eComPreneur - what an enlightening term!

The newest BUZZword to hit the ecommerce scene today is eComPreneur and stands for entrepreneurs who focus is on building an enterprise business in the ecommerce world…

“encl.”  (“enclosure”) Indicates that something else accompanying the letter is enclosed.

“PL/rm” (initials of persons) Indicates that a person typed or even composed a letter on behalf of someone else.  The capitalized initials are those of the author of the letter (Paul Lazarman).  The lower-case initials are those of the person who typed or composed the letter (Rachel McDonald).  The most common use for this notation is for situations where an administrative assistant composed and/or typed the final version of a letter that was dictated by his/her boss.

“execution intelligence”

In my constant dealing with many in the vast landscape battleground that is our marketplace, spanning across the same playing field we all have lengthy dissorations of our experience about our background…

Gladiator / Mercenary Adventure stories…  of which many legends are made…
but what is the most valuable?
I am finding - in terms of measurable effectiveness for securing that solicited contract “or bounty” - is that of how the actionable your previous production(s) were executed.

Therein lies the intangible value…

and my new buzz term lol…

Electronic Program(me) Guide (EPG)
or also an Interactive Program(me) Guide (IPG)
or Electronic Service Guide (ESG),

is an on-screen guide to scheduled broadcast television programs, allowing a viewer to navigate, select, and discover content by time, title, channel, genre, etc, by use of their remote control, a keyboard or even a phone keypad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_program_guide

Hidden signals: Captioning | Teletext | CGMS-A | GCR | PDC | VBI | VEIL | VITC | WSS | XDS

digital EPG services
create and drive your own EPG http://www.tvbrowser.org/

study ZUI http://www.opentv.com

analog EPG services
http://www.bds.tv/
http://nxtvepg.sourceforge.net/intro.html

PVR DVR Solutoins I am investigating include the following ::.

MythTV http://www.mythtv.org/

QAM    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAM_tuner

A list of Common Text message Abbreviations.

AAP Always a pleasure
AAR At any rate
AAS Alive and smiling
AAP Always a pleasure
AAR At any rate
AAS Alive and smiling
ADN Any day now
AEAP As early as possible
AFAIK As far as I know
AFK Away from keyboard
AKA Also known as
AISB As it should be
AOTA All of the above
ASAP As soon as possible
A/S/L Age/sex/location
AT At your terminal
ATM At the moment
AYEC At your earliest convenience
B/F Boyfriend
B4 Before
B4N Bye for now
BAK Back at keyboard
BAU Business as usual
BBIAF Be back in a few
BBIAM Be back in a minute
BBL Be back later
BBS Be back soon
BC Because
BCNU Be seein’ you
BF Best friend
BFN Bye for now
BLNT Better luck next time
BM&Y Between me and you
BOL Best of luck
BRB Be right back
BRT Be right there
BTA But then again
BTDT Been there, done that
BTW By the way
CMIIW Correct me if I’m wrong
CMON Come on
COB Close of business
CU See you
CUA See you around
CUL See you later
CUL8R See you later
CWYL Chat with you later
CYA See ya
CYO See you online
D/L Download
DEGT Don’t even go there
DIKU Do I know you?
DQMOT Don’t quote me on this
DTS Don’t think so
EBKAC Error between keyboard and chair
EMA E-mail address
EOD End of day
EOM End of message
F2F Face to face
FBM Fine by me
FISH First in, still here
FOMCL Falling off my chair laughing
FITB Fill in the blank
FRT For real though
FWIW For what it’s worth
FYEO For your eyes only
FYI For your information
G/F Girlfriend
G2G Got to go
G2R Got to run
GA Go ahead
GAL Get a life
GB Goodbye
GBU God bless you
GFI Go for it
GG Gotta Go or Good Game
GIAR Give it a rest
GIGO Garbage in, garbage out
GL Good luck
GL / HF Good luck, have fun
GLNG Good luck next game
GMTA Great minds think alike
GOI Get over it
GOL Giggling out loud
GR8 Great
GR&D Grinning, running and ducking
GTG Got to go
GTRM Going to read mail
HAGN Have a good night
HAGO Have a good one
HAND Have a nice day
HF Have fun
HHIS Head hanging in shame
HOAS Hold on a second
HRU How are you?
HTH Hope this helps
IAC In any case
IANAL I am not a lawyer
IB I’m back
IC I see
ICBW It could be worse
IDK I don’t know
IDTS I don’t think so
IG2R I got to run
IIRC If I remember correctly
ILBL8 I’ll be late
ILU / ILY I love you
IM Instant message
IMHO In my humble opinion
IMNSHO In my not so humble opinion
IMO In my opinion
INAL I’m not a lawyer
IOW In other words
IRL In real life
IRMC I rest my case
IUSS / IYSS If you say so
IYKWIM If you know what I mean
IYO In your opinion
JAC Just a sec
JIK Just in case
JJA Just joking around
JK Just kidding
JMO Just my opinion
JP Just playing
KISS Keep it simple, stupid
KIT Keep in touch
KOTC Kiss on the cheek
KNIM Know what I mean?
L8R Later
LD Later, dude / Long distance
LMAO Laughing my ass off
LOL Laughing out loud
LTM Laugh to myself
LTNS Long time no see
M8 Mate
MorF Male or female?
MoS Mother over shoulder
MUSM Miss you so much
MYOB Mind your own business
n00b Newbie
NBD No big deal
NFM None for me / Not for me
NIMBY Not in my back yard
NLT No later than
NM Nothing much / Never mind
NMH Not much here
NOYB None of your business
NP No problem
NRN No response/reply necessary
NW No way
OIC Oh, I see
OMG Oh my God
OMW On my way
OO Over and out
OOH Out of here
OOTD One of these days
OP On phone
OTB Off to bed
OTL Out to lunch
OTOH On the other hand
OTTOMH Off the top of my head
OTW Off to work
PDQ Pretty darn quick
PLMK Please let me know
PLZ Please
PMFI Pardon me for interrupting
PMFJI Pardon me for jumping in
POAHF Put on a happy face
PPL People
PXT Please explain that
PU That stinks!
QIK Quick
RL Real life
RME Rolling my eyes
ROTFL Rolling on the floor laughing
RSN Real soon now
RTFM Read the fucking manual
SICNR Sorry, I could not resist
SIG2R Sorry, I got to run
SLAP Sounds like a plan
SMHID Scratching my head in disbelief
SIS Snickering in silence
SOMY Sick of me yet?
SOTMG Short of time, must go
SPK Speak
SPST Same place, same time
SRY Sorry
SS So sorry
SSDD Same stuff, different day
SSINF So stupid it’s not funny
STR8 Straight
STW Search the Web
SUITM See you in the morning
SUL / SYL See you later
SUP What’s up?
TA Thanks a lot
TAFN That’s all for now
TAM Tomorrow a.m.
TBD To be determined
TBH To be honest
TC Take care
TGIF Thank God it’s Friday
THX Thanks
TIA Thanks in advance
TIAD Tomorrow is another day
TLK2UL8R / TTYL Talk to you later
TMI Too much information
TMWFI Take my word for it
TNSTAAFL There’s no such thing as a free lunch
TPM Tomorrow p.m.
TPTB The powers that be
TSTB The sooner, the better
TTFN Ta ta for now
TTTT These things take time
TTYS Talk to you soon
TU / TY Thank you
TYT Take your time
TYVM Thank you very much
UGTBK You’ve got to be kidding
UKTR You know that’s right
UL Upload
UR Your / You’re
UV Unpleasant visual
UW / YW You’re welcome
WAM Wait a minute
WAN2TLK Want to talk
WAYF / WUF? Where are you from?
W/B Write back
WB Welcome back
WIIFM What’s in it for me?
WK Week
WKD Weekend
WOMBAT Waste of money, brains and time
WRUD What are you doing?
WTF What the fuck
WTG Way to go
WTH What the heck?
WU? What’s up?
WUCIWUG What you see is what you get
WWYC Write when you can
WYLEI When you least expect it
WYSIWYG What you see is what you get
YBS You’ll be sorry
YGBKM You gotta be kidding me
YMMV Your mileage may vary

(Multiple System/Services Operator)
Typically refers to a cable TV organization that owns more than one cable system, but it may refer to an operator of only one system.

Sotto voce (literally “under voice”), an Italian expression, means to speak under one’s breath or to speak confidentially

This post is a quick and dirty “cheat sheet” that explains many common grammar, syntax, and usage errors, and offers the correct way to write. I’ll probably continue adding to this post over time, but for now, these are the errors I see most often and find most annoying.
Why is this important? Who cares if you use correct grammar?

We communicate in language. More and more often, especially with the advent of the Internet, that means written language. Forums like Weblogs, the World Wide Web, and mailing lists are primarily written media. In these forums, we see nothing of what people are save for what they write. In any written medium, people who write clearly and distinctly, and who use language precisely and in a way that is easy to understand, will likely be read more often and given more attention than people who do not.

Anything you do that makes your messages harder to read or harder to understand will make it more likely that people will not pay any attention to anything you have to say. The written word is the only thing you have here; if you do not use it well, then your ideas, no matter how good they may be, will be disregarded.

“To” and “too,” “affect” and “effect,” …

These are errors which occur because two words sound similar or the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings. Some of the more common soundalike errors:

“Compliment” and “complement”

A “compliment” is a pleasantry, an expression of goodwill, admiration, or respect; “he complimented my typing skills.” As a verb, it means “to pay someone a compliment.” On the other hand, “complement” means “a complete set,” or “to complete or to fit well together with,” as in “I have the normal complement of fingers and toes” or “Bob and Jill complement one another beautifully as business partners.”

“Allude” and “elude”

To “allude” to something means to refer to it, usually indirectly; “far be it from me to allude to my esteemed rival’s history of wombat abuse.” “Elude,” though, means to escape or avoid; “the suspect eluded police capture by slipping out the window.”

“To” and “too”

“Too” means “also” or “to a great extent.” “To” means “in the direction of” or indicates an infinitive. You go to the store; if someone else goes along with you, then she goes too. If fifteen people go with you, that’s far too many to take one car.

“Accept” and “except”

To “accept” something means to receive that thing; you accept a reward, you accept blame, you accept a FedEx package. “Except” means “with the exclusion of” or “but;” for instance, “I work every day except Saturday and Sunday.” Just think: E is for Except, E is for Exclusion.

“Affect” and “effect”

These two words are entirely different parts of speech. “Affect” is a verb: “Your insults do not affect me.” “Effect” is generally a noun; that is, it is an actual thing. Slings and arrows have an effect on me; they injure me, and the injuries are things. “You cannot affect me; your idle chatter has no effect on me.”

Confusing this issue somewhat is that the word “affect,” when the emphasis is placed on the first syllable, is used in the psychiatric community to mean “emotion” or “demeanor,” as in “Bob presents a flat affect when you talk to him” (that is, Bob shows no emotion or expression when you’re speaking to him); and the word “effect” can be used as a verb to mean “make” or “change,” as in “to effect an improvement in the situation.”

“Allowed” and “aloud”

“Allowed” means “permitted,” as in “I am not allowed to go to the party tomorrow.” “Aloud” means “out loud,” as in “Read the book aloud.” The word “aloud” has the word “loud” in it, which makes these two easy to remember.

“Advise” and “advice”

These two words are also different parts of speech. “Advise” is a verb; you advise someone to do something. “As your lawyer, I advise you to keep your mouth shut.” It’s pronounced “advize.” “Advice” is something that you give someone, or someone gives you. “I did not follow my lawyer’s advice, and now I’m in trouble.”

“Desert” and “dessert”

This is a very common confusion, even among people who really ought to know better. A “desert” is a place with no water; “We are reading a book about the Sahara Desert.” As a verb, “desert” means “to abandon,” as in “I may have to desert my Hummer if gas keeps getting more expensive.” On the other hand, “dessert” is the treat you have after a meal, as in “Can I have apple pie for dessert tonight?”

“Discreet” and “discrete”

These words sound the same, but are completely unrelated. “Discreet” means “unobtrusive” or “with good judgement,” as in “If you are going to follow someone, it’s best to be discreet.” A person who is discreet shows discretion, as in “Discretion is the better part of valor.” “Discrete,” on the other hand, means “made up of distinct parts,” as in “A telephone has three discrete parts: a handset, a base, and a cord.”

“Lose” and “loose”

“Lose” is pronounced “looze.” It means “to misplace,” as in “I always lose my car keys,” or “to be defeated,” as in “We will lose the game without Bob.” “Loose” means “not tight” (”This shirt is too loose on me”), or “not confined” (”the dog got loose when the door on his kennel broke”).

“Site” and “sight” and “cite”

“Site” is a place. “Sight” is having to do with vision. “We went to the crash site” means “we went to the place where the crash happened;” “the enemy is in sight” means “the enemy is visible.” This is a web site, meaning “a place on the Web,” not a web sight. “Cite,” which is pronounced just like “site,” is entirely different; it means to quote, as in “Can you cite any studies that prove what you’re saying?”

“Then” and “than”

“Then” has to do with time, as in “We went to the store, then we went to the movies” or “When you finish your homework, then you can go outside.” On the other hand, “than” is a conjunction used in comparisons: “He is older than she is,” or “that is easier said than done.”

“Brakes” and “breaks”

“Brakes” are devices used to stop a moving machine, such as a car. “Breaks” is what happens when something hits something else too hard. If the brakes on your car fail, your car breaks when it hits the wall; a broken brake leads to a broken car.

It’s “per se,” not “per say.”

Per se is Latin for “of itself.” It means “intrinsically,” as in “a state government is not a sovereign entity per se, but is subsumed under the Federal government.”

“Imput,” “forte” …

The word “vice” in “vice versa” is not pronounced “vis-uh.”

“Vice versa” is Latin for “order reversed;” for example, “I sometimes chase my cat around the room, and vice versa” means “I sometimes chase my cat around the room, and the cat sometimes chases me.” People sometimes pronounce the “vice” as though it were a two-syllable word rhyming with “versa,” as in “vis-uh vers-uh,” which is incorrect, at least in modern pronounciation. (It’s been recently pointed out to me that the original Latin would probably have been pronounced ‘Wi-ke Wer-sa’ or ‘Vi-che Ver-sa,’ rather than as it’s typically pronounced today ‘Vise Ver-sa’–though in no case is ‘Vis-uh’ correct.)

It’s “input,” not “imput.”

“Input” is what you feed into a system–you offer someone your input, you feed input into a computer program. It literally comes from “something you put in.” More and more often, people are spelling it “imput,” particularly online; this points, I think, to an error in pronunciation.

The word forte is most properly pronounced “fort,” not “for-TE” or “for-TAY”

“Forte” derives from the French “fort,” meaning “strong.” A person’s “forte” is his strongest talent, as in “running a business is Bill’s forte.” It’s often pronounced as two syllables, “for-TAY,” in the United States, though this is not technically correct; that pronunciation would be more correct if the word had derived from Italian, not French.

Note: Apparently, there is some debate about the proper pronunciation of this word. My references list “fort” as the correct pronunciation, but the Merriam-Webster online reference has this to say:

we have a word derived from French that in its “strong point” sense has no entirely satisfactory pronunciation. Usage writers have denigrated \’for-”tA\ and \’for-tE\ because they reflect the influence of the Italian-derived “forte.” Their recommended pronunciation \’fort\, however, does not exactly reflect French either: the French would write the word “le fort” and would rhyme it with English “for.” So you can take your choice, knowing that someone somewhere will dislike whichever variant you choose.

It’s “espresso,” not “expresso.”

There is no hard “K” sound in the name of the popular coffee beverage, legions of Starbucks cashiers to the contrary.

“Its” and “it’s,” “you’re” and “your,” …

“You’re” vs “your,” “they’re” vs “there” and “their”

If a pronoun has an apostrophe in it, it’s a contraction. “You’re” means “you are,” always. “Your” means “belonging to you.”

The same is true of “they’re” and “their.” “They’re” has an apostrophe; it is a contraction. It means “they are.” “Their” means “belonging to them.” “There” means “somewhere that is not here.”

“Its” and “it’s”

This is probably the single most common grammar mistake on earth. People get confused about this one because they remember a rule from their childhood days: possessive nouns get an apostrophe. “That is Bob’s car.” “That is the horse’s barn.”

Problem is, the word “it” is not a noun. It’s a pronoun! Pronouns never, ever, ever get an apostrophe to indicate possession. Think about it: You don’t say “mi’ne” or “hi’s” or “her’s”–and you don’t say “your’s” or “it’s” to indicate possession.

“It’s” means “it is” or “it has.” If you get confused, take out “it’s” and put in “it is.” If the sentence makes no sense, don’t use the apostrophe.

“I couldn’t care less,” “nothing fazes me,” …

These are errors which occur because two words may be confused, or because someone has misstated a common expression and hasn’t really thought about it. Some of these may involve soundalike errors as well. For example:

When speaking of agreement, it’s “jibe,” not “jive.”

To “jibe” means to agree, as in His account of the crime did not jibe with the other eyewitness accounts. “Jive” is a style of dance.

“Literally” means “actually.”

Something is literally true if it is actually true; “literally” is the opposite of “metaphorically” or “figuratively.” So if you say “I am so happy I am literally walking on air,” what you mean is you are so happy that your body is now violating the law of gravity and your feet are no longer in contact with the ground.

Many people say “literally” when they mean “figuratively.” If you are hungry, but you are not in the hospital being treated for malnourishment, you are not “literally starving.”

One thing can not be “more unique” than another, or “very unique.”

“Unique” means “one of a kind.” It’s based on the Latin “unus,” meaning “one.” Something can not be “very one-of-a-kind” or “more one-of-a-kind” than another; the word “unique” should not be used with modifiers.

Something you don’t like makes you “nauseated,” not “nauseous.”

“Nauseated” means “sick to your stomach;” if the smell of tuna fish turns your stomach, you can say that tuna makes you nauseated. “Nauseous” means “causing nausea in others.” If you are “nauseous,” that means you make other people sick.

Something that is not directly relevant is “beside the point,” not “besides the point.”

When a particular part of a conversation or argument is not directly relevant to the main point of that conversation or argument, but is tangentially related, it is said to be “beside the point”–that is, not directly on point. “Besides the point” is incorrect usage; “besides” means “except” or “in addition to,” so it seems likely that this confusion may have arisen from the idea that the expression means “that is in addition to the point,” which is not correct.

“Disinterested” and “uninterested” do not mean the same thing!

The word “disinterested” means “impartial.” A judge in a courtroom should be disinterested in the outcome; that is, the judge should not have any vested interest one way or the other, and he should be impartial to the issue being determined.

“Uninterested” means “not interested in;” for example, “Bob is uninterested in football” means Bob does not care about football. A courtroom judge is (or should be) disinterested, but he is not uninterested!

“Altogether” and “all together” do not mean the same thing!

“All together” means “all in one group,” as in “let’s keep the socks all together.” On the other hand, “altogether” means “completely,” as in “His speech was altogether full of hot air.”

“Farther” and “further” do not mean the same thing!

“Farther” is used when you are talking about distance: “San Francisco is farther from Tampa than Atlanta is.” “Further” is used when you’re speaking of abstract ideas or talking metaphorically; “San Francisco goes further to deal with urban sprawl than Atlanta does.”

“Less” and “fewer” do not mean the same thing!

“Less” is used in situations where you’re talking about something that’s not discrete or easily quantified: “This car uses less gas than my old car.” “Fewer,” on the other hand, is used in situations where you are talking about a countable quantity of discrete objects: “The express lane is only for people with eight items or fewer,” “fewer people voted for John than for Jake.” The signs you see in supermarkets reading “Express Lane: Eight items or less?” Wrong.

It’s “embedded,” not “imbedded.”

“Embedded” means “set within” or “enclosed.” If you put a bottle cap in wet cement, when it hardens, the bottle cap becomes embedded in the cement. An embedded computer is a computer set in something else, like a microwave oven or a cell phone.

It’s “pronunciation,” not “pronounciation.”

A reader of this site pointed out to me that this is an error I’d made myself–right here on this very page! “Pronounciation” is not actually a word at all; the way a word is pronounced is its “pronunciation.”

Interestingly, a Google search for “pronounciation,” which is the error, turns up over a million hits, whereas a search for the correct “pronunciation” turns up about 41 million hits, which suggests that at least one in 41 people makes this mistake.

It’s “shudder to think,” not “shutter to think.”

To “shudder” is to tremble, as from fright; “shudder to think” means “the thought of that is so frightening (or disturbing or whatever) that the very thought of it is enough to make me shudder.”

It’s “bear with me,” not “bare with me.”

To “bear” something means to carry it, as in “to bear arms,” or to toil with as a burden; “I can’t bear this heavy backpack,” or, more figuratively, “I can’t bear this pain.” “Bear with me” means “carry along with me;” “bare with me” means “get naked with me.”

It’s “should have,” not “should of.”

“Have” is a verb; “of” is a preposition. “I should have gone” or “I would have gone if I had the money” are correct. “I should of gone” or “I would of gone” are incorrect; the word “gone” is not part of a prepositional phrase.

Something you make is your “handiwork,” not your “handywork.”

The word “handiwork” comes from the Middle English handiwerk, which in turn derives from the Old English hand gework, literally “the work produced by the hands.” It’s the result of your skill or labor: “this model train set is my handiwork.” A person skilled with his hands, especially at odd jobs, is said to be “handy,” and a person who does a number of odd jobs is sometimes called a “handyman,” which is probably how the confusion regarding “handiwork” and “handywork” got started. A handyman produces handiwork, not handywork.

It’s “death knell,” not “death nail.”

The word “knell” is an archaic term meaning “to sound in an ominous manner, as the ringing of a bell to indicate a death or disaster.” A “death knell” is literally the sound of a funeral bell.

It’s “A lot,” never “alot.”

“A lot” is two words, as in “We have a lot of food in the kitchen” or “Florida is being hammered by a lot of hurricanes this season.” It means “A large quantity.” You would never say “abunch;” it’s two words–”a bunch.” Same thing. And “allot” means something else entirely; “allot” is a verb, meaning “to assign” or “to distribute,” as in “Bob will allot one donut and one cup of coffee to each attendee.”

It’s a “moot point,” not a “mute point.”

Something is “moot” if it is debatable or of undecided value; if you don’t live in Florida, then the fact that Florida residents get discounted Disney World tickets is moot to you. “Mute” means “unable to make a sound.”

It’s “hear hear,” not “here here.”

“Hear hear” means something like the more contemporary vernacular “I hear you;” it indicates agreement and assent. “Here here” means “not over there there,” and that’s just kind of silly.

It’s “Lo and behold,” not “low and behold.”

The word “lo!” is a Middle English expression of surprise. “Lo and behold” is kind of the equivalent of saying “Well, hey, look at that!”

It’s “Nothing fazes me,” not “nothing phases me.”

To “faze” is to disturb or frighten. “She was unfazed” means “she retained her composure.” “He was unphased” means “he was not made of a number of waveforms that were in synchronization.” Big difference, folks.

“I couldn’t care less,” not “I could care less.”

“I could care less” means “I do care.” It would be possible for me to care less, because I already care. If I do not care at all–if the amount I care about something is zero–then it would be impossible for me to care any less, because I can’t care about something less than a zero amount…I couldn’t care less.

It’s “etc,” not “ect.”

“Etc” is an abbreviation for “et cetera” (two words), which is Latin for “and so forth.” “Et” means “and,” which is why “etc” is sometimes written “&c”. “Etc” is correct. “&c” is correct but archaic. “Ect” is not, never has been, and never will be correct.

The abbreviations “ie” and “eg” do not mean the same thing!

You use “ie” when you mean “in other words” or “that is to say.” It’s Latin for “id est,” which means “that is.” For example: “He is a businessman; ie, he makes his money by operating a business.” On the other hand, “eg” is used to mean “for example.” It’s Latin for “exempli gratia.” “I do not like spectator sports–eg, football and baseball.” Most properly, they are written “i.e.” and “e.g.,” though “ie” and “eg” are becoming more common.

For example: eg. In other words: ie.

“Insure” and “ensure” do not mean the same thing either!

“Ensure” means “to make sure of.” Double-check your math on your tax return to ensure you don’t get an embarrassing phone call from the IRS. “Insure,” on the other hand, means “to provide insurance for,” you insure your house in order to ensure that you won’t be financially ruined if it burns down.

To be caught “between the devil and the deep blue sea” does not mean “between two unattractive options.”

It means “to be in a position where you have no room to maneuver.” There are two theories about the origin of this expression. The first is the idea that the ‘devil’ on a wooden sailing ship was a term for the main spar of the ship–a brace that runs the whole length of the ship from front to back, around which the frame of the ship is built. There is a very narrow space–typically less than 3′ high–between a ship’s devil and the bottom of the hull; this was sometimes the space where the most lowly members of a ship’s crew slept, quite literally “between the devil and the deep blue sea.” It’s a very, very tiny space. The other is that the seams on a wooden ship near the waterline were often referred to as the “devil,” and that sealing these seams to keep them watertight involved a sailor being lowered over the side of a boat on a rope, with a bucket of sealing pitch; such a sailor was dangling precariously “between the devil and the deep blue sea.” (I’ve seen one Web page which claims that the expression predates the days of wooden sailing ships, but I haven’t seen any documented usage of the term that dates back that far.)

“You have piqued my interest,” not “you have peaked my interest” or “you have peeked my interest.”

The word “pique” (pronounced like “peek”) means “to excite or arouse.” “You have piqued my interest” means “you have aroused my interest”–that is, I wasn’t interested before, but now I am.

A group is a “clique,” not a “click”

“Clique” is pronounced like “click.” However, the meaning is completely different. “Clique” was originally a French word; hence the weird spelling.

Something that’s stylish is “chic,” not “sheik”

“Chic” is another confusing French import. It’s pronounced like “sheik” but means “elegant, stylish, or sophisticated.”

It’s “whet my appetite,” not “wet my appetite.”

“Whet” means “sharpen.” A tool that sharpens a knife is called a “whetstone.” To “whet” one’s appetite means to sharpen one’s appetite–”That appetizer really whetted my appetite!” To “wet” one’s appetite means to make it soggy.

Debris is the only English noun with no plural. There are many English words for which the singular and the plural are the same, but in English, you can ot speak of a single piece of debris with a singular form of the word.

We often speak of being overwhelmed, or talk of how something might overwhelm a computer, but we rarely use whelm as a verb. Yet in the strictest sence, “to whelm” means “to overcome” (particularly with an emotion); it is therefore perfectly proper to say somethig like “I was whelmed with grief,” which means the same thing as saying “I was overwhelmed with grief.”

Both fish and fishes are accepted plurals of the word “fish,” but the rules differ as to which one is appropriate in diferent contexts. Generally speaking, if you are talking about any number of dead fish, or any number of live fish of the same species, you use “fish,” as in The boat came back to port with a hold full of fish. However, if you are talking about live fish of different species, you can use “fishes,” as in Salt-water fishes include several species of sharks, eels, and salmon.

An alumnus is a male graduate of a school; a female graduate is an alumna. When you’re talking about a group of graduates, you use alumni if all the graduates are male or if there’s a mix of male and female graduates; if all the graduates are female, the proper form is alumnae.

The plural of mouse is mice only if you’re talking about rodents. If you’re talking about a computer mouse, the accepted plural is mouses.

The Middle English root of “ruthless” is “ruthe,” meaning “compassion.” It has survived in the Modern English ruthless (”without compassion”), but its opposite, ruthful (”compassionate”) is considered archaic and is rarely used.

There are a handful of other modern English words which are typically used only in their negative form as well. For example, the word scathed means “harmed” or “scorched;” we often use unscathed (as in “I made it through Doom 3 unscathed”) but rarely use “scathed.” Likewise, the word licit means “conforming to law” or “not forbidden;” we often use it in the negative form illicit (as in “an illicit affair” or “an illicit sale”) but rarely describe things as “licit.”

Believe it or not, not all rules of grammar are good things. Indeed, a rule is useful only when it seeks to enhance and clarify communication; grammar rules which don’t serve this purpose are actually worse than useless, as they tend to make a language more rigid and inflexible.

“i” before “e” except after “c”…

…is arguably the least useful “rule” of English grammar, as nearly as many words violate this rule as follow it. The fact, is, “ie” and “ei” constructions simply have to be memorized; there isn’t a hard and fast rule to follow.

Many words of German origin are spelled “ei;” in German, “ie” is pronounced as a long “e” and “ei” is pronounced as a long “i”. Words which violate this rule also include words with Middle English roots, such as “heir,” “heist,” “heinous,” “weird,” and “seize.”

Split Infinitives

Of all the rules of English grammar which serve little purpose, the most obvious and least useful is the rule which says “thou shalt not split an infinitive.” An infinitive is the “to” form of a verb; “to look,” “to go,” and so on. A “split infinitive” is a phrase in which some word appears between the “to” and the verb; “to boldly go,” for example.

This particular rule was actually invented by one person, Bishop Roberth Lowth. In 1762, he published a book on English grammar, which has exerted an evil influence on English ever since. His reasoning for prohibiting a split infinitive was–get this–it’s impossible to split an infinitive in Latin, so it shouldn’t be done in English either.

I kid you not. That’s the reason you’ve been told you must never, ever split an infinitive–because it’s impossible to do in Latin, and in 1762 some yoyo decided that English really ought to look more like Latin, so anything you can’t do in Latin you shouldn’t do in English either.

Ending a sentence with a preposition

The rule that one must never end a sentence with a preposition is just as silly as the rule that one must never split an infinitive, and in fact the prohibition against ending sentences with a preposition often forces the speaker to use weird and awkward sentence structures. This point was most nobly illustrated by none other than Winston Churchill, who upon being told he couldn’t end a sentence with a preposition, replied “[That] is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put.” That says it all, really.

Never say “ain’t”

This rule has more to do with ideas about class and social standing than it does with grammar. “Ain’t” has traditionally been seen as a low-class thing to say; the prohibition against its use is based more on an idea that “people who are educated should never use such a low-class word” than it is on any serious rule of grammar or usage. In fact, the word “ain’t” as a contraction for “am not” serves admirably where no other word exists; “amn’t” is not a recognized English word at all. William Shakespeare used the word “ain’t;” that’s good enough for me!

Never use a double negative

Bishop Lowth, who gave us the rule against splitting infinitives, also gave us this rule. He believed that double negatives should not be used because they cancel each other out, and in some cases it’s true; “I’m not doing nothing” means “I am doing something.”

However, the opposite of a negative is not always a positive. “I did not make it through Doom 3 unscathed” is a double negative, yet its meaning is clear, and it’s much less awkward than “I made it through Doom 3 scathed,” if indeed you can even use “scathed” that way. Again, Shakespeare used the odd double negative, and I am not unimpressed by that. A double negative, used correctly, offers shades of meaning; a double negative does not always mean the same thing as a positive.

Punctuation always belongs inside quotation marks

This is a rule that didn’t used to be a big deal, but technology has made it problematic. Technical writing poses special challenges; if you were to see, for example, a written instruction that said:

To change to the proper directory, type “cd ..”

it’s not clear if you are expected to type “cd .” or “cd ..” — each is a valid Unix command, but they do different things. If one follows the conventional rules of grammar, which say that a period always belongs inside the quotation marks, one runs the risk of creating ambiguities.

It’s not just technical writing that creates the problem, though. Even in ordinary writing, this rule can create weird situations:

Did he really say “We will be there soon?”

The entire sentence is a question, but the part inside the quotation marks is not; writing according to the conventional rules of grammar is misleading, because you’re counting on the reader to infer that the quotation was a statement, even though it ends in a question mark.

The rule that I’d most humbly like to propose is this: Punctuation belongs inside quotation marks if and only if that punctuation is actually part of the quoted literal; otherwise, it goes outside. (I’m told that this is the way British English is usually written, but don’t know for a fact that this is so.) I’ve recently received an email which says that some public schools here in the US are beginning to teach that punctuation belongs inside the quotation marks if the entire sentence is quoted, but outside the quotation marks if only part of the sentence is a quotation. so perhaps this is beginning to change in American English as well.

In the 1400’s a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have “the rule of thumb”.
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Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled “Gentlemen Only…Ladies Forbidden”…and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

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The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
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Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the U.S. Treasury.

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Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.

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Coca-Cola was originally green.

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It is impossible to lick your elbow.

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The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska

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The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28% (now get this…)

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The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%

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The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400

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The average number of people airborne over the U.S. in any given hour: 61,000

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Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

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The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.

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The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.

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Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:

Spades - King David
Hearts - Charlemagne
Clubs -Alexander, the Great
Diamonds - Julius Caesar
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111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

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If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received! in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

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Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn’t added until 5 year! s later

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Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?

A. Their birthplace

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Q Most boat owners name their boats. What is the most popular boat name requeste d?

A. Obsession

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Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter “A”?

A. One thousand

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Q. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?

A. All were invented by women.

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Q. What is the only food that doesn’t spoil?

A. Honey
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Q. Which day are there more collect calls than any other day of the year?

A. Father’s Day

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In Shakespeare’s ti me, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase……… “goodnight, sleep tight.”

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It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride’s father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.

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In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts… So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them “Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down.”

It’s where we get the phrase “mind your P’s and Q’s”
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Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. “Wet your whistle” is the phrase inspired by this practice.

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At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow!

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A great test of how receptive we are to things we encounter that we cannot control but how clear they do impact us never the less…. Don’t skip this just because it looks weird. Believe it or not, you can read it.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty
uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The
phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde
Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the
ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit
pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the world as a whole. Amzanig huh?

a ” looper ” is a dynamic actor/tress that can give good performance time and time again through a scene smoothly swayed by influence of the director between every take . . .

Words which inspire and intrigue me :

empirical
liminal
sublime
enlightenment
surreal
imagine
universe
time
dreams
free will
fate
meritocracy
redivivus
nostalgia
infinite
transience
metamorphosis
futuristic
kludge
vade
mecum
teleology : contingency
Accelerated Serendipity

Techy terms :

leet
nybble
demuxed
transient
phylon
instantiation
parse
rasterize
cipher
nonce
salt
denouement
Sandvining
iterate
torrent
elided
function, instruction, parameter,argument
hyper-attention vs. deep attention
cyduco::.
preprocessor directive include #
main()
./a.out
statement block {}
; CALLS and asks to be performed - THIS IS a piece of work to EXECUTE
() takes info in DEFINE ONLY when one calls it.
automatics
constant
unary negation, logical & relational operators
modulus
precedence Order of Operation

Hack Terms :

baud
breech
bucket
bar
baz
blaster
bounce
byte
bit
berserking
beam
blast
boot
banf
crunch
cloak
clone
corge
cycle

dehose
denial
driver

elo
escalation

flood
foo
fred
finger

grault
garply
GIGO

interrupt

hash
hang
helo

jailbreak

key
kill

leak
livelock

Moof
micro-
macro-
maggox
mirrors

nano
noddy
phreak
ping
phorm
phrog
port
poatew
posing
plugh

qux, quux

rabbit
remote
root
restore
raster

sniff
scan
spoof
suppress
stream
smoke
SAIL, LISP
snail
snap
snarf & barf
seep
squiggle

trace
twiddle
tap
thud

virus

war dialer
widget
waldo
wetware
wire

xyzzy

Yow!

zombie
zorkmid
zeroth

http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/283171/I-O

Tenet \TEN-it\
opinion, principle, belief, that a person holds true
. . . the tenet that all men

qua \KWAY; KWAH\, preposition:
In the capacity or character of; as.
. . . writes qua academic rather than qua judge

invective \in-VEK-tiv\,
vehement verbal attack- Insulting or abusive language.
. . . armed with spikes of invective and knowledge of insult

fait accompli \fay-tah-kom-PLEE; fet-ah-\:
An accomplished and presumably irreversible deed or fact.
. . . with German reunification a fait accompli and the . . .

grimalkin \grih-MAWL-kin\ noun
: a domestic cat; especially : an old female cat
. . . The family grimalkin, dreaming, perhaps, of mousing days . . .

salient \SAIL-yunt\
*2 : standing out conspicuously ;; notable significance
. . . it was hard to identify its salient points. . .

malinger \muh-LING-guhr\, intransitive verb:
To exaggerate illness/inability to avoid Duty/work.
…he slapped a soldiers he thought, were merely malingering…

adulation \aj-uh-LAY-shun\
: excessive or slavish admiration or flattery
… The star was embarrassed by the adulation of his teenage fans….

gambol \GAM-buhl\, intransitive verb:
To dance and skip about in play; to frolic.
. . . I’ve been told dolphins like to gambol in the waves . . .

surfeit \SUR-fut\ noun
2 : an intemperate or immoderate indulgence in something (as food or drink)
� a surfeit of donated blood is never really a problem, whereas shortages frequently are�

vulpine \VUL-pyne\ adjective
1 : of, relating to, or resembling a fox *2 : foxy, crafty
�The stranger’s vulpine smile revealed his cunning mind and greedy heart�

stalwart \STAWL-wert\ adjective
: marked by outstanding strength and vigor of body, mind, or spirit
�Although poorly equipped, the people proved to be stalwart souls, and they �

remonstrate
To present and urge reasons in opposition to an act, measure or actions � beg or plead against
If a hailstorm starts, surely instead of remonstrating with it, you try to take shelter.

myrmidon \MUR-muh-don; -duhn\
member of warlike Thessalian people A loyal follower, especially one who executes orders without question, protest, or pity.
… politicians and their myrmidons in the offices …

troglodyte \TROG-luh-dyt\, noun:
a primitive people that lived in caves, or holes; a dweller.
When the survivalists emerged my first reaction was
to say, “Bless their dotty, troglodyte hearts.”

acquiesce \ak-wee-ESS\ verb

: to accept, comply, or submit tacitly or passively

Example sentence:
Clark inevitably acquiesces when his mother-in-law insists that he have a second helping of one of her home-cooked meals.

commodious \kuh-MOH-dee-us\, adjective:
Comfortably or conveniently spacious; roomy; as, a commodious
house.

Then there are the trousers, black check or blue check,
with commodious pockets.
–Richard F. Shepard, “For Caring Chefs, Crowning Glory Is
the Headgear,”

na�scent
Pronunciation: ‘na-s&nt, ‘nA-
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin nascent-, nascens, present participle of nasci to be born
: coming or having recently come into existence

lucubration \loo-kyoo-BRAY-shun; loo-kuh-\, noun:
The act of studying by candlelight; nocturnal study; meditation. That which is composed by night;
�you’ll appreciate the amount of lucubration that finds its way into print. One of his characters is given to lucubration . � � �

supine \soo-PYN; SOO-pyn\, adjective:
1. Lying on the back, or with the face upward. inactive;
edge of sleep, my thoughts backward, where I lay supine, looking

sibyl \SIB-ul\ noun, often capitalized

1 : any of several prophetesses usually accepted as 10 in number and credited to widely separate parts of the ancient world (as Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, and Italy)
*2 a : prophetess b : fortune-teller

Example sentence:
Grandmother had a knack for foretelling the future, and her reputation as an extraordinarily gifted sibyl increased with each correct prediction.

preternatural \pree-tuhr-NACH-uhr-uhl; -NACH-ruhl\, adjective:
1. Existing outside of nature; differing from the natural;
nonnatural.
2. Surpassing the usual or normal; extraordinary; abnormal.
3. Beyond or outside ordinary experience; inexplicable by
ordinary means.

Advances in computer technology and bioengineering have
made it possible to create human beings of preternatural
strength and agility.

loquacious \loh-KWAY-shus\ adjective

1 : full of excessive talk : wordy
*2 : given to fluent or excessive talk : garrulous

Example sentence:
Bob is a loquacious spokesman for his company, an easygoing speaker with a tendency to ramble on for about ten minutes longer than his audience wants to listen.