Wordsplash!

Urban Dictionary: The Internet's Unofficial Slang Authority

UrbanDictionary.com is a nifty website that attempts to define the ever-evolving world of slang. Among other things, they offer an expression each day. Today's is "power outage baby." Their definition:

"Years ago, the power went out in San Francisco for a long time. Nine months later, there was a certain increase in birthrate. If you were born nine months after a power outage, you are a power outage baby."

The website offers more than just definitions, though. Since there's no way to officially regulate slang, you can vote on whether a term and its definition is legit or not. (At the time I am writing this, "power outage baby" has 365 thumbs up, and 216 thumbs down.)

You can also submit your own terms and definitions, chat with other lovers o' slang, and, of course, order the book: Mo' Urban Dictionary: Ridonkulous Street Slang Defined.

What Happened to Wordsplash?

Ugh!

For two years, I waited to launch this blog until I really had time to devote to it... or so I thought. But with two book deadlines and a vacation in Vietnam, I've been lax in my blogging here. (You can read about my Vietnam trip on my travel and humor blog, Dave Fox's Outbursts.)

So I'm going to attempt to make a worthy return now and get blogging again. I head out for my annual season of overseas tour guiding soon, which leaves little time for writing, but I will post as time allows.

Speling iz Realy Fun!

The new and improved, second edition of my book, Getting Lost: Mishaps of an Accidental Nomad, has just been released. The new edition got a makeover -- with tighter editing and a new cover model. (We were going to put her in a bikini, but the editors decided that would only encourage the degrading objectification of cows.)

The key difference between the first and second editions is the first edition was self-published and self-edited, whereas the new edition had a team of people working on it. Any serious writer knows when you edit your own work, you're going to miss a few things.

My publisher, Jeremy, e-mailed me yesterday, to tell me he loved the page on my website explaining the differences between the first and second editions. There was just one problem. Linda, my editor, spotted that I spelled "self-publishing" wrong.

Young Author Tackles ADHD

 Blake Taylor is 18 years old. He's just published his first book. For an 18-year-old to publish a book at all is an impressive achievement. What's amazing about Taylor is he has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

ADHD is the butt of a lot of jokes. It's one of those conditions that, in many circles, is still "okay" to ridicule. Okay, so I won't get all preachy on you here, but a young author has just proven that people with ADHD have their struggles, but these struggles don't have to limit their productivity.

I have personally been trapped in authoring hell for the last several months -- re-editing my first book for the second edition, and now trying to wrap up my second book. My own attention span wanes on many days. My mind wanders and wants to quit due to sheer mental fatigue. For someone with ADHD to stay focused and write a book about their condition is remarkable. For someone as young as Blake Taylor, it's phenomenal.

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[Speaking of wandering minds and overworked authors, please excuse my recent absence from this blog. I really have been cramming all of my energy into finishing up my forthcoming book about travel journaling. I'll be back here with more frequent material soon! Meanwhile, tune in next week to my humor and travel blog for your chance to win a free copy of the book when it's out. I'll post a new clue every day as to where in the world I am about to travel. The first person to guess my destination city wins a free copy. I start posting clues on Monday, March 3, 2008.]

Say Where?

I wrote a couple of days ago about how some Nevadans are getting their feathers ruffled over the way outsiders pronounce their state's name. According to the Associated Press, Nevada's state archivist complained that when outsiders pronounce the name of his state differently from native speakers, they are being disrespectful. I listed a few other names of places that many Americans mispronounce. Here are the correct local pronunciations (based on spellings in standard American English):

Melbourne, Australia: Australians pronounce it "Melbun."

Bath, England: Rhymes with the American pronunciation of "moth," not "math."

Hawaii: Has a glottal stop somewhere in those last three vowels.

Spokane, Washington: It's pronounced "spoh-CAN," not "spoh-CANE." (The Indigo Girls mispronounce it in their song, "Hey Kind Friend."

Missouri: Most of us who live in the US know this one if we think about it. But most of us in the north (and probably in Nevada) pronounce the last syllable, "ee," rather than "uh."

New Orleans, Louisiana: A lot of people say New or-LEENZ, Loo-EE-zee-ANN-uh. But a lot of people there say , "New OR-linz, LOO-ZEE-ANN-uh." (And in France, the home of the original Orléans, it's pronounced, "Orr-lay-ohn."

Baltimore, Maryland: I've been told that in many working class neighborhoods, the correct pronunciation is "BALL-mer."

Copenhagen, Denmark: Heh... I get asked about this all the time when working there as a tour guide. Is it Copen-HAY-gen or Copen-HAH-gen? If you're Danish, it's neither. The Danish spelling is "København." How do you spell that phonetically in English? It's impossible. (The closest I can come up with is KÖH-bin-how'n, but if the letters Ø or Ö aren't familiar to you, you'll just have to snuggle up next to a Dane and ask him or her to pronounce their nation's capital for you.)

Kiribati: This series of coral atolls, a strangely independent nation scattered around the Pacific Ocean, is pronounced "KEE-rih-bass." One of those islands, Kirimitati (a.k.a. Christmas Island) is pronounced "KEE-riss-mass." How do you get an "S" sound out of the letters "TI?" Some wacky linguists came up with it a while ago. Think of words in English such as "action," or "election." Add a few swigs of kava as you're coming up with a written language, and there you go!

Paris, France: The French say, "pah-REE."

Oslo, Norway: In Oslo, people say, "OOSH-loo."

Munich, Germany: The Germans spell it München (and pronounce it similarly).

Japan: In Japanese, it's "Nippon."

Moscow: In the Russian alphabet, it's "MOCKBA." Transliterated to the English alphabet, it's spelled and pronounced "Moskva.

...and the list goes on and on... and on... and....

My point: I think the Nevadans who were interviewed for that AP story are being rather cranky. Nobody pronounces every place in the world the way the local residents do. And those who try sound mighty pretentious.

Nevadans Insist: There's Nothing "Odd" About Their Name

The Super Tuesday primaries are just about over... and I promised recently not to get political on this blog, unless language or linguistics are involved. But I need to rewind to a caucus in another state that happened a couple of weeks ago. (Yes, this is old news now. I'm behind in my blogging due to an incredibly busy work schedule and a recent foot injury.)

The Associated Press reports Nevadans were on the rampage recently after news anchors were mispronouncing their state's name. NBC received a flurry of irate calls and e-mails after news anchor Brian Williams botched the pronunciation of "Nevada" on the NBC Nightly News. The AP also reported that ABC commentator George Stephanopoulos was booed last year when he mispronounced the state's name during a presidential candidates' forum last year. And both George W. Bush and John Kerry were scolded for getting it wrong in the 2004 elections.

The correct pronunciation, Nevadans say, is "nuh-VADD-uh," not "nuh-VAH-duh." (In other words, the middle syllable rhymes with "add," not "odd.")

Nevada state archivist Guy Rocha is not taking this lightly, according to the AP. Rocha is complaining that people who mispronounce his state's name are showing inadvertent disrespect.

Really? I wonder how Mr. Rocha would pronounce Melbourne, Bath, Hawaii, Spokane, Missouri, New Orleans, or even Baltimore. And don't get me started on Copenhagen or Kiribati... or Paris, Oslo, Munich, Japan, or Moscow.

When Al Gore came to Madison, Wisconsin, where I was living during the 1992 presidential campaign, he repeatedly pronounced it "WEH-SCONN-sun." His gaffe made the evening news on local television.

I like Nevadans. They're friendly people. And, for the record, I've always used the correct pronunciation of their state. But lighten up, people! We're a nation of many dialects. Nobody's trying to malign you. I still think "neh-VAH-duh" is far less offensive than "nucular."

[Check back Friday morning for the correct'ish pronunciation of the above place names.]

Order in the Court!

Word order in sentences is more important than a lot of people realize. Take a look at the headline highlighted in red below, which appears this morning on cnn.com:

When I first read the headline, I seriously thought the teens were engaging in prostitution in the courtroom. But the judge and jury are safe. The news article explains the teens were in court, accused of prostitution elsewhere. 

A simple shuffling of the words produces a more accurate headline:
Teens accused in court of prostitution.

Life in a Boneless Country

I wrote a couple of days ago about my annoyance with the commonly abused phrase, "each and every." If that expression doesn't make you scrunch your eyebrows with disdain, here's a more egregious use of the word, "each," that should. I spotted the following sign a couple of years ago during an under-cover grammar investigation at a grocery store in Tulsa, Oklahoma:

Okay, I'm not even going to explain why "by the each" is wrong, nor am I going to go off on a rant right now about spell-checking before you print a sign that thousands of customers are going to see.

What's troubling me about this sign is a lack of commas and/or hyphens. Without them, one wonders: What exactly are "boneless country style ribs?" Are they (a) country-style ribs without bones, or (b) ribs from a boneless country?

But if you think about it, the answer is clear. They must be ribs from a boneless country. There's no such thing as a "boneless rib." A rib is a type of bone.

Political Mouthwash

It's 2008, and we all know what that means. It means we have an exciting year ahead of political rhetoric, mud slinging, and CNN using their highly annoying slogan, "the best political team on television" way too many times.

Seriously, CNN, have you ever heard the advice they give students in Journalism 101: "Show, don't tell?" How about if you spend more air time showing us your self-proclaimed superiority, and less time telling us about it?

But I digress.

I'm not going to get political on this blog, unless language or writing-related topics creep into politics. But as I sit here watching the New Hampshire primary results on TV, as I sit here watching Senator John McCain give his victory speech for the Republican race, I am cringing.

I am cringing because for the last eight years, we have endured a president who repeatedly says the word, "nucular." I'm looking forward to a president who knows how to pronounce stuff. Over and over and over in the last 10 minutes, I have heard Senator McCain refer to "Warshington," and it's making me want to warsh his mouth out with soap.

Each and Every Redundancy

Here's another common phrase that makes me squirm: "each and every." As in, "I love each and every one of my toenails."

People use that phrase all the time ("each and every," not the toenails part), and I'm thinking, isn't that redundant?

Dictionary.com defines each this way: "Every one of two or more considered individually or one by one."

They define every like this: "Being one of a group or series taken collectively; each."

That is not to suggest the two words are identical. The BBC, on its Learning English website, explains the difference between the two words:

" Each indicates two or more objects or people and every indicates three or more. Each can also be used as a pronoun, but every cannot be."

Okay, so there are subtle differences, but using them together is almost always redundant. There's no difference between "I love each one of my toenails," and "I love every one of my toenails." (And to say, "I love each and every one of my toenails," is just plain creepy... but that's beside the point.)

So which is better -- "each" or "every?" I say "each." Why? Fewer words mean tighter writing. With "each," we can use one less word. You can say, "I love each of my toenails," but you can't say, "I love every of my toenails."

[Tune in Wednesday morning for the most ridiculous use ever of the word, "each."]

Tase the Cliches, Bro!

Lake Superior State University in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, has just published its annual list of words and phrases that should be banished from English because they are overused and irritating .

The list includes cliches such as "perfect storm," "It is what it is," "post-9/11," and "Don't tase me, bro."

Seattle's NPR affiliate, KUOW, used the list as a launch pad for yesterday's episode of their daily call-in program, "The Conversation." Host Ross Reynolds  invited listeners to share their least favorite expressions, as well as recent additions to their vocabulary. You can listen to the program or download the podcast on the KUOW website.

An Alternative to Quitting Your Day Job

"Don't quit your day job" is a cliche that torments many an amateur writer. An aspiring romance novelist in Sioux City, Iowa, decided to go a different route.

Instead of quitting her job to work on her novel, Tanja Shelton decided to write her novel at work. Unfortunately, she got fired for doing it. KCCI television in Des Moines, Iowa, reports Shelton was fired from her job as a production control scheduler after her supervisor noticed Shelton was "typing almost constantly."

Well at least she wasn't suffering from writer's block.

New York Times Lists Popular New Phrases of 2007

The New York Times has published a list of buzzwords and phrases it claims have soared in popular usage in 2007.

I'm not sure I agree all of the 37 phrases on their list have managed to "find a place in the national conversation." Before reading the article, I was only familiar with two of them: "i-reporter" and "forever stamp." Other words on the list, which are certainly not in my everyday conversation, include "astronaut diaper," "nose bidet," and "vegansexual." Nevertheless, it's a fun list to read.

You'll find all 37 phrases and their alleged definitions at nytimes.com.

Book-Lovers' Website

If you love reading books -- or even if you only sort of like reading books -- Shelfari.com is a nifty networking site where you can read book reviews, write your own book reviews, get suggestions from readers who share your literary interests, and show off your own personal library.

The site is kind of like a literary version of MySpace, only without the weirdos.

No, I take that back. Shelfari has weirdos, but they tend to be benign, non-pervy, book-geek weirdos. And they keep to their own corners of the website where they won't disturb you.

Joining the site is free, and they never try to sell you any sort of premium membership. You create a profile about yourself, then start uploading your "bookshelf" by entering books you own. You can then view the libraries of other Shelfari members who own the same books as you, check out what they're reading, and learn about other titles you might be interested in. You can rank the books on your shelf on a one-to-five star system and write mini reviews. The site also offers thousands of groups you can join on every topic imaginable. (In a two-minute random browse, I have found groups for everything from business management to Bengali authors, BDSM to Christian chick-lit.) You can also add "friends," like on MySpace, if you want to compare notes and track what particular members are reading.

Oh... the weirdos? Yes. When I first joined Shelfari a few months back, I found it mildly addictive, and could not figure out why I was getting a thrill out of adding books to my virtual shelf so others could see what I am reading, have read, might read someday, or own but will never read. Once my shelf topped a hundred books, though, I got back to reality. As of right now, the top Shelfari user (translation: get a life!) has entered more than 12,000 books on her shelf. Somebody else (translation: hey, you get a life too!) has written more than 2,500 book reviews.

That having been said, if you suffer from Internet addiction, you're better off staying away from Shelfari and... ummm... perhaps reading a good book instead. But if you're looking for a place to find book suggestions from people who share your literary interests, Shelfari is a fun, low-key, well-designed, classy website for book lovers. You'll find my profile and bookshelf under the screen name, "Dave Fox."

What Goes Down Can't Be Going Up

The following headline on AOL yesterday struck me as odd:

H&R Block 2Q Losses Soar

I've heard of stocks soaring, but to soar means to fly high. Losses happen when a stock is going down. Can losses soar? I don't think so.

Name the Book and Win Lots of Books!

I've been squabbling with my editors for the last couple of weeks about a title for my new book about travel journaling. The book is scheduled for publication in June, 2008.

For marketing reasons, I can't reveal the titles we have considered and shot down so far. I can reveal that I have a subtitle in mind, but I can't tell you what it is yet. But we have yet to come up with a title everyone agrees on. So I'm opening things up for suggestions.

We're looking for a relatively short title that is catchy and at least partially conveys the spirit of travel journaling. (I say partially because the subtitle will whack people over the head and explain exactly what the book's about.) It helps (but isn't absolutely critical) if there is an available .com domain name available, and if there are no competing titles, businesses, etc., with similar names.

Got an idea: e-mail it to me, and if we use it, you will win a cornucopia of Dave Fox publications:

• A copy of my travel humor book, Getting Lost: Mishaps of an Accidental Nomad
• A copy of my audiobook CD, The Fox that Quacked: Essays from Planet Earth
• And of course... a copy of the journaling book when it's out.
• Hey, I'm even going to throw in some chocolate!

The rules:

• You may submit as many entries as you like. (Ahem... within reason. If you get obsessive or obnoxious, I will feel compelled to block your e-mail.)
• The contest ends as soon as the publishers and I agree on a title... which could be tomorrow or could be months from now. Got a great idea? Don't procrastinate!
• If more than one person submits the same winning title, the first person to suggest it wins the prizes.
• If no submitted entries are used as the final title (in other words, if I come up with something all by my own brilliant self), these prizes might not be awarded. (But hey, they're not that expensive. You can always just buy them!)
• All the usual rules apply... void where prohibited, anyone under 18 must have a parent's permission to enter, anyone under 13 is not allowed to enter. Sorry. I don't make these rules. I just follow them so I don't get thrown in jail for attempting to lure minors into the sordid world of travel journaling.

Looking for inspiration? You'll find all of my basic travel journaling philosophies on my journaling website at www.traveljournaling.com.

The Power of Self-Suggestion

I'm out right now at Wayward Coffeehouse, the spot down the street from me where I do much of my writing. I'm working on my forthcoming book about travel journaling. Twenty minutes ago, I wrote the following:

Have fun. Make your own rules. Use my suggestions as guidelines and springboards for your own writing discoveries. And if you come across other techniques, exercises, successes, failures, questions, a burning desire to hire me for something, or a great chocolate chip cookie recipe, please feel free to e-mail me....

After I finished that sentence, I was suddenly seized by a powerful chocolate chip cookie craving. Just writing about them made me salivate.

I am now gobbling one down between sentences. Luckily, they sell them here.

I really need to watch what I write about just before dinner time.

Death of a Cliché

I held a funeral today. My VCR/DVD-player died.

As I hooked up a replacement model -- a multi-zone player that's compatible with DVDs from all over the world, but which will not play videocassettes -- I realized digital technology has made obsolete an invention that seemed revolutionary in the 1970s.

I am told some kids today don't know what a vinyl, 33-r.p.m. record is. I'm guessing the same will be true for the videocassette within a few years.

Later this afternoon, I was reading an article in a year-old copy of my favorite writing magazine, Writer's Digest. The following sentence caught my attention:

"Tech-savvy authors have an edge over their how-do-you-set-a-VCR brethren...."

I love Writer's Digest -- and the article I was reading, about how authors can get recognized in the high-tech publishing era, was brilliant. But I thought, "Shame on the author for using one of the stalest clichés of the 20th century! Shame on the editors for letting it slip into print!"

"More complicated than programming a VCR." That joke has been dreadfully overused for years. I'm hoping that with the looming extinction of the VCR, we will also see the death of this cliché.

A Whole Nother Common Mistake

“Another” is a strange word. It's really an article and a noun – “an other” –- squished together to make a single article. When you throw an adjective into the mix, it wreaks havoc in spoken English.

It seems that nobody ever writes the word, "nother," but people say it all the time -- things like, “I’ve just created a whole nother word!"

“Nother” is not a word. It should be “a whole other word.”

Welcome to Wordsplash!

Do you love writing? Do you hate writing? Do you think writing is kind of okay, but you would like to do it better? Does the English language make you roll your eyes in amusement? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this blog is for you. And it's not just about writing. It's also a blog about speaking, listening, and anything having to do with language.

Welcome to Wordsplash -- a blog for amateur writers, professional writers, aspiring writers, good writers, bad writers, enthusiastic writers, reluctant writers, and penguins. (Why penguins? Because penguins are cool.) It's a blog for anyone who likes to splash words around and see what happens.

Wordsplash is a blog about the English language -- and occasionally other languages and how they relate to English. We'll explore ways to make your writing crisper and more powerful, look at English's quirks, examine common mistakes, learn how to say more in fewer words, giggle at bloopers and typos, soak up some cool linguistic trivia, and even dive into the psychology of writing -- topics such as writer's block, staying motivated, and coping with distractions. I'll review my favorite books about writing, and when time allows, answer questions from readers.

Is there something about the English language that confuses you? A sentence or paragraph that isn't quite expressing what you are really trying to say? A short excerpt of your writing you'd like critiqued?  E-mail me at wordsplash (~at~) davethefox.com and I'll do my best to answer your question in my blog.

(Ye olde fyne print: Please note that I cannot respond to all questions. If I don't answer yours, please don't take it personally, and please don't come after me with a chainsaw. If you send samples of your writing to this e-mail address for comments or critiques, you are granting me permission to use it as an example in my articles about writing -- on this blog or elsewhere. You will be identified by first name and city unless you request otherwise. Please understand that as an overworked, underpaid freelance writer, I do not have time to give out free, private writing advice, so please resist the urge to swamp me with questions if you don't want me to discuss them on this blog. I am available for private "word coaching" -- via e-mail or Skype, or in person in Seattle -- but hey, it's part of the way I pay my bills. If you'd like more info, drop me an e-mail and I'll fill you in on my rates.)

I'm also looking for examples you find of other people's language that seems improper. Have you heard a quote that tries to say one thing but means something else? Found a sentence in print or online that doesn't make sense the way it's worded. Spotted a sign with a funny mistake? Send me your photos, web links, scanned articles, or anything else you have to offer, and we'll talk about them online. Or maybe you have a pet peeve -- something you read or hear on a regular basis that's incorrect.

Becoming a better writer is a never-ending process. We all make mistakes, no matter how experienced we are. (Blogging about good and bad writing is scary. I goof things up myself sometimes when I'm in a hurry.) So when I use other people's writing and point out their goof-ups, please know I do so with respect for the writer, as a tool for all of us to become better writers.

This blog is interactive too. The "right way" to say something isn't always clear. In the "comments" section underneath each post, we'll share our thoughts and debate what we read. (No scratching or biting, please.)

About me: I'm a professional freelance writer with more than 15 years of experience. I've written in a wide range of genres: Print and broadcast journalism, marketing, humor, travel, children's educational literature, brochures, medical and tech writing, and more. I've critiqued other writers' work in a wide variety of genres -- everything from college term papers to short fiction, from travel articles to (::blush::) erotica.

My first book, Getting Lost: Mishaps of an Accidental Nomad, is a collection of humor essays about things that have gone wrong in my international travels. My second book, about how to write more exciting travel journals (and still have time to enjoy your trip) is scheduled for publication in the summer of 2008 by Inkwater Press. You'll find lots of my travel journaling tips over at another one of my websites, traveljournaling.com.

I write original material, edit other people's work, teach classes, and offer one-on-one consulting to help people improve or adapt their writing styles. I can work with you in person in Seattle, or online, and I offer a discount for students with a valid ID. If you're interested in hiring me or chatting more about the services I offer, e-mail me and let me know how I can help.

My ideas for this blog have been percolating for a long time. I'll try to post new material at least a couple of times a week.