Editor's Corner

Hello, dear readers!

I’ve been writing articles here for a few years, and sometimes I can’t quite remember what we’ve covered before. I do know I’ve written several Editor’s Corner articles on mondegreens, but it’s been a while. In case you don’t remember, mondegreens are misheard song lyrics. For an extended description, see the Wikipedia article here.

As my husband and I drove out to the desert a few weeks ago, we discussed our favorite mondegreens. They amuse me so much that I think it’s time for more. I apologize if any of these are repeats. These are from two different lists I found while looking for some more modern examples (but a lot of them are still on the old classics list). (Stacker and Hollywoodreporter.com)

I hope you found these funny, or at least amusing. If not, I attached a link to a five-minute Beyonce video, where she has some help with backup dancers at Saturday Night Live.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

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April is a very happy birthday month, with our department celebrating new babies and a lot of birthdays. According to our own Jane Gredvig, “All the best people are born in April.” Before it ends, I’d like to share some words from one of our favorite birthday babies, Shakespeare. His birth date isn’t really known, but history assigns his baptism day as the April 26, so we’ll take it.

The following words are from the article Words Popularized By Shakespeare That We Still Use. I have only included a handful of favorites, to keep it short.

bedazzle

Pardon, old father, my mistaking eyes,
That have been so bedazzled with the sun
That everything I look on seemeth green.

—The Taming of the Shrew (Katherine, 4.5.46–48)

The word bedazzle has since expanded to mean “to impress forcefully, especially so as to make oblivious to faults or shortcomings.”

foulmouthed

… he speaks most vilely of you, like a foul-mouthed man as he is, and said he would cudgel you.

—Henry IV, Part I (Hostess Quickly, 3.3.96–97)

Foulmouthed, sometimes hyphenated as foul-mouthed, describes someone “using obscene, profane, or scurrilous language; given to filthy or abusive speech.” [KC – What’s not to love? I’ll keep myself under control for our time together.]

swagger

… a rascal that swaggered with me last night—who, if alive and ever dare to
challenge this glove, I have sworn to take him a box o’ th’ ear …

—Henry V (Williams, 4.7.114–16)

Hip-hop hitmakers and Shakespeare have a lot in common. They can write sick verses and love the word swagger. By our count, Shakespeare used forms of the word swagger 16 times. For Shakespeare, swaggermeant “to walk or strut with a defiant or insolent air” or “to boast or brag noisily.” It’s based on swag, or “sway,” as a swaggerer may so strut—and extended, by 1990s hip-hop, to “a confident attitude.”

pageantry

… What pageantry, what feats, what shows,
What minstrelsy, and pretty din,
The regent made in Mytilene
To greet the king …

—Pericles (Gower, 22.6–9)

Shakespeare’s pageantry is “the performance or pageants,” a pageant here being “an ornate public spectacle illustrative of the history of a place, institution, or the like, often given in dramatic form or as a procession of colorful floats.” It was the idea of a “spectacle” that led pageantry to its more familiar sense of “a magnificent display”—or an “empty” one, all show and no substance.

You can bedazzle almost anything, even your face!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Good morning to you!

You can put today’s Editor’s Corner topic under the heading of “keep it simple.” I’ve noticed an uptick in the number of times people use the word within when they could, and probably should, use the shorter, sweeter word, in.

Sure, in and within are typically used interchangeably, but for those who like to know the rules and enjoy the subtle nuances, there is a difference. Want to know what it is? I’ve got the scoop for you.

In most cases, you can usually use the shorter choice: in. We use in for all of the following situations:

• To show something definite: The keys are in my bag.
• To show inclusion: My son is in the Coast Guard.
• As a substitute for into: They all got in the boat.

The only time you need to use within is when you do not want to clarify a definite time frame or a definite location or when you’re talking about a theoretical boundary. We definitely need some examples here. Use within for the following situations:

• To show an indefinite time: Please get back to me within a few days.
• To show an indefinite location: I’ll be waiting for you somewhere within the lobby of the theater.
• To show a theoretical boundary: I can’t function within those parameters.

That’s about all I have to say on the subject. The end of this email, and my concluding remark, is within reach. 😊

To summarize, I think you’ll find that you can almost always use in.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Donna Bradley Burcher |Technical Editor, Advisory | jack henry

Pronouns she/her/hers

9660 Granite Ridge Drive, San Diego CA 92123

Symitar Documentation Services

About Editor’s Corner

Editor’s Corner keeps your communication skills sharp by providing information on grammar, punctuation, JHA style, and all things English. As editors, we spend our days reading, researching, and revising other people’s writing. We love to spend a few extra minutes to share what we learn with you and keep it fun while we’re doing it.

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Hello, fellow passengers! I would like to celebrate the return of Greek yogurt mint chocolate chip frozen treats at Costco®, with an Editor’s Corner on icy deliciousness.

My resource for this is personal experience and Dictionary.com. Here is a list and brief description of the many different frozen delights we can choose from, what’s in them, and any other details you might want to know. Try not to drool on your keyboard as you read!

Ice cream: “A creamy frozen dessert made with dairy fats, sugar, and sometimes egg yolks.” Not for those of you out there who are vegan, but there are other frozen desserts that do not contain dairy. In the U.S., the product must have at least 10 percent milk fat to legally be considered ice cream.

Gelato: “An Italian-style dessert that usually contains many of the same ingredients as ice cream. It’s often considered a type of ice cream—sometimes referred to as ‘Italian ice cream.’

Compared to ice cream, though, gelato usually contains less cream and has a lower milk fat percentage. Additionally, the slower churning process of gelato causes it to be infused with less air than ice cream. All of this means that gelato tends to have a silkier texture than ice cream.”

If you’re in San Diego, try the Mocha Rum Crunch at Gelato Vera down on Washington Street. You’re welcome.

Frozen yogurt: The main ingredient for frozen yogurt is yogurt. Surprise! It is not legally required to have any particular percentage of fat like ice cream, so it often has fewer calories. Frozen yogurt is often found as “self-serve, soft-serve,” though COVID put a bit of a damper on that.

Sherbet: “A creamy frozen dessert made mainly from fruit juice or fruit purée—it typically contains only small amounts of dairy products, egg whites, and/or gelatin. (Sherbet is pronounced [ shur-bit ], but many people say [ shur-burt ], leading to spelling sherbert becoming increasingly common.)”

I must admit that we always called it “sherburt” growing up. It’s better that way because it rhymes with Herbert.

Sorbet: “Pronounced [ sawr-bey ]) is a creamy frozen concoction made from fruit juice or fruit purée that does not contain any dairy products or eggs. Sorbet is usually a dessert, but not always—it’s sometimes served between courses as a palate cleanser.”

Sherbet and sorbet look similar because they both have the same root: şerbet (Turkish), from the Persian sharbat, from the Arabic sharbah, meaning “a drink.”

Those are the traditional definitions, but dairy-free options are bending the definitions by including ingredients like coconut milk, oat milk, avocado, and more. And now, here is a brief quiz if you want to test your knowledge.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

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Dear Editrix,

My pet peeve is the phrase "these ones."

Where did this grammatically incorrect statement come from and how do we send it back?

Sandra

Dear Sandra,

I don’t hear this often, but when I do, it is usually from little kids. I thought it might just be something that we train kids not to say, but then I found a couple of articles about it, that show it is not technically wrong.

First, the articles mention that it is not grammatically wrong. Then they go on to say it is more common in the U.K. than in the U.S. Then they go even further and say acceptability depends on where you live in the U.S.

The overall message is that it is not wrong, but to many of us in the U.S. it is like fingernails on a chalkboard, and we feel the need to correct people when they say it. Here are portions of the articles that explain the use better than I can:

Grammarphobia

We live in Iowa and we’re bothered when we hear people say “these ones,” as in “Do you want these ones?” or “These ones are for sale.” Is this acceptable English?

Let’s begin by looking at the singular version: “this one.”

The main part (or head) of the phrase is “one” (an indefinite pronoun, not the number 1), modified by “this” (a demonstrative adjective). Together they form a noun phrase: “I like this one.”

Logically, the plural form of this noun phrase would be “these ones.” And logically, we can’t see any reason why this would be grammatically incorrect. “Which ones do I like? I like these ones.”

The chief argument against “these ones” is that “these” alone would suffice (“I like these”). But the same objection could be made against the singular form: Instead of “I like this one,” you could simply say “I like this.” So that argument isn’t convincing.

Now, we have to admit that to our ears “these ones” sounds like a childish usage. We never say or write “these ones” (or “those ones”). But our prejudice against it doesn’t make it grammatically incorrect…

Like many questions of English usage, this one has a fuzzy answer. We can’t find any evidence that “these ones” is grammatically incorrect. The only reason to discourage it is that many – perhaps most – Americans find it objectionable.

On revisiting the topic, Grammarphobia lets us know that it isn’t a particularly recent use. There are…”many formal and informal examples of ‘those ones’ going back to the 1600s, and of ‘these ones’ dating from the 1700s.”

As you can see, it’s still kind of a gray area. Nobody can really say it’s wrong, but I’m with you, Sandra: it sounds awful to me.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

A joyful day to you readers! I hope your spring has sprung and that you are surrounded by tulips and daffodils!

Today, I have a few terms for you from dictionary.com, which are not English, but Portuguese. There are several other terms in the article, but these were my favorites. They are words that we don’t have an exact English translation for, thus the lengthy definitions of each. Enjoy!

cafuné

Perhaps the origin of the romantic image some of us have of Brazil is found within the Portuguese language. “The act of caressing or tenderly running fingers through a loved one’s hair” is a mouthful mercifully avoided in Brazil with the term cafuné. This affectionate action can be applied to lovers and pets alike, as can the term chamego, which wraps up the senses of intimacy, infatuation, and cuddling, all in one term.

farofa

A traditional Brazilian feast will come with a side of farofa. This dish consists of manioc flour toasted in butter, and usually mixed with finely chopped ingredients like bacon, eggs, or bananas. Brazilians generally serve farofa alongside other foods at a traditional barbecue, called a churrasco.

xodó

Your xodó is your sweetheart, in a way that applies both to your significant other and also someone you have a special closeness with, such as a grandparent. A pet could be a xodó too (especially if it’s enjoying cafuné). You can also “have” xodó for someone when you have a soft spot for them. This all-purpose term of endearment originated in northern Brazil and might be translated in some instances as the slang term boo. Another good match for this word (albeit in Spanish) is cariño.

desenrascanço

The term desenrascanço, used in Portugal, roughly means “the act of disentangling yourself from a difficult situation using available means.” Some English speakers find a near translation of desenrascanço in the colloquial verb MacGyver, as in the Gizmodo headline “How NASA MacGyvered the Crippled Apollo 13 Mission Safely Home.” The eponymous verb MacGyver comes from the action/adventure show of the same name, first aired in 1985, in which the title character evades sticky situations by reconfiguring the limited resources at his disposal. For example, in one episode, MacGyver fashions a trap using plywood, rope, water jugs, and a smoke detector to help him escape from a heavily guarded warehouse. That’s quite a “disentangling.”

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Not long ago, I shared a new word (new to me), tmesis, which is “the introduction of one or more words between the parts of a compound word” as in “any-old-where” or “fan-freaking-tastic.” I got quite a few pleasant responses, and one of them, from Vijay R., brought up some other words I thought we could examine: synchysis, chiasmus, and syneresis.

If you’re interested in learning more about these words, read on, my fellow verbivores.

• synchysis: (sin-ki-sis)derives from the Greek word synkein which means “to mingle” or “to confuse”

Synchysis rearranges words in a way that requires the reader to figure out the relationship between the words to discover the meaning.

Example from a Samuel Butler poem:

An ass will with his long ears fray

The flies that tickle him, away;

But man delights to have his ears

Blown maggots in by flatterers

Meaning:

A donkey will with his long ears frighten away the flies that tickle him;

But man delights to have maggots blown in his ears by flatterers.

• chiasmus: (kee-az-muss) derives from the Greek word chiazein meaning “crossing” or “X-shaped”

A chiasmus is a two-part phrase in which the second phrase is a reverse of the first phrase.

Examples:

o She has all my love; my heart belongs to her.

o When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

• syneresis: (si-ner-uh-sis) derives from the Greek word sunairesis meaning “to contract or draw together”

Syneresis is the drawing together of two consecutive vowels or syllables into one syllable, so as to form a diphthong (a sound formed by combing two vowels into a single syllable). It is a phonological process of sound change in which two vowels are combined to make one sound.

Examples:

o coin

o loud

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Donna Bradley Burcher |Technical Editor, Advisory | jack henry

Pronouns she/her/hers

9660 Granite Ridge Drive, San Diego CA 92123

Symitar Documentation Services

About Editor’s Corner

Editor’s Corner keeps your communication skills sharp by providing information on grammar, punctuation, Jack Henry style guidelines, and all things English. As editors, we spend our days reading, researching, and revising other people’s writing. We love to spend a few extra minutes to share what we learn with you and keep it fun while we’re doing it.

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I love learning the history of words, and I thought I had done articles on the months of the year, but now I’m not so sure. I remember doing January and Janus words. And I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about some of the months the Romans named after the Caesars (Julius/July, Augustus/August), their gods (Mars/March, Juno/June), and their numbers (seven/September, eight/October, etc.) But April? I don’t remember learning or talking about April.

Dictionary.com put together an explanation this month. I’ve edited it just a bit.

Before January and February were added to the end of the year by King Numa Pompilius around 700 BCE, April was already the second month of the Roman calendar year (March was the first). Around 450 BCE, April was rearranged into the fourth slot, and was assigned 29 days.

With the introduction of the Gregorian calendar by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, an extra day was added….

But being confident about the origin of a word that’s been around since before 1150 isn’t so simple. There are a few common theories behind April‘s naming. One is that the name is rooted in the Latin Aprilis, which is derived from the Latin aperire meaning “to open”—which could be a reference to the opening or blossoming of flowers and trees, a common occurrence throughout the month of April in the Northern Hemisphere.

Another theory holds that since months are often named for gods and goddesses, and since Aphrilis is derived from the Greek Aphrodite, it is possible the month was named for the Greek goddess of love (the goddess that the Romans called Venus)! Even now, April is a popular name. [KC – At first this seems reasonable, because March, June, and May (Maia) are named after gods and goddesses.
Why skip a month? But the Roman goddess was Venus and while they liked “borrowing” Greek things, they tended to rename them. I think if this were true, our month would be called Venusa or Venusember.]

And, as if that isn’t enough of a mystery, April also has yet another origination story. Around the fifth century, the Anglo-Saxons referred to April as Oster-monath or Eostre-monath, a reference to the goddess Eostre, whose feast was celebrated during the month. The Venerable Bede, a monk from the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter, believed this gave root to the word Easter—which is most often observed during the month of April.

April’s derivation will remain a story full of maybes, but we don’t see this month going anywhere soon.

So that’s April. Nothing definitive, but there are several stories you can choose from. I hope your month is going swimmingly!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Good morning, folks!

It’s been a long time and I’ve missed you all. I wish I could say I’ve been living in the lap of luxury and touring around the world, but instead I’ve been on leave, and am now enjoying thousands of emails and negative PTO. And no, I don’t have a cute baby or anything to show for it. 😊

So, first up on my Editor’s Corner agenda is a new slang term I learned. I saw this term girl grip and my first thought was that it might be a sexist way of referring to how some females hold and throw a baseball or softball.

I was happily surprised that, according to dictionary.com:

Girl grip is a slang phrase that refers to holding multiple items in one hand by grasping them between fingers.

Typically, the phrase girl grip refers to a person using a clawed hand to hold multiple items at once. For example, a person may hold a paper cup using primarily their thumb and pointer finger while holding a smartphone, keys, receipt, and wallet with their remaining fingers on the same hand.

Here is a photo of the girl grip in action.

It reminds me of a more astounding type of grip you see at Oktoberfest in Munich:

I’m not sure if there’s a special name for holding 10 steins of beer in two hands, besides impressive!

Cheers!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/

Donna Bradley Burcher |Technical Editor, Advisory | jack henry

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Symitar Documentation Services

NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
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