma goes outside the quotation marks.

“I would like a turkey sandwich”, he said.
I love the song “Building a Bridge”.

Remember that single quotation marks are used when you need quotation marks inside of quotation marks. They really aren’t used for anything else. Since quotation marks are used for song titles, short story titles, article titles, and other short works (italics are generally used for longer works, such as books, magazines, newspapers, etc.), if a song title or poem title is used within a direct quote, you would have a need for single quotes.

“I love the article ‘Find Your Fashion Sense’ that I just read in the recent issue of that magazine.”

Don’t confuse ending quotation marks with an apostrophe that appears at the end of the sentence. An apostrophe at the end of the sentence probably indicates a possessive; punctuation would go outside, since the apostrophe goes with the word it makes possessive:

These books are mine, but the books in the other bookcase are my sisters’. (belong to my sisters: plural possessive)

Let’s switch to colons and semicolons. Unlike periods and commas, colons and semicolons always go outside quotation marks. Colons and semicolons with quotation marks are less common than period and commas. 

She said, “I am coming to your party”; I knew she wouldn’t show up.
He said, “The meeting was called to discuss the merger”: no discussion ever took place.

Question marks and exclamation points can go either before or after the quotation marks, depending on the sentence. They are placed inside the quote if they are part of the quote. However, if they are part of the entire sentence, they are placed outside the quotes.

Did he say, “You are my best friend”? (Question mark belongs to the entire sentence.There is no period after friend because we don’t use both punctuation marks.
He asked, “Are you my best friend?” (Question mark belongs only to the quote, so the mark is placed inside the quotes. )
“You are my best friend!” he exclaimed. (Only the quote is the exclamation, so it is placed inside the quotes.)
It shocked me when the stranger said, “You are my best friend”! (The entire sentence is exclamatory, not just the quote, so the mark is placed outside the quotation marks.)

Check out this sentence: Did he ask, “Are you my best friend?” Here, notice that both the entire sentence AND the quoted portion are questions. However, we do not use two question marks. In this case the one question mark goes inside the quotes. The same would apply if both the entire sentence and the quoted portion were exclamatory. Then there would be an exclamation point inside the quotation marks. 

If, for example, the quoted part of the sentence is a question and the entire sentence is an exclamation, don’t use both a question mark and an exclamation point. Choose one, probably the question mark.

It shocked me when he asked, “Can I be your best friend?”

Dashes and ellipses, like question marks, can be placed either before or after the quotation marks, depending on the sentence:

“I was looking for my cat, but then . . . ” she said as she trailed off.
She said, “I found my cat in my cousin’s garage”– and she quickly changed the subject.

Some sentences can get pretty complicated with quotes inside of quotes and commas and question marks. If your sentence gets confusing, the best thing is to rewrite, maybe into multiple sentences with fewer punctuation marks.

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A Favor to Ask: If you own any of my books and have not yet posted an Amazon review, I would appreciate it if you would. It doesn’t have to be long; one sentence reviews are fine too. Reviews really help to sell books. Amazon is being a little cranky about posting reviews, so I don’t know what the deal is, but – thank you!

 

The Many Sides of Thanksgiving and Black Friday

Part 1: Black Friday

Unless you live under a large rock, you know that Black Friday refers to the day after Thanksgiving, which marks the  beginning of the Christmas shopping season: big crowds, small prices (maybe).  Where did the term “Black Friday ” come from? What does it mean?

Because we don’t often read about the meaning of the phrase, people have invented their own explanations for how the phrase became attached to the day after Thanksgiving. One incorrect explanation is that  it all started with a tradition of slave owners or slave traders using that day  to sell slaves.  Black Friday has nothing to do with the selling of slaves: in fact, the  term didn’t originate until nearly a century after slavery was abolished.

Another explanation of “Black Friday” originates from 1951, referring to the practice of workers calling in sick on the day after Thanksgiving, giving them a four-day weekend. (that day was not yet commonly offered as a paid day off by employers).

One logical explanation of the term “Black Friday” is the linguistic link of  “in the black,” meaning “making a profit.” After all, the day after Thanksgiving is now one of the biggest —  if not the biggest — shopping days of the year.

However, the truth is that Black Friday got its name from the Philadelphia Police Department. Lots of shopping equals lots of cars, lots of traffic, lots of chaos. And, in the middle years of the twentieth century, the scene was often particularly bad in Philadelphia, where the annual Army-Navy football game was regularly played on the weekend after Thanksgiving.

So at some point in the 1950s or 1960s (some say it was 1966), the Philadelphia Police Department started to refer to the day after Thanksgiving as “Black Friday.” They hoped that people would find the whole thing distasteful and decide to stay at home.

“It was not a happy time,” retail scholar Michael Lisicky told CBS Philly in 2011. “The stores were just too crowded, the streets were crowded, the buses and the police were just on overcall and extra duty.”

Several years ago, retailers began starting the shopping day early, opening as early as 6 a.m. on Friday. Soon, opening time had crept to 5:00 or 4:00. In 2011,  several retailers (including Target, Kohl’s, Macy’s, and Best Buy) opened at midnight! Then,  in 2012 Walmart and several other retailers announced that they would open most of their stores at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, prompting some employees to walk out. In 2014, stores including JC Penney and  Best Buy opened at 5:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day;  Target, Walmart, and Sears opened at 6:00 p.m. Rhode Island, Maine, and Massachusetts prohibit large supermarkets, big box stores, and department stores from opening on Thanksgiving, due to blue laws.

If you have ever been at, let’s say, Toys R Us when it opens for Black Friday, you will believe that violence does occur between shoppers on Black Friday. Sometimes there just aren’t enough deals to go around. Since 2006, there have been 7 reported Black Friday deaths and 98 injuries throughout the United States. And if you haven’t done it yourself, you have probably seen  shoppers camping out waiting for a store to open to get at the front of the line and get that big screen TV before it is sold out! I just waited in line at the Coach outlet store, not for the first time! Hey, it’s tradition.

Part 2: Sides of Thanksgiving

I saw an interesting blog post about the word “side” and its many meanings on Thanksgiving.

This year my house looked better because I just finished having my house re-sided. (Truth). And fortunately everyone I invited was on the same political side, so there were no arguments.However, I doubt that was true with many Thanksgiving gatherings. If you found yourself arguing about politics, some household item, like maybe the television or a chair, may have end up upside down.  If you are a polite guest, you probably bought a side dish: perhaps green bean casserole or some nice yams. Then, perhaps the men — okay, the women too — chose sides for the after-dinner football game on TV. Since the tryptophan probably had started to take effect, I assume most of you were lying sideways in front of the TV. 

If you would like to see the original article click here: Side

Part 3: Some Thanksgiving Quotes

Here are some thanksgiving quotes I found particularly appropriate this year: 

Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence. – Erma Bombeck

You may have heard of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. There’s another day you might want to know about: Giving Tuesday. The idea is pretty straightforward. On the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, shoppers take a break from their gift-buying and donate what they can to charity. – Bill Gates

Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie. –  Jim Davis

An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day. –  Irv Kupcinet

I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land. –  Jon Stewart

I don’t think any other holiday embraces the food of the Midwest quite like Thanksgiving. There’s roasted meat and mashed potatoes. But being here is also about heritage. Cleveland is really a giant melting pot – not only is my family a melting pot, but so is the city. –  Michael Symon

Shopmas now begins on Thanksgiving Day. Apparently, escaping the families you cannot stand to spend another minute with on Thanksgiving Day to go buy them gifts is how some Americans show their affection for one another. Weird. –  Barry Ritholtz

From the beginning, the Continental Congress had official chaplains, prayers, and days of fasting and Thanksgiving. When sessions opened in 1774, fear was voiced that the religious diversity of the country would make it hard to choose a form of worship. – M. Stanton Evans

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations. – Oscar Wilde

Thankfulness is an attitude of possibilities, not an attitude of liabilities. – Craig D. Lounsbrough

 

Post-Election Word Wall Part 2

Last week’s post was the Post-Election Word Wall Part 1. Here is the concluding segment of the post-election word wall:

Best New Hyperboles – bigly (which may actually have been big league, but it aways sounded like bigly) and yuge. Oh,  and we should probably add tremendous.

Most Discussed Body Part – Hands (Yes, I know . . . there were others!)

The Four B Words – Benghazi, Breitbart, Blind Trust, Bannon 

The List of Insults (likely not a complete list):

Crooked Hillary
Little Marco
Lying Ted
Low-Energy Jeb
Pocahontas (Elizabeth Warren)
Miss Piggy (Ms. Machado, former Miss Universe)
Uniquely Unqualified

Favorite Twitter Words  –  wrong, bad, unfair, disaster (electoral college 2012), genius (electoral college 2016)

Words to Describe the Election: Corrupt, Rigged, “the people have spoken,” “accept it and move on,” WTF?

Post-Election Words:

fence (formerly known as  wall?)
cabinet
transition team
popular vote
electoral college
deportation
fight!
petition
protest
hate crimes
Million Women’s March on Washington
2018
2020

Next week: No more politics. Back to grammar and such.(Glad to hear that??)

 

 

Post-Election Word Wall Part 1

“I have words . . . I have the best words.” – Donald J. Trump

Words are part of everything, obviously, as they are our most common way to communicate. And every election certainly has slogans attached to it. However, the recent presidential election had new words, old words with new meanings, and new phrases, as well as the usual slogans. 

This is not a partisan post, although most of the material will likely come from one particular side of the campaign. Additionally, most of you know where I stand politically, I would assume. However, let’s have some fun with this. Next week will be part 2, the concluding part of Post-Election Word Wall.

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Most Important Word of the Campaign Award:  E-Mail. It arose early and then was gone for most of us. “I don’t want to hear any more about Hillary’s damn e-mails.” It then reared its ugly head again a couple of weeks before the election. Two days before the election it was rolled back again . . .probably too late.

Election Phrase with the Most Imagery Award: “The Basket of Deplorables.” You can just about picture it. And the word deplorable was pluralized,, meaning it was turned from an adjective into a noun.

The Three P’s: Puppets (No puppet, no puppet; you’re the puppet), Putin (Do you know him or not??), and Pussy (not the cat)

The Three Abbreviations: KKK (where did they come from?), KGB (Hi, Putin!), FBI (oh, Comey)

Most Deplorable Chant: Lock her up, lock her up, lock her up . . .

Most Famous Place Award: Aleppo (“What’s that?” he asked.)

Common Word Erasers Award: Disavow, Walk back

New Words for Racism: 

Rapists = Hispanics
Islamic Terrorists = Muslims
Beyonce, Jay Z ” and the like” = African Americans

Worst Choice to Pick a Fight With: Gold Star Family

Prom King and Queen: Bad Hombre and Nasty Woman

Who Has The Better of This New Presidential Qualification? Temperament 

Best Alliterative Phrase Uttered by a Current President:  Uniquely Unqualified

Best New Vocabulary Word to Impress Your Friends With: Misogyny

Slogans and Phrases of the Campaign:

Make America Great Again
Stronger Together
Love Trumps Hate
I’m with Her
God-Given Potential

Legal Term of the Campaign:  Plagiarism

Most Common Google Search Phrase: “Moving from the U.S. to Canada”

AND

Most Common Phrase That Is Also a Pink Floyd Album: The Wall

 

 

Reviews!

Reviews seem to be an integral part of Amazon sales. My workbook sells very well and has over 50 reviews. I have a favor to ask: If you have any of my books and have not yet written an Amazon review, I would so appreciate it if you would. A review doesn’t have to be long. It can be just a sentence or two. Thank you so very much!

 

 

 

Synesthesia? What’s That?

And now for something a little different . . .

Ever since I was little — I guess ever since I knew letters and numbers — they each had a color when I pictured them. For example, S and 6 were always yellow, E green, 7 brown, L and O white with black outlining. And the days of the week had colors too: Tuesday was yellow, Wednesday green, Thursday purple, and Saturday, also yellow.

I never really thought anything of it; I assumed everyone saw the same thing. 

Within the last year or so, I vaguely remember reading something about seeing numbers and letters as different colors. I don’t remember where I saw it, but I said to myself, “Oh, so it is a real thing and not everyone can see it.” And I quickly forgot about it. 

A few weeks ago, I saw a book on the New Books rack at the local library. I am a book fanatic, and even though I have plenty of books on my shelves, I can’t go to the library without getting a book. It was a novel called Tuesday Nights in 1980. It is about an art critic with synesthesia. He sees and even smells things associated with paintings. The book contained some information about synesthesia in the introduction, and I then started to do some research. I don’t know any other synesthetes, so please let me know if you are one.

Synesthesia is a sort of crossing over of one sense into another. There are many different types. One of the more common forms is the type I have, known as grapheme-color synesthesia, where letters and/or numbers are perceived as colored. Although they always appear pretty much the same color to the same synesthete, the colors are not universal among different people. For example, I see 6 as yellow, but someone else might always see it as blue. However, studies have found that sometimes synesthetes see the same color for a letter or number; for example, A is usually red.

Generally, this “condition” lasts throughout someone’s lifetime. The colors I see seemed to have faded throughout the years, but many are still there. And not every number or letter has to have a color associated with it.

It is likely that synesthesia develops during childhood when children are learning abstract concepts for the first time. Grapheme-color synesthesia develops when children start to identify letters and numbers. 

As with me, synesthetes are unaware their experiences are unusual until they realize other people don’t have them. Most synesthetes report that their experiences are pleasant or neutral, although, infrequently,  people complain that their synesthesia leads to “sensory overload.”

Although it is labeled as a neurological condition, many of us consider our synesthesia as a gift rather than as a handicap. Synesthetes often use their special abilities to memorize things, do mental arithmetic, etc. Many of us are involved in creative activities.

Years ago (synesthesia was noticed as far back as the 1800s), it was thought that synesthesia occurred in maybe 1 in 20,000 people, but now it is thought that as many as 1 in 23 people may have some form of it. And there are many forms in addition to grapheme-color:

Tone → (color, movement) synesthesia: People see colors when they hear certain tones of music.

Spatial-sequence, or number form synesthesia:  Numbers, months of the year, and/or days of the week appear in precise locations in space (for example, 1980 may be “farther away” than 1990 or 5 may be to the left of 2), or may appear as a three-dimensional map (clockwise or counterclockwise).

Chromesthesia: Everyday sounds such as doors opening, cars honking, or people talking can trigger seeing colors–  0r certain musical tones.

Auditory-tactile synesthesia: Certain sounds can produce sensations in parts of the body.  A specific word might feel like a touch in a specific part of the body.  This is one of the least common forms of synesthesia.

Ordinal-linguistic personification:  Ordered sequences, such as numbers, days of the week, months of the year, or the alphabet are associated with personalities and/or genders.  For example, the number 7 could be a teenage girl with an attitude, or the letter M might be little boy who is whining all the time. 

Mirror-touch synesthesia:  A rare form of synesthesia where individuals feel the same sensation that another person feels (such as touch). 

Lexical-gustatory synesthesia: A rare form of synesthesia where certain tastes are experienced when hearing words. For example, the word automobile might taste like chocolate. I often felt that the number 4 smelled like paint, so I don’t know what that’s all about!

Spatio-temporal synesthesia: A mental map of days, weeks, and/or months, where people say that they can “see the time,”for example, as a  ring or circle. 

So what causes synesthesia?  It is thought to be increased cross-talk between brain regions specializing in different functions. For example, the  experience of seeing color when looking at numbers and letters might be due to cross-activation of the grapheme-recognition and the color areas of the brain.

A study found that synesthesia is found in 4.4% of the population,  1 in 23 people. According to that same study graphemes-color synesthesia if found in one percent of the population. There is also research to suggest that the likelihood of having synesthesia is greater in people with autism.

So what creative people whom you might know have synesthesia?

The artist Kandinsky
The author Nabokov
The artist David Hockney
The musician/composer Duke Ellington
The composer Rimsky-Korsakov
Musician Billy Joel
Violinist Itzhak Perlman
Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead
Happy Pharrell Williams
Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat, who experiences colors as scents

I would love to hear from you if you are a synesthete. I believe there is a national organization for us – which I don’t belong to, since I just found out I am one!

 

Thanks Wikipedia for the information, and here is the link for more specific information.

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TUESDAY IS ELECTION DAY. PLEASE VOTE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Curse of Cursive

Cursive and the Educational Standards

If you haven’t been in the field of education . . . there are educational standards—things that should be taught at the various grade levels. Currently, those standards are called Common Core, and they are national, although states have the right to not adopt them. Prior to that, states had their own standards. One thing is for certain: the standards change, or at least change in name every few years or so. I suspect it is because many people’s jobs are at stake: those who develop the standards.

Common Core is silent on cursive, but it prioritizes computer use and keyboarding skills because its tests are taken on computers. However, even beginning in the 1990s, cursive writing got less and less instructional time. Currently, at least 41 states do not require public schools to teach cursive reading or writing.

Since 2010, 45 states have adopted the Common Core standards, which do not require cursive instruction but leave it up to the individual states and districts to decide whether they want to teach it. So what are the pros and cons of cursive?

Pros and Cons of  Teaching Cursive

The obvious “con” is that cursive is outdated. Computers have taken over, and most people use them to write. Otherwise, people can print. Who needs to learn cursive? It is not a “21st century skill.”

Here are some of the pros:

Experts have said cursive training helps small children develop hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and other brain and memory functions. Such skills could be important for children who might become surgeons, painters, or other occupations requiring laser-like precision with their hands.
Some teachers say that students like cursive writing because it is artistic and restful to practice.
A second grade teacher said that for some students being able to write like grown-ups is a rite of passage. And, she adds, “It promotes perseverance.”
Advocates for learning cursive  argue that “more areas of the human brain are engaged when children use cursive handwriting than when they keyboard.”
An academic therapist said cursive writing helps students who have dyslexia. “Because all letters in cursive start on a base line, and because the pen moves fluidly from left to right, cursive is easier to learn for dyslexic students who have trouble forming words correctly.”
Some experts say that nice handwriting can lead to better grades in school. An education professor at Florida International University recently conducted a study that found that children with neater handwriting developed better reading and math skills than their chicken-scratch peers.
According to a 2006 College Board report, SAT essays written in cursive received a slightly higher score than those with block print. But only 15 percent of the essays were written in cursive.
And what about the time when a keyboard is not available (is there ever such a time????)? It is faster to take notes in cursive than by printing letters. 

Some parents have been surprised at the lack of cursive training. Some are teaching it at home. Some schools are teaching it more as art than as a straight academic subject. So, in this case, cursive is a tradition, and, for some, a more personal way to communicate.

And then there are the arguments:

Cursive improves eye-hand coordination . . .But there are other ways to build good eye-hand coordination other than writing in cursive.
The Constitution is written in cursive . . . But you can certainly find printed versions of it to study!
You won’t be able to read Grandma’s letters . . . But Grandma’s letters probably aren’t even written in cursive any longer. She is probably using e-mail or Skype to communicate. (maybe)

An online poll by Harris Interactive showed 79 percent of adult respondents and 68 percent of kids ages 8-18 think cursive should still be taught. Nearly 49 percent of adults and 35 percent of youth say practicing reading and writing in cursive improves literacy. Okay, the survey was paid for by a pencil maker (really). 

When asked what they assume about people who can’t read or write cursive, 30 percent of adults polled and 25 percent of children judged the person as less literate, and 7 percent of adults and 11 percent of children assumed they are “just not smart.”

Kids gave a couple of good reasons why cursive is important:

“It’s cool and fancy. It’s faster because you write all the letters together.”
“If you’re going to be a famous soccer player, you need a signature for autographs.”

A couple of problems arise with teaching cursive. (1) If people are not learning it, teachers will no longer be able to teach it. Already, newer teachers have less experience with cursive and teaching it. (2) With more and more to be taught, increasing technology, and more time taken for standardized testing, cursive is one of the easiest things to eliminate from the curriculum because it is deemed not necessary for today’s world. (3) Cursive needs to be taught, but it also needs to be used and practiced lest it be forgotten. In some school districts, it is taught in third grade and never touched again.

What Are the States Doing About It?

Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia are now trying to keep cursive in the curriculum. 

A few Washington, D.C. traditional public and charter schools offer cursive; most others don’t. 

Bills have been  introduced in state legislatures in North and South Carolina, Indiana, and Idaho mandating cursive instruction. (In some cases, the bills were supported by companies that sell writing materials.)

Catholic schools, long known for emphasizing penmanship, are still teaching it, but are devoting less time to it.

The Virginia Department of Education mandates that third-graders should be able to read and write legibly in cursive. However, it is not always taught.

Georgia has laws mandating cursive instruction.

Responding to parent complaints, some states are revising the national standards and adopting their own rules. Arkansas lawmakers made cursive writing instruction mandatory in the state’s public elementary schools beginning in the 2015-2016 school year.

Tennessee passed a similar bill last summer. The Florida Department of Education approved updates to Common Core last year, adding cursive writing as part of fourth- and fifth-grade standards.

What I Think

I was an English teacher in middle school until 2015. Cursive was on the way out, and my entire department was very pro-cursive. We could teach it, students could use it . . . however, we were no longer permitted to require it. 

Now I wonder about its actual value, apart from it being part of our writing tradition,an additional skill (it is faster than printing), and an art. I notice that many of the states (not California and Massachusetts) that are trying to bring back cursive are conservative states, states where traditional values are important. I don’t fit in with these beliefs generally. I am all for progress. But maybe cursive isn’t exactly the same as a progressive political agenda. I just somehow wonder when I see the states that are trying to keep cursive in the curriculum. Are they just trying to keep the “good ole days” around? I haven’t come to a conclusion about that. But here is what I do believe:

Printing is the first type of writing children learn. It is important. Keyboarding is also important in this world: actually it is crucial. Cursive is good for brain development and coordination; it is also faster than printing and it looks lovely if done right.

Back when I went to school, we learned to print. Then, in second grade, we learned cursive, which we kept learning and using all the way through high school.  I never took typing in high school (I did teach myself), but lots of students did. So they learned all three modes of written communication. Why can’t kids do that now? Too few days of school? Too much time taken up for disciplining unruly students? Too much time taken for standardized testing? Fundraisers? 

Someone has said, “In the 21st century, you teach kids to be multilingual by hand.”  I agree.

 

Thank you to the following websites for helping me put this piece together.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/na...

http://www.eonline.com/news/481596/cu...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...

http://www.today.com/parents/cursive-...

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-N...

Grammar Diva News

My newest book, The Best Little Grammar Workbook Ever! is now available on Amazon, all other online retailers, Kindle, and soon all other e-readers.

My next book, The Best Little Dictionary of Confused Words and Malapropisms, will be out within the next two or so months.

I will be participating in NaNoWriMo this November (National Novel Writing Month), writing a sequel to my first novel. Yup, I do have a novel for those of you who didn’t know I tried writing fiction! I am going to change the title and author of my fiction book, getting rid of my pseudonym and making the book the first in a series. Here it is on Amazon. The new title will be Trashy Novel Book One: Four College Girls and a Purple Boa. The one I am about to begin will be the first sequel, Trashy Novel Book Two: Cybil. I have an undeveloped Facebook page for my novels,  and will probably develop a new website for novels. My pseudonym, JoJoBaker, will be changed to A. Miller.

As Grammar Diva, once again, I will be participating in the first annual  West Sonoma Book Faire at the Sebastopol Grange on Thursday, November 10, from 6 to 9 p.m. Free to the public.

I will also be participating in the  Writer’s World Vendor Faire, sponsored by the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association at the Next Key Center in Novato on Saturday, November 12, from noon to 3 p.m. Free to the public.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Malaprop . . . What???

The word is malapropism: the unintentional use of an incorrect word, often ridiculously, and usually confusing words that sound similar.  For example, The company lost money this physical year instead of the correct term,  fiscal year.

The book I am currently writing is titled, The Best Little Dictionary of Confused Words and Malapropisms. With any luck at all, it will be out at the end of 2016 and will contain all those commonly confused words (affect/effect, soul/sole, lose/loose, etc. ) as well as common malapropisms, some of which are phrases.

The word malapropism (mal being the prefix that means “bad” or “wrong”)  comes from a character named Mrs. Malaprop in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1775 play The Rivals. Mrs. Malaprop frequently uses words that don’t have the meaning that she intends, but sound similar to words that do. Sheridan  chose her name in reference to the word malapropos, derived from the French phrase mal à propos (“poorly placed”). 

Here are just a few common malapropisms:

I am on tender hooks – Should actually be on tenterhooks . A tenter is the frame thaat cloth is stretched out on when it is being made. The tenterhooks are the hooks or bent nails that hold the cloth. The idiom means to be held in suspense.
I am not at your beckon call – Should actually be beck and call . The difference between beckon and beck appears to be simply the part of speech. Beckon is a verb (to signal someone to come to you). Beck is the gesture you use to summon someone. In the idiom, beck and call are both nouns.
He is the spitting image of his sister – Should be spit and image. Again, it might be a matter of part of speech. Spitting is an adjective. Spit is a noun. But I don’t know what spit has to do with this idiom anyway!
The comedian was self-depreciating – No. The comedian was self-deprecating , which means the comedian made jokes about himself or herself. To depreciate is to lose value over time, like computer equipment.
For all intensive purposes , we are already married – Should be intents and purposes. An intent is the same as an intention or purpose. Intensive means having a high degree of intensity. 
I love to read, pacifically romance novels – Has nothing to do with oceans. It should, of course, be specifically .
Chester Drawers does not live in your bedroom and hold your underwear – it is a chest of drawers , or a bureau.
When you blame someone for something, there are no goats escaping – it is scapegoat , not escape goat.
Although it feels like a pain when you are really hungry, the term is hunger pangs , not hunger pains.
If a dog is walking behind you, you might get nipped in the butt . However, if you stop something in time, you have nipped it in the bud , or beginning stages.
Yes, there are children and teenagers in Asia, but mercy killing is called  euthanasia, not youth in Asia.
Survival of the fittest may make this a dog-eat-dog world  –   it isn’t however, a doggy dog world .

The Best Little Dictionary of Confused Words and Malapropisms will have these and many more malapropisms – as well as tons of confused words. Watch for it — later this year.