Research

#21 – Whippersnappers & the Birth Order of Grammar Rebels

Words You Should Know podcast by Kris Spisak

I don’t know if birth order has anything to do with grammar persnicketiness. Do eldest children have a tendency of dotting their i’s and crossing their t’s? Are youngest children inclined toward utter grammar rebellion?

Was that first known person to drop an “OMG” in 1917—yep, I said that date correctly, 1917—was he a youngest child? I bet he was.

Was the member of One Direction who once jumped off the stage to correct the grammar on a fan’s sign an oldest child? I have no idea, but that’s my guess.

Here’s what I do know:

Lindley Murray, often called the “Father of Grammar” was an eldest child.
Noah Webster, American English renegade, was the 4^th child out of 5.
Ben Franklin, English language revolutionary, was the 15^th child out of 17. (Yikes, power to that mama…)

This is the Words You Should Know podcast, Season 2: Episode 9, and it’s time to go deeper.

#14 – The plural form of “you” already exists (and other words you’ve always wanted)

Words You Should Know podcast by Kris Spisak

This podcast is on one of my favorite explorations. It’s all about words you wish existed.

Sometimes the world seems annoyed that there just isn’t a word to express exactly what you want. There’s no English word for that intimate feeling of sitting around a fire in the winter with close friends (though it exists in Danish: hygge). There’s no word for the feeling of anticipation when you’re waiting for someone to show up at your house and you keep going outside to see if they’re there yet (though it exists in Inuit: iktsuarpok). Or what about the word for that panicky hesitation just before you have to introduce someone whose name you can’t quite remember? (The Scots call this tortle.)

What’s the word for the act of annoying older brothers (vybafnout)? Or the scratching of your head in order to help you remember something you’ve forgotten (pana po’o)? Or that old trick where you tap someone lightly on the opposite shoulder from behind to fool them (mencolek)? Just look at Czech, Hawaiian or Indonesian respectively, and they have your answers.

Of course, sometimes the word you need seems simple. How do you differentiate a singular versus plural “you”?

But here’s the secret. For this one, at least, the English language already has an answer.

Authors on Editing: Interview with Dean King

People don’t always think of wordsmiths as adventurers, of book writing as exploration, or of fine-tuning a manuscript as a process of discovery, but if that’s the case, they probably haven’t heard from award-winning, bestselling, documentary-producing author Dean King.

From the subject matter he chooses to investigate to his extensive research to the captivating storytelling that results, Dean is a master writer. I’m thrilled to welcome him to my Authors on Editing interview series.

Trivia: The Origin of “How do you like them apples?”

how do you like them apples - phrase origin Good Will Hunting fans and language lovers alike have wondered about the origin of “How do you like them apples?”

Where on earth did this phrase come from? Orchard owners? Apple thieves? Really proud produce managers?

The exact etymology of the phrase “How do you like them apples?” is a bit fuzzy, but many sources point to the idea that a specific type of mortar during World War I was nicknamed a “toffee apple.” It was large and spherical, which didn’t allow it to fully fit in the firing tube and gave it a candy apple appearance. It’s believed that the soldiers in the trenches were the first to say this phrase, “How do you like them apples?” upon firing the mortars across enemy lines.

More brutal than you expected?

Etymology, man. Stealing phrases from the trenches. Literally.

Politics, Anagrams & Predictions

These days, there’s a lot of talk about politics, and if we meet over a drink I’ll have that conversation with you. But today, I want to take a step back to a political era of long ago.

Anagrams and King Louis XII Did you know that King Louis XII of France had a Royal Anagramist? Yes, an “anagramist.” Anagrams, or words created by rearranging the letters of a first word, were thought to be mystical in his time, not just word games. In fact an anagram of someone’s name was thought to have predictive properties about their character, their motives, and their destiny. Coolest job ever? Definitely in the running…

Are you suddenly working on anagrams of the names of your favorite or least favorite politicians? If you have some time on your hands, have fun with that. I will give you a starting point.

Look Before You Leap in Illuminated Manuscript — “Look before you leap” is first known to appear in this 14th century manuscript (Ms. Douce) now housed in the Bodleian Library, at Oxford.

Today, like so many days, I urge you to look before you leap.

Maybe it’s a matter of what you choose for breakfast. Maybe it’s what you decide to speak up about to your boss. Maybe it’s a matter of who you decide to vote for.

We make so many decisions big and small on a daily basis, but they can’t all be taken lightly. We can’t just eat our Wheaties because that’s what everyone else is eating or because someone who may or may not have been fully trustworthy told us that this was the best choice for our future health.

Look before you leap, people.

Writing Tip 179: Pronoun Clarity

The pronoun and the drink If Eleanor Roosevelt and Wonder Woman walked into a bar (stay with me, folks), and she drank a beer in an iced-tea glass, do you know who “she” is? How’s that for a grammatical riddle with some feminism on the side?

Besides the fact that I really wish I could join this duo and be the mysterious “she” in that sentence, the pronoun remains confusing. There are two women here. Which one is the “she”?

Writing Tip 163: Asterisks & Footnote Symbols

Asterisk is one of those words that you just can’t say ten times fast. Try it. I’ll wait…

How’d it go? Turn any heads? Get any “bless you”s?

There are risks to the asterisk*—and not only in saying it correctly with any amount of speed. Asterisks muffle curses, and they are often followed by daggers. And if that doesn’t sound like the start of a really bad grammarian murder mystery, I don’t know what is.

When to use an asterisk

When replacing letters in words (such as curse words) or names you don’t want to spell out (e.g., “wow, what a grammar b**** that Kris is” or “From your secret crush, K***”)
When pointing a reader to further information, as in a footnote.
When showing the passage of time in the case of a section break in a story.
I’m sure there’s a good kissing emoticon out there with an asterisk, right?

My Writing Process

As writers, so often we talk about our success stories (publication!) and our laments (rejections, pesky punctuation, the bottom of a good bottle of wine…); I love the idea of taking a moment to talk process. Thanks so much to Ellen Boyers Kwatnoski for inviting me to join the #mywritingprocess blog tour. You can see Ellen’s blog here.

John Updike once wrote, “We’re past the age of heroes and hero kings… Most of our lives are basically mundane and dull, and it’s up to the writer to find ways to make them interesting.”

It’s up to the writers. It’s up to us. And there are so many possibilities.

What am I working on?

Isn’t it odd that passionate American politicians of the early 20^th century fought for the legal sterilization of certain “lesser” individuals employing the same morality language that politicians of the early 21^st century use about prohibiting abortions? This dichotomy of social thought drives my novel Sterile, where neither my protagonist’s past nor her paint brushes have kept her hands clean. She may have lost her baby, but she has to fight not to lose her life.

Writing Tip 42: “Pour Over” vs. “Pore Over”

One of these phrases could be used when you’re intensely studying something; the other is what you do when you add milk to your cereal.

“To Pore,” meaning to meditate deeply, was once a commonly used verb, but it’s fallen out of fashion along with the popularity of Roman numerals and illuminated manuscripts. This sense of “pore” most likely derived from two Old English words: spyrian, a verb meaning “to investigate” and spor, a noun meaning “a trace, vestige.” The contemporary phrase “to pore over” is really this old verb’s last burst of life, so it’s time for us to respect our elders. Don’t confuse this historical word with a splash over your morning Wheaties. Am I right?