Wave to Wordy Wednesday March 25, 2015

Despite recent snows in some parts of the country, it’s time we pass through the stern Ides of March and march into springy April.

Let the tips of green leaves and hint of glowing sun rays urge you to greet your neighbor with PFP’s Wordy Wednesday spring offering!

HEIGH: (interj.) [Archaic] used to attract notice, show pleasure, express surprise, etc. … think “heigh-ho” neighbor!

Get together with your neighbors and hoe down those weeds on Weed Appreciation Day, March 28^th. (Not to be confused with the “highly” popular weed day rite of springtime, April 20^th. Heehee.)

And the Wordy Wednesday list grows like a weed …

'Til next time ... have a "wordful" week!

AaBaCcDdEeFfGgeeeee ... wish I had a Guinness! 

Fox News dumb and dumber

Fox News doesn’t give authorship credit to this article – I can see why.

The first sentence, when applied to the second – Candice Bergen’s quote – proves our world of literacy is under attack.

Candice Bergen says she's fat and lives to eat

“Candice Bergen is svelte and she’s happy with it.

‘Let me just come right out and say it: I am fat,’ the ‘Murphy Brown’ star announces in her new memoir, ‘A Fine Romance,’ reports Rob Shuter of naughtygossip.” [*Sic. And there’s more …] (Fox News, March 22, 2015.)

If the preeminent news sources don’t know that “svelte” is not a synonym of “fat” – literacy is doomed.

While Ms. Bergen was for many years svelte – meaning slender, slim, graceful, lithe – and she is still an elegant lady, in her own words, she is the opposite of svelte. C’mon Fox, you’re setting a bad example.

Side note: Ms. Bergen is right about the issues of women’s weight and beauty attitudes as we age. After

forty-plus years of maintaining (or vainly attempting) a standard that is inherently irrational, many are simply opting to live the rest of their lives actually enjoying it. Consider the profound “end of life” question: quality or quantity? Depends on the quality of the chocolate!

*Back to Fox’s literary ineptitude … let’s take a look at their treatment of titles. Although a minor grievance compared to definition idiocy, the last I checked The Chicago Manual (which BTW, was yesterday) – the venerable bible of writing – still states that television show titles and book titles should be italicized, not enclosed in quotation marks.

Mistakes happen. Editors cringe when errors and typos escape their scrutiny and land indelicately in print. But opening line mistakes and breaking rules learned in elementary school – is simply lazy writing and editing.

Today's apathetic attitude toward our English language is a disappointing example of our dumb and dumber attitude, which is mangling guidelines and principles throughout society. Remember the fall of the Roman Empire?

Writing right … righting write.

Wordy Wednesday: afflatus - gesundheit!

Welcome to Wordy Wednesday March 18, 2015!

As a wordsmith, words fascinate me and while I certainly won’t memorize the dictionary (not at my age … a word I learn today is gone tomorrow!), I do like to have fun with words.

Wordy Wednesday is my way of taking a break, learning something new, and passing it on to you. Enjoy the weird, wacky, wonderful, world of words!

This week’s featured word – afflatus: Gesundheit! Kidding. It’s really … n. an inspiration or powerful impulse, as of an artist or poet.

My Wordy Wednesday fun list is growing …

'Til next time ... have a "wordful" week!

Poor news writing red-flags credibility

Plagued with unpolished grammar skills and a tabloid penny press style of yore, many high profile news sources have lost their luster.

What happened to good writers and valid journalism?

For many people, their first brush with the day is a review of the morning news. 
"On an average day, 31.99 million American college graduates read newspaper content online or offline." (Statisa.com) Add to that the large majority who can read without college degrees, and it's obvious news is popular. (The article, "stigma of ignorance is rampant without higher education" is for another time.) 

Today’s plethora of print and online news sources however, are diluted with articles disguised as journalism. "News" is often culled from agencies that feature writers without credentials or real-world industry experience.

Infiltrating the ranks of established journalists are ill-equipped writers who rely more on opinions than facts, and eschew professional editing (or opt for none). Likewise, op-eds, obscure blogs, and personal essays, have moved from the back pages to become front page “news.”

Online news aggregates, citizen news sites, and lifestyle publications masquerading as news, are especially guilty of this, with skillful presentation, gaining high readership. Unfortunately, articles are often published without vetting to weed out marginal or even spurious writers. Though many production-article writers may be credible and experienced journalists, those who are not, further decay the industry.

How to spot the aggregates … I, we, you vs. he, she, it …

Anyone can write a book ~ What are you waiting for?

Memories and attitude make us uniquely human.

Writing them down is what sets us apart as individuals. ~ LinDee Rochelle

Were you teased as a youngster for writing in your “diary” or keeping a “journal”? Did your little brother break the lock and read it? (Like mine did.) Did you dig out your old ones recently, and think, wow, I had some great ideas … maybe I can update them …?

Writing is often one of those “love / hate” human practices. I truly believe it’s an innate trait in order to love it. While you may be in the class that fairly abhors it, you can make it work to your advantage – and you might find you can tolerate the process to express yourself, if not outright learn to enjoy it.

Those who kept the once-ubiquitous diary or journal have a head start, for sure. But what did we write? Memories and attitudes. 

It was interesting research, reading the various “expert” opinions about any differences between a diary and a journal. 

“When I was a kid” (I know young’uns hate that preface), the perceived (pre-teen) notion of a diary was something giggly girls kept about their inane daily experiences, in gushy, blushing prose. A journal was a scientist’s or other professional’s experimental log or recording of a journey (think Captain Kirk’s Star Trek logs); and young guys simply didn’t write. (You realize, I hope, this is tongue-in-cheek, with a chuckle. But I'm serious about your book.)