Kris Spisak's Blog, page 7

Writing Tip 413: “Cache” vs. “Cachet”

One can have cookies in their cache, or if they are a celebrity chef, maybe their cookies have cachet. But what does this all mean? Let’s dive in. (Hint: they are not pronounced the same way.)

While “cache” and “cachet” are two unique words, they do come from the same French root. They are hardly alone in this etymological phenomenon. There are many word pairs that share the same root, some of which are obvious when you think about it, like “flour” and “flower,” which both come from the French fleur; some of which are surprising, like “ticket” and “etiquette,” which both come from the same French origin as well.

But for “cache” vs. “cachet,” here’s what you need to know:

“Cache,” pronounced the same as “cash” in English, might make you think of your computer’s temporary data storage, but it’s any hiding place of important provisions or sometimes even the provisions themselves. Thus, your computer can have cookies in its cache or you might have confectioners’ sugar dusted cookies in your own secret cache that your family members don’t know about.
“Cachet,” which rhymes with “touché” or “sashay,” is synonymous with “prestige,” but it can also be a physical seal of approval among other definitions.

We could add “cash” into the conversation just to cover our bases—”cash,” of course, meaning “money,” and often “physical money” rather than credit cards or other digital means—but that’s not often as confused as “cache” vs. “cachet.”

“Cash” came into the English language in the late 1500s, originally from the French word caisse, meaning “money box.” The “box” piece of this definition simply fell away over time.

Both “cache” and “cache” come from the French word cacher, meaning “to hide.”

But their definitions aren’t hidden for you anymore, are they? Now about those cookies…

Sign up for my monthly writing and editing email newsletter for more tips like this.

The post Writing Tip 413: “Cache” vs. “Cachet” appeared first on Kris Spisak.

Writing Tip 412: “Disparate” vs. “Desperate”

Does this image make you feel “desperate” or think about the “disparity” on the different sides of the river bank? There are so many ways to talk about these two words.

Sometimes, one word feels like another, just spoken with an accent. Add a Southern drawl to “desperate” and it sounds like “disparate,” right? But that doesn’t help our situation much—and hey, I’m from the American South, so it’s not a knock on Southerners, y’all.

Here’s what you need to know when spellcheck simply refuses to help you:

“Desperate” means having an extreme hopelessness and/or frustration, leading to a feeling of absent possibilities. When all feels lost, you might feel desperate. The noun forms of “desperate” are “desperation” and “despair.”
“Disparate” means different in all ways. Hot colors and cool colors are disparate from each on a paint palette, and beliefs—clearly—can be disparate too. The noun form of “disparate” is “disparity.”

Say them again and again, back and forth, and your own tongue will surely deceive you, but you can get this right.

The Latin word desperatus, meaning “haven given up,” is the origin of “desperate,” and the Latin word disparare, meaning “to divide or separate,” is the origin of “disparate.”

Should we despair at the lack of disparity between these two words? No, even though you might stumble across a usage of “disparately,” which is indeed the rarely-used adverb form of “disparate,” which so closely resembles “desperately,” the adverb form of “desperate.” Sigh.

As for how many times my own fingers slipped and I typed one word instead of the other even in crafting this blog, I’ll let that remain a mystery. I’ll just add a quick reminder about the power of taking time with the words we say and the words that trickle out of our fingertips onto our keyboards.

Happy writing, folks.

Join over 1,000 subscribers and sign up for my monthly writing and editing email newsletter for more tips like this.

The post Writing Tip 412: “Disparate” vs. “Desperate” appeared first on Kris Spisak.

#32 – Threatened Languages, How Come We Say “How Come” & the Latest in Words You Should Know

A few stolen minutes out of your day to talk words and communication, because our daily lives are surrounded by the evolution and influence of words. Forget the grammar police. There is so much more to this conversation.

Episode #32 – Threatened Languages, How Come We Say “How Come” & the Latest in Words You Should Know

Approximate transcript:

Welcome to Episode 32.

The Latest in Word, Language & Writing News

Let’s talk the latest in word, language, and writing news.

Here’s your update.

We’ve talked about how 2020 and COVID-19 specifically have both had effects on the English language. Terms we wouldn’t have known or properly considered in January of 2020 are now jumping into regular usage—“WFH” (as in work from home), “infodemic” (as in a pandemic of incorrect information), and “Zoom fatigue,” among many others, But another fascinating piece of news about language in 2020 is how language learning has not only gone online but expanded dramatically in its possibilities.

For example, with many indigenous American languages falling out of usage, Middlebury College in Vermont, offered a pilot program that was intended to be a two-week summer immersive (in class experience) around the Abenaki language, an indigenous Algonquin language once native to Quebec and New England. (And listeners, if you can correct my pronunciation, I encourage you to send me a note!) Many have been concerned that the majority of the native speakers of this language have slowly been passing away while English has been encouraged for younger generations. But because of the surge in virtual teaching possibilities during the pandemic, a new class that was seeing interest of one or two people a week in the spring, a class that was meant to be in a classroom, now has two to four requests per day and has gone virtual, which means anyone, anywhere has the potential to take it. Online classes allow for new possibilities, and students from Abenaki communities across Canada, the U.S., and even Europe are now getting involved. The community has further connected, and the Abenaki language has come alive in many ways again. So there’s a win for 2020.

Of course many other indigenous languages, which have been on the brink of extinction have been further threatened by the coronavirus era. When the few speakers left of a language are all community elders, those most at risk of disease are the carriers of language. The language of the Yawalapiti, an Indigenous tribe in the Amazon rainforest is one of these languages on the verge of being lost, and the coronavirus has been hitting this population hard. More details on this and similar indigenous language news stories, as always, are in my show notes.

An interesting twist to the language preservation stories of 2020 is the invention of a new algorithm out of MIT that not only deciphers lost languages but also can identify relationships between different little-understand language systems.

It’s been said that most of the languages that humans have spoken have disappeared and that of those that we speak today across the earth, half are expected to vanish in the next 100 years. Just take that in for a moment. Half.

There’s a lot to think about in the world today, but this is a news item little discussed. Why not bring it into your next small talk at the start of your next Zoom call. Oh no, now you’re thinking about Zoom fatigue again. Sorry about that.

English Language History & Trivia

Moving on to English language history and trivia, there are so many topics I want to cover in this section of the “Words You Should Know Podcast,” because as words surround us every day—spoken words, written words, digital words, artificially intelligent words (I don’t know, go with it), I keep finding myself asking “How come?”; “How come?”; “How come?”

Why do we “hit the books,” “hit the sack,” “hit up our friends” when we’re reaching out to them? Why all the violence, people. How come we say these things?

So, that’s where we’re going today, not the “hitting up” actually, we’ll save that for later, but how come we say “how come”?

Now this one’s interesting, because it’s another example of a longer phrase that’s been tightened over the centuries.

What was once “How did it come about that…” or “How comes it” has evolved into the “How come?” we know today. These earlier versions had been used by Machiavelli in “The Prince” (1513), as he wrote, “How comes it that the Church has attained such greatness in temporal power”; William Shakespeare used it in 1597 play “Love’s Labours Lost”: “How come you thus estranged?”; Herman Melville used it in his lesser known, “White Jacket,” also known as “The World in a Man-of-War” (published in 1892). He wrote, “How came you here at the guns of the North Carolina.” I could go on, but I won’t. It’s all over the place in old writing, but as words have evolved and the fittest and often the most succinct survived, “How comes it” and “How did it come about that” transformed into simply “how come?”

My favorite old usage along this linguistic trail is an old hyphenated adjective phrase, “how-come-you-so,” meaning intoxicated. Oh, wow, you had a bit too much of that IPA and were a bit how-come-you-so last night, weren’t you? I love it. Thanks to Merriam Webster for that one.

And yes that “how come?” can pretty much mean “why” for all intents and purposes, which is always interesting, because we do already have a word for that, so how come we need another? Why is that? How come? Oh, English language, you’re kind of funny sometimes.

But you’re going strong, even if not always logical.

Language Challenge

Speaking of old words and old expressions, here’s today’s language challenge for you. How do you spell “linchpin”? A court case, a chemical compound, a maniacal scheme … these can all have linchpins, an essential component of the whole, something without which everything else will fall apart. But how do you spell it? L-Y-N-C-H-P-I-N or L-I-N-C-H-P-I-N?

The answer goes back to the 1200s, and you can find details, as always, is in my show notes at GetAGripOnYourGrammar.com

So how are you holding together, folks? Here’s hoping your grammar and word choice aren’t something that are making you feel like you’re falling apart. But if you’re looking for that linchpin, I can at least help reassure you about its spelling.

Personal Update:

And finally, for my personal update, as of the release of this podcast, I am two weeks away from the launch of my newest book, The Family Story Workbook: 105 Prompts & Pointers for Writing Your History. All pre-orders that come through the ever-fabulous Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia come with some exciting extras too. Check that out on my website.

The virtual book launch is planned, where I’ll be joined by a number of amazingly talented authors and wordsmiths for an online program again with Fountain Books, and my virtual book tour planning is well underway. Oh the things we never saw coming in January 2020, but I’m thrilled at the possibilities of personal connections across the world.

And, of course, I should add that “National Novel Writing Month” is just about to begin, yes November is “NaNoWriMo” for short, that month of the year creatives across the globe attempt to write a full novel within the confines of the month. I love the push. And, of course, I’m cheering everyone on and will be sharing lots of #writingtips from my book, The Novel Editing Workbook, on Twitter and beyond.

We talked a lot of lost languages at the start of this episode, but I want to take a moment to speak to lost stories, the ones you always wanted to write down, the ones you always wanted to complete, the ones (true or fictional) that you always wanted to tell. What better time than now, folks?

Lost languages and lost stories, we can get to work on that in our own little ways. How come? Because it’s simply what we’re meant to do.

Join 1,000+ subscribers and sign up for my English language tips and trivia email newsletter for more articles and podcasts like this.

If you like what you’ve been hearing, don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast (via Apple Podcasts, Android, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or RSS) so you’ll never miss out on another word you should know. Many thanks to those of you who have taken the time to rate my show wherever you listen.

Words. Language. Communications. We’ve got this.

The post #32 – Threatened Languages, How Come We Say “How Come” & the Latest in Words You Should Know appeared first on Kris Spisak.

Writing Tip 411: “Linchpin” or “Lynchpin”?

What are we looking at here? A “linchpin” or “lynchpin”?

When you have something that holds your entire argument or carriage together, spelling it wrong certainly doesn’t help your cause. How do you spell “lynchpin”/”linchpin”?

This one’s tricky. Just because you’ve seen it written one way doesn’t mean that all uses are standard, and much like “acknowledgements” and “acknowledgments,” both “lynchpin” and “linchpin” can be commonly found online. But the correct answer is…

Wait for it…

“Linchpin.”

And here’s the wild and wonderful part: nearly everyone around the world agrees. There’s no British vs. American English divide here, thank Ben Franklin and Noah Webster very much.

In fact, “linchpin” is an incredibly old word, harkening back to the center of a wagon wheel that attached to a cart or carriage. In Old English, this central attachment was called a “lynis.” As Old English evolved into Middle English—think roughly the 13th century—this attachment became known as a “lynis-pin” or “linspin,” which evolved into the “linchpin” we know today.

Of course, nowadays, we’re not commonly talking about components of a wagon wheel.

A “linchpin” today is an essential component of the whole, something without which everything else will fall apart. A court case, a chemical compound, a maniacal scheme … these can all have linchpins.

“Lynchpins,” on the other hand, do come up fairly frequently, so let’s spend a moment with that. This less common spelling is included in many dictionaries, but it’s almost always recognized as a variant of the standard spelling. To be clear, there does not seem to be a connection between the verb “to lynch” and this alternate spelling, other than the fact that people might be familiar with one and incorrectly assume the spelling of the other.

So how are you holding together, folks? Here’s hoping your grammar and word choice aren’t something that are making you feel like you’re falling apart. But if you’re looking for that linchpin, at least you’ll know how to spell it.

Join over 1,000 subscribers and sign up for my monthly writing and editing email newsletter for more tips like this.

The post Writing Tip 411: “Linchpin” or “Lynchpin”? appeared first on Kris Spisak.

#31 – Poets, Manifestos, Trying Harder & the Latest in Words You Should Know

A few stolen minutes out of your day to talk words and communication, because our daily lives are surrounded by the evolution and influence of words. Forget the grammar police. There is so much more to this conversation.

Episode #31 – Poets, Manifestos, Trying Harder & the Latest in Words You Should Know

Approximate transcript:

Welcome to Episode 31.

The Latest in Word, Language & Writing News

Let’s talk the latest in word, language, and writing news.

Here’s your update.

If you’ve ever been frustrated and wanted to just bang your hands on your keyboard, you might have some sympathy for the writer for Walmart who appeared to do just that in a recent press release shared on their possible new relationship with TikTok. In the midst of professional announcements, there was a 44 character pile of gibberish. Did a cat walk across a keyboard, with the final flourish of a paw on the send button? Was there stress involved? We may never know. The mistake was caught quickly, of course, but we saw you Walmart. Let’s all keep working on our editing together, okay?

Of course, what is gibberish to some may not be gibberish to all.

There was also recently an unfortunate and offensive hijacking of selections of Gurmukhi,  the name for the written script of Punjabi, a language spoken by roughly 130 million people around the world as well as written Amharic, one of the two main languages of Ethiopia, spoken by around 22 million people. Now, admittedly, I’m trying to do justice to the pronunciation of these languages, so if anyone could clarify this for me, please don’t hesitate to reach out. This all most recently came about because of a viral response to President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis. A copy and paste of a selection of text from these languages, with alphabets many in the United States might not be familiar with, were being used synonymously with an idea of magic, hexing, and cursing. Now, admittedly, Twitter commentary, as with anything online, can get absolutely out of hand, but hijacking a language you don’t understand and creating it as a stand-in for something demonic, barbaric, or even just “strange” isn’t helping the divisions so extreme in this world.

When we talk about empowering yourself with language use, let’s not use an entire other language as a foil in your communications. Be better than that people.

But I suppose I shouldn’t just refer to people when I say writers. We’ve talked about Artificial Intelligence in the writing world before. Did you catch how an AI bot was let loose on Reddit recently? It posted. It responded to others. People were in conversation with a bot and had no idea. It didn’t always end well. Creepy? Cool? Disturbing? Definitely something to keep an eye on.

And just now I’m realizing that this episode’s language news updates are kind of downers–typos, offensiveness, AI causing some trouble–so let’s end with two stories that can turn this around.

It might not be a “word” per se, that you should know, but both cats and dogs have been in communication headlines in the past week for what they know. A woman in Tacoma, Washington has taught her dog, a Sheepadoodle, how to communicate by pressing buttons that say words aloud, and scientists have now confirmed the intimacy of a slow blink from a cat and/or how a cat understands a slow blink from a person as affection. You know you’re intrigued.

Details, as always in my show notes.

English Language History & Trivia

Now I’m coming off of an inspiring weekend spent with a lot of writers, wordsmiths, and creatives, so personally my soul feels truly fed for the first time in a long while.

Surrounding yourselves with artists and creatives is one way to feel like you can shout poetry or a manifesto from a rooftop and be heard, and that’s a good feeling—not one that surrounds us every day to be sure. But this got me thinking about the language of what we write.

Let’s start with “poet,” which might strike up so many ideas, but when we get down to the root of it, the literal etymological root, “poet” comes from the Greek word “to make.” It’s also connected to an older Sanskrit word meaning “to gather.” Whether you consider poetry something beautiful, something powerful, something profound, or something unrelatable, this word origin story has to stick with you just a bit.

Poets have been highly esteemed in cultures across the world for centuries, for they were the makers, they were the gatherers. There’s power there worth remembering.

“Manifesto,” on the other hand, has a bit of spectacular flair to it, in my opinion, and maybe that’s just the Italian style of the word giving it some added passion. We all have a sense of this word today, of course, meaning a statement declaring one’s ideas, views, motivations to the public. However, tip-toeing back in time, past Jerry Maguire’s “The Things We Think and Do Not Say,” (yep, I said it), past Mary Wollstonecraft’s 1791 manifesto, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,” past Thomas Payne’s “Common Sense,” not quite as far back as the Ten Commandments in the Bible, but somewhere not too far after that space, we have the word “manifesto” beginning to take shape.

It all began with a hand taking hold, in Latin the combination of manus (of the hand) and festus, which meant “struck.” Manus festus, first taking on the meaning of being apprehended—someone being caught was literally struck by the hand—but over time, it evolved into a figurative idea, a statement that can be striking, that makes things clear and obvious.

I’ve heard comparison between “manifestos” and to click-bait top ten lists—both designed to grab your attention and to get straight to the easily digestible point.  And suddenly you’re reading  “The Declaration of the Rights Of Man” in a whole new light, aren’t you? Thanks for that connection from The Atlantic.

Now, Essays do not always reach the caliber of a “manifesto,” but their root is found in the French word “to try.” That’s one I always love reminding writers, especially students and anyone in academia.

For we who play with words—and yes, that is all of us, whether we realize it or not—we must try; we must make; we must gather; we must try to make striking ideas clear and obvious, without striking one on the head with our hands, of course.

Chances are that a dog, of course, cannot compose a poem or manifesto or essay via buttons, yet don’t you love that just for a second there that the idea was in your head?

Language Challenge

All right, time for our language challenge. Since we’re talking about the language of writing today, let’s imagine those words printed on a page. Imagine flipping through those pages so quickly you almost create a breeze of old-book smell. Now imagine searching through those pages frantically, desperately trying to find something within them. There are two different words that could describe this different actions. You could riffle through the pages or rifle through the pages. Oh, the detail of that second “f.”

“Riffling” or “rifling” through pages? Do you know the difference?

The answer, as always is in my show notes.

Personal Update:

For my personal update today, I should say I do a lot of speaking at writers’ conferences, with writing groups, with aspiring writers, and with communicators across a wide variety of professional settings, and for me, my fall is always packed with events, one after the other after the other. For example, last weekend, I spoke at the James River Writers Conference in Richmond, Virginia. Next weekend, I’ll be speaking at the Broadleaf Writers Association Conference in Atlanta Georgia. And of course, when I’m naming cities right now, all of this is virtual. I’m across the U.S., but sitting at my own desk at home.

And it’s funny because it’s putting a different spin on connecting with other writers right now. I love connecting with wordsmiths, communicators, creatives, whatever you want to call yourself. In some ways, we’re able to connect more than ever, right? You’re listening to me from your car, as you’re going for a walk, as you’re folding laundry, or whatever you’re up to right now. It’s going to be fascinating how the years to come are transformed by everything that’s happened in 2020, and yes, that includes our communications.

I still have quite a number of writing and storytelling events before the close of 2020—hello virtual book launch!—but more on that coming soon.

Write on, writers. Keep changing in the world in ways big and small with those words of yours. It truly is amazing what any single one of us can do.

Join 1,000+ subscribers and sign up for my English language tips and trivia email newsletter for more articles and podcasts like this.

If you like what you’ve been hearing, don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast (via Apple Podcasts, Android, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or RSS) so you’ll never miss out on another word you should know. Many thanks to those of you who have taken the time to rate my show wherever you listen.

Words. Language. Communications. We’ve got this.

The post #31 – Poets, Manifestos, Trying Harder & the Latest in Words You Should Know appeared first on Kris Spisak.

Writing Tip 410: Is it “quote unquote” or “quote end quote”?

Let’s talk journalism, where precision and accuracy with language is essential. As is truth. As is integrity … Oh, wait, I’m getting distracted. (If anyone wants to help me with that revolution, let me know.)

Let’s bring this conversation down to one specific question: Is it “quote unquote” or “quote end quote”? Readers everywhere want to know, right?

Logic might argue one direction, but when has logic ever consistently given you answers to English language questions?

Do you have your answer? How confident are you?

Here’s what you need to know:

The standard expression is “quote-unquote,” “quote/unquote,” or “quote … unquote.”

Thus, “unquote” is an accepted word. Check your favorite spellcheck or autocorrect software. They’ll all agree.

Similar to a closing quotation mark, “unquote” cannot stand on its own. It only works with its partner. A reporter cannot “unquote” a source; nor can a politician (no matter how hard they might try). True, this word never acts as a verb, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a word.

“Quote/unquote” is a predominantly spoken expression, used to emphasize quoted words when punctuation marks aren’t there to help, as they would be with written words. It can be found in written media, but it’s used significantly less frequently there because in a visual form, punctuation marks alone can solve quotation clarity issues.

For those who feel strongly about that “end quote” being the logical answer, “quote end quote” does also appear from time to time (sometimes also spelled “endquote” or “end-quote”). Logically, it makes sense. But thus far, it seems to be a rebellion in the name of logic and order. I’m imagining punctuation marks with tiny fists raised in the air. How about you?

There’s a time and a place for precision and meticulous grammatical use, but if you’re arguing for “quote / end quote,” this isn’t a battle you’ll win. Dictionaries, historical precedent, and common usage all aren’t on your side.

When used correctly, this phrase can appear before the quotation in question (e.g., “she said quote-unquote, ‘we found the mother lode‘”), after the quotation (e.g., “he said it was in the ‘vanilla folder,’ quote-unquote”), or even split up (e.g., “he said, quote, ‘it was besides the point,’ unquote”). But however you may use it, remember its correct spelling. When it comes to the “quote unquote” or “quote end quote” debate, there is an answer.

We may have a long way to go with the world always using quotations accurately, but at least the words you use around them can be right.

Join 1,000+ subscribers and sign up for my writing and editing email newsletter for more tips like this.

The post Writing Tip 410: Is it “quote unquote” or “quote end quote”? appeared first on Kris Spisak.

#30 – Shakespeare’s English, Space Travel & the Latest in Words You Should Know

A few stolen minutes out of your day to talk words and communication, because our daily lives are surrounded by the evolution and influence of words. Forget the grammar police. There is so much more to this conversation.

Episode #30 – Shakespeare’s English, Space Travel & the Latest in Words You Should Know

Approximate transcript:

Hi, everyone. Welcome to episode 30 of the Words You Should Know podcast.

It’s funny how when you tune your ear to it, talk about words and communication is just about everywhere. Football teams suffer because of lack of communication of the field; resumes are weakened by sloppy verbs choices; the messages sent back and forth on a favorite dating app can say so much, intentionally or otherwise; social media giants like Facebook are issuing new corporate guidelines on internal communications; practically every business is learning how to re-imagine team communications when employees are working from home.

Words. We can’t escape them, yet they shape our lives.

The Latest in Word, Language & Writing News

There’s one story that keeps popping back into the headlines, and since I caught in again earlier this month, I wanted to hear your reactions. This is serious stuff. Period. No, really, let’s talk about periods in text messages. Are they aggressive? Are they marks of dramatic seriousness? Are they just little dots of digital ink that the grammatically inclined add from writing muscle memory?

Some argue that positive responses like “sounds good,” “okay,” or “sure” followed by a period turn a simple agreement into a passive-aggressive response, and reporting is showing that this could easily be a generational divide.

What are your thoughts on this? Send me a response. I’d love to know.

And if we’re getting into the subtleties of language and technology, let’s shift from text messages to spoken communications, because a Japanese robotics company called Donut Robotics, yep, you heard that correctly, has recently released a language translator that isn’t just an app on your smartphone but built into a face mask. Did overcoming language barriers while social distancing just become easier? Fascinating. I know I’m following this innovation story.

Technology brings up so many communication quandaries, and I’m not just talking about improving your communications on your favorite video meeting software. Here’s the biggest question that caught me in communications news the past few weeks. Maybe you’re familiar with the evolution of the English language due to colonization over the past few centuries, where American English and Australian English, for example, have transformed over time to have their own particularities, though they both stem from the same British English origin. However, here’s the mind-blowing part: as conversations continue about space travel and a mission to Mars, the question has been posed whether those participants in a Mars mission or any other space mission of duration would create a language time-capsule of sorts, holding onto the language of the day from the month and year they left Earth, or whether this language could transform over time in new settings and circumstances. Thank you, Slate Magazine, for posing this idea.

Think of a regionalism that you might be familiar with, a word or phrase that anyone from one certain place might understand but that an outsider might be confused by. These things happen naturally when language slowly shifts inside of geographical pockets. Now what if that happens on an interplanetary level. This is out there, I know, but not beyond the bounds of what we’ve seen in language history. Will “awesomesauce” endure far after it’s fallen out of use on Earth? Okay, kidding with that one, but aren’t you captivated by this question?

English Language History & Trivia

So, with that as our basis, for today’s language history and trivia segment, let’s delve into little known pockets of language preservation. The English language has shifted and evolved in so many ways, and, of course, it continues to. Some say that until recently, the closest we had to the remnants of Shakespeare’s English were in the communities of the Appalachian mountains in the United States. These were, for a long time, places not greatly touched by American cultural change or outside influences. But Shakespearean English? Is this true? Or is it a romanticized linguistic story to connect American roots with the greatness of Shakespeare and even Chaucer?

Here’s what the research tells us:

According to some historians, some of the non-standard English used in Appalachia was once employed by the highest-ranking nobles of England and Scotland. For example, it wasn’t until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries before many people were careful with their usages of “you were” versus “you was.” Much of this, of course, calls back to old singular and plural “you” forms. But in that transition period, “you was” existed. There’s a history to that phrasing. It’s not considered correct in our modern language, and yes, it might rub you the wrong way, but there was indeed a day when it was an acceptable form. Knowing this doesn’t make it standard or correct, but it does give this usage a bit more historical respect.

The same is true for phrasings like, “Bring them books over here,” to quote an example from one historian. In the 1500s, this was commonly used English. Whether the positioning of the object pulls from French usage or has other origins, I’m not sure, but it’s intriguing that there’s a difference between “uneducated” stereotypes and linguistic patterns that have been ingrained and undisturbed for centuries.

Here’s another old usage that remains in pockets of America, the word “reckon.” “I reckon,” meaning “I suppose” or “I consider,” was an expression common in Tudor England.

These language subtleties fascinate me, but it’s the usage of these linguistic roots in the American story that fascinates me even more. If you know anything about the Appalachian region, you know it isn’t and never has been a singular culture. There is room for debate in these boundaries, but the examined speech patterns of Appalachia are commonly ones found in the mountains from Northern Alabama to West Virginia.

There are decades of research, perhaps even a century of citations referring to “William Shakespeare’s English spoken in the mountains.” Which mountains, quite, has remained unclear, and Geoffrey Chaucer’s name has come up enough times to gain public attention too.

So what’s the truth of this legend? It seems to be true that some elements of centuries-old English lingered in certain pockets of America, specifically in the mountains of Appalachia. Naming these certain language patterns and lasting word choices as “Shakespeare’s English” might be a bit of a stretch, but then again the poetry of an Appalachian simile might just make the comparison easier to understand. We do love our tall tales, rooted in truth then somehow magnified, grown as big as Paul Bunyan and his massive blue ox named Babe. Maybe this is just a linguistic tall tale. Storytelling is indeed powerful.

Time, greater ease and necessity of travel, globalization, and ubiquitous media exposure have changed much of the Appalachian reality in recent decades, but this language history is worth paying attention to. Transformations are all around us, but so are memories of the past if we dare to look for them.

Language Challenge

Okay, Since we’re talking Appalachia today, here’s today’s language challenge: how do you spell the word “y’all”? Or maybe I should say where’s the apostrophe?

(laugh) I just felt some of you cringe when I said that. If this was you, I’ll toss a different question your way. If something is  routine, nice and clear, or ordinary, would you call it “cut and dry” or “cut and dried”?

So many questions, so little time. The answers, as always are in my show notes.

Personal Update:

For my personal update, I’ll share some excitement. There’s a stage in the publishing process where the book is largely finished. Revisions, edits, and formatting have all come to a close. This is the point where the official “ARC” or Advance Reader Copy takes shape, so pretty much the final book without any review quotes on the back, where there’s room for tiny corrections if needed but hopefully all of that was smoothed over in the line-edit process.

And I have the ARC for my new book in my hands this week! This is that moment after so much work, after the team effort has been underway for a while, when it all becomes real. My ARC will go out to its first batch of early readers this week. What happens next, we’ll see!

As a follow-up to Get A Grip on Your Grammar: 250 Writing and Editing Reminders for the Curious or Confused  (Career Press, 2017) and The Novel Editing Workbook: 105 Tricks & Tips for Revising Your Fiction Manuscript (Davro Press, 2020), this is my third book, The Family Story Workbook: 105 Prompts & Pointers for Writing Your History.

The power of harnessing your words and your story, and examining how you can use language to change the world, yep, everything I do is centered right there.

Where are you and your words going next?

Join 1,000+ subscribers and sign up for my English language tips and trivia email newsletter for more articles and podcasts like this.

If you like what you’ve been hearing, don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast (via Apple Podcasts, Android, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or RSS) so you’ll never miss out on another word you should know. Many thanks to those of you who have taken the time to rate my show wherever you listen.

Words. Language. Communications. We’ve got this.

The post #30 – Shakespeare’s English, Space Travel & the Latest in Words You Should Know appeared first on Kris Spisak.

Writing Tip 409: “Normalcy” vs. “Normality”

What does “normalcy” mean to you? How about “normality”? How do you imagine this pier differently?

For anyone who’s heard the term “new normal” one too many times and had their mind wander, this writing tip is for you. For me, it wandered to the difference between “normalcy” vs. “normality” and the question of whether one of these words is the hands-down, correct term we should all be using.

What do you think? Which rolls off your tongue?

Here’s what you need to know:

“Normalcy” isn’t normal. It’s a bit of a renegade, but that’s not to say that it’s wrong. Why am I calling “normalcy” a renegade? Well, it’s not because it’s dancing on TikTok. Adjectives that end in “t” normally become nouns by adding “cy.” Think about it for a moment: “vacant” becomes “vacancy”; “intimate” becomes “intimacy”; “expedient” becomes “expediency”; “stagnant” becomes “stagnancy.” Yet “normal” ends with an “l,” and “l” words typically transform into adjective forms with an “-ity.”

“Normality” is normal in this way. It’s arguably the standard, preferred form and far more common everywhere English is spoken, yet this isn’t the end of the matter.

In scientific and mathematics circles, this “-cy” vs. “-ity” language-logic is cast aside, and “normalcy” is still the favored term for certain situations. Then there’s the choice of “normalcy” that no one can forget, when President Warren Harding used it in 1920 in his campaign slogan, “Return to Normalcy.” The press went wild, as media outlets seem to do, decrying the U.S. president’s incompetence with the English language. “Normalcy” vs. “Normality”—the debate raged again! To be fair, “normalcy” was in common use at the time, especially in American English. One hundred years later, in the COVID era, “normalcy” is heard almost as commonly as “normality” once again.

Unlike other illogical mistakes that find their way into the dictionary (ahem, “irregardless” or “literally” literally defined as “figuratively”), both “normality” and “normalcy” have their legitimate arguments of correct usage. Plus, neither word is dramatically older than the other either.

And really, if you want to talk about how not normal the nouns of “normal” are, you could also bring “normalness” into the conversation, which is another accepted adjective form. You didn’t see that coming, did you? Less common, yes, but it is a noun spelling that’s been around for almost as long as the other two.

So the nouns of “normal” are a bit abnormal in the end. It’s the English language. Are you surprised? To be fair, we could talk “abnormalities” all day long, but we wouldn’t really talk about “abnormalcies.”

But which word do you prefer? And why? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Join 1,000+ subscribers and sign up for my writing and editing email newsletter for more tips like this.

The post Writing Tip 409: “Normalcy” vs. “Normality” appeared first on Kris Spisak.

#29 – AI, Suffragettes, Bloomers & the Latest in Words You Should Know

A few stolen minutes out of your day to talk words and communication, because Ben Franklin and Kurt Cobain both influenced our modern English language, spelling memes deserve to be debunked, and our daily lives are surrounded by the evolution of and the influence of words.

Forget the grammar police. There is so much more to this conversation.

Oh, it feels so good to be back. The Words You Should Know podcast is back!

Episode #29 – AI, Suffragettes, Bloomers & the Latest in Words You Should Know

Approximate transcript:

Hi, everyone. I hope you and your words are well. I’ve missed you.

And in case you missed the mini-episode, this episode, #29, begins a new iteration of the podcast, where we will start with news in the world of words and language. We are surrounded by news stories, but my guess is that these might not be on your radar.

The Latest in Word, Language & Writing News

First, I don’t know who’s been in home clean-out mode lately, I know I have, but some archaeologists just made a huge discovery in a rat’s nest of a house. No, literally, in a rat’s nest of a house.

Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk, England was recently explored by archeologists from the National Trust, and apparently, hundreds of years ago, rats inside this house decided to use rare manuscripts for their bedding. They shredded and hid these works, dragging them deep into the crevices of the home, under floorboards and inside secret pockets of this house

Cambridge University Library’s medieval manuscripts specialist was brought in to identify the illuminated manuscripts and rare religious texts that seem to be of the 1400s and 1500s.

I don’t know what you’ve found lately in your attic, but my guess is that it was nothing like this. Images, if you’re intrigued, are in this episode’s show notes on my website.

And if we’re talking about rats, we might as well flip the conversation and give a quick shout out to some neglected cats on the world lately. Have you ever thought about what your favorite bookstore cat or library cat has been up to during the COVID-19 pandemic? Hey there, Wonton from Chop Suey Books in Richmond, Virginia. I miss you (though you can definitely find Wonton all over social media). “ILoveLibraries,” an initiative of the American Library Association, recently published an update on the status of library cats. Books are invaluable for entertaining us, enlightening us, soothing us, and piquing our curiosity, but cats are great for all of that too, right?

Beyond the cat happenings of 2020, words themselves have been evolving and shifting in usage dramatically this year. A group of linguists has recently explored how COVID-19 has “infected our language,” citing that the pandemic has led to the creation of over one thousand new words, from the technical and medical to new slang of the era. Have you had a “quarentini” during a “locktail hour” on a “Zoom party”? Perhaps you’ve perfected your “isodesk,” your home workspace in isolation, which you’ve designed to look great on video. PPE might just flow off your tongue.

Whether these terms stick around or not is a big question. Some argue it depends on how long the COVID era lasts. Some say that like language of wartime, some expressions will be forgotten and some will endure. If you have any favorite words or language of the year, definitely chime in and let me know.

Language, folks, the words we use and how we use them. Times are a changin’. It’s always been true, and I like to keep you in the loop.

English Language History & Trivia

Now, concerning other topics that might be on your mind, let’s talk voting—or at least the language history hiding in the midst of a voting conversation.

We just passed the 100th anniversary of the women’s suffrage amendment, which ratified on August 18, 1920, becoming the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. And this anniversary means so many things, but first things first, let’s talk suffrage.

Way too many people are confused by this word. It has nothing to do with suffering, well, at least not etymologically.

I remember a late-night talk show going out on the streets, asking people what they thought about women’s suffrage, and the slew of embarrassing responses that followed.

First things first:

“Suffrage” means the right to vote in public elections. It comes from the Latin word suffragium, meaning “a voting tablet,” “ballot,” or sometimes, just as today, “the right to vote.” A secondary, less commonly used meaning of “suffrage,” is “a prayer.” “Suffrage” has been a part of the English language since the 1400s.
“Suffering,” on the other hand, means the enduring of pain, to feel intensely, or to sustain great losses, among other definitions. It came to English in the 1300s, with its ultimate root also in Latin, specifically the word sufferer, meaning “to submit to, endure.”

Any conversation about “sufferage” has room to fascinate me, but one of my favorite parts of this discussion is that the word “suffrage” itself enabled the creation of two more words, “suffragist” and “suffragette,” both used for those who were fighting for suffrage. In contemporary usage, maybe we’re familiar with “suffragette,” but what I love about this word is that it was initially used in mockery and then reclaimed, not so different from how “Yankee Doodle” was composed in mockery of the colonists and reclaimed as a patriotic anthem of the United States.

“Suffragette” was first used in the U.K. to mock the women with their little cause, using the diminutive suffix of “-ette.” A less substantial cigar becomes a “cigarette”; a tiny towel becomes a “towelette”; a tiny kitchen becomes a “kitchenette”; Chipmunks have their “Chipettes” (did that bother anyone else as a child? Just me? Maybe just me.)

But anyway, in this way, a woman who cared about suffrage became a “suffragette.” But then the women decided to embrace it. One bold response came from a publication of the Women’s Social and Political Union, or WSPU, which was titled The Suffragette. In 1914, they published this note:

“We have all heard of the girl who asked what was the difference between a Suffragist and a Suffragette, as she pronounced it, and the answer made to her that the ‘Suffragist jist wants the vote, while the Suffragette means to get it.'”

Again, spelling specifics can be found in my episode notes.

But “suffrage” and “suffragettes” aren’t the end of women’s suffrage language history. We’ll wrap up with another word you might never have realized is connected to the same movement: “Bloomers.”

American women’s rights activist Amelia Jenks Bloomer felt strongly that women needed to wear clothes that enabled ease and comfort in their movements. She began going out in knee-length, loose-fitting pants in the mid-1800s. These pants would be underneath a skirt, but still the rebellious nature of it all was scandalous. She was first ridiculed, but over time, the item was embraced, becoming a common undergarment for women by 1900.

Bloomers. A clothing item of activism. Don’t you love little known language history like this?

Alright, that’s it for today.

Language Challenge

I’ll leave you with a language challenge. If you are hoping to “affect”/”effect” change in the world, how do you spell that “affect”/”effect”? Is it “affect” with an “a” or “effect” with an “e”—and yes, I’m trying to be slightly vague in my pronunciation here not to give it away. Is it “affect change” or “effect change”?

The answer’s in the episode notes!

Personal Update:

On a personal note, if you missed my cover reveal in my last email newsletter, I’m ecstatic to announce that my third book will be coming out on November 12th. It’s titled The Family Story Workbook: 105 Prompts & Pointers for Writing Your History, and it’s written for anyone who’s ever wanted to write their life story, anyone who’s wanted to connect more deeply with their loved ones in older generations, or anyone who’s been determined to collect the tales that make up their family history before they’re lost to time. Subscribe to my newsletter for more details on this, as well as lots of ongoing language tips, trivia, and explorations. Find it all at GetAGripOnYOurGrammar.com, and yes, that website name does come from my first book, Get A Grip On Your Grammar: 250 Writing and Editing Reminders for the Curious or Confused.

Thanks for tuning in with me today. I’m looking forward to continuing our English language explorations from breaking news to history, trivia, and beyond with you.

Words. Language. Communications.

We’ve got this.

Join 1,000+ subscribers and sign up for my English language tips and trivia email newsletter for more articles and podcasts like this.

If you like what you’ve been hearing, don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast (via Apple Podcasts, Android, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or RSS) so you’ll never miss out on another word you should know. Many thanks to those of you who have taken the time to rate my show wherever you listen.

And if you’re looking for an Elements of Style for the Twitter Generation, check out my book, Get a Grip On Your Grammar: 250 Writing and Editing Reminders for the Curious or Confused. Newbery-winning and New York Times bestselling author Meg Medina says, “You should keep a copy on your desk.” Sounds like good advice to me. Why not learn more about my other books while you’re at it, too?

The post #29 – AI, Suffragettes, Bloomers & the Latest in Words You Should Know appeared first on Kris Spisak.

Writing Tip 408: How does “Layout” become a Verb?

In our graphically designed worlds, we’re used to seeing lots of polished layouts. In print. On the web. Well done graphic design surrounds us. Yet, when one does this work, when one actively does the designing, how does “layout” become a verb?

Art directors, designers, and publishers, this one is for you.

As a noun, we know “layout” means the overall positioning of the design elements on the page, whether text, photo, illustration, or otherwise.
As a verb, “lay out” (notice how it is two words?) can mean to prepare for viewing or presentation, to arrange and organize, and even to knock unconscious.

But here’s the tricky question, when you put “lay out” into the past tense, what does it become? And what are the other forms of this verb?

(Virtual fist-bump to the writer who recently asked me this question.)

Please don’t stress about old “lay” vs. “lie” confusion here. Whether you’re talking about how to lay out the elements on your website or whether you need to lay out a towel to dry in the sun, these usages follow the same patterns as the verb “lay.”

Therefore:

Today, you might lay out that magazine article.
The art director lays out the cover.
Yesterday, you laid out a different magazine article.
The graphic designer might still be laying out the ad pages.

Newspapers, magazines, books, websites… there are countless usages of “layout,” the noun, and “lay out,” the verb.

“Layout,” the noun, has been used in English since 1852. As a verb, though, it’s been in use since the 1400s, so I think it’s absolutely time to get comfortable with how to handle it.

I hope no one feels laid out after this writing tip. It’s never good when grammar and word usage discussions feel like a punch to the gut. As for me, I’m going to check in on the layout of my next book. (Shameless plug. You know I can’t help but do it.)

Happy writing, folks.

Join 1,000+ subscribers and sign up for my writing and editing email newsletter for more tips like this.

The post Writing Tip 408: How does “Layout” become a Verb? appeared first on Kris Spisak.