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Solving your writing problems since 1998! |
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The Write Way 25 October 2002 Nice Day, Isn't It? Greetings,
I've mentioned before that we lived for many years on the Southern Highlands of NSW, and we used to drive up and down to the coast quite often; it was only an hour's drive. There are a number of different roads, but our favourite was a quiet little back way that was unsealed for part of the way, and so not widely used. It wound its way through lush, green dairy country on the high side, then started its descent and cut through a couple of valleys on the way down. There was one section that was surrounded by steep cliffs that had wonderful rocky ledges about halfway up. Whenever we passed through, I could almost see the people squatting there, thousands of years ago, poking at a fire, chipping away at some new stone axe or just chatting about the day's events. It was the perfect spot to sit, snug and safe in a cave, as some of our fabulous storms raged across to the coast. We could do with a nice big storm up here now. We're in the middle of the worst drought in a hundred years, and yesterday a dust storm swept up the entire eastern coast of the country. It was 300 klm across and 6 klm deep according to the news reports, and dumped tens of millions of tonnes of our very best top soil into the ocean! Because it's such an old continent, many parts of Australia (particularly in the Centre) only have a couple of centimetres of top soil (compared to much of Europe with its average top soil depth of 1.6 metres), so we can ill afford to lose any of it. (Mind you, some places - especially those on river flats, like the Mitta Mitta Valley near Tallangatta in Victoria - have an incredible 90 metres of top soil that's been washed down from higher land.) We missed the worst of it here and just had that dry, dusty smell in the air for a few hours and a spectacular sunset, but it was pretty grim in some parts of the inland. I heard a little kid from the bush being interviewed on the radio this morning, and he said it was so dry on his dad's property that the trees were chasing the dogs. Chuckle ... you have to love that spirit. Albeit, we should be used to the heat and the dry out here, although you have to feel for those poor souls who were unlucky enough to be in Marble Bar, in Western Australia when they had maximum temperatures equalling or exceeding 37.8°C (100°F) on 161 consecutive days (between 30 October 1923 and 7 April 1924). Sheesh! That's hot! Something wrong, isn't there? Yep ... that use of 'albeit' just doesn't cut the mustard, I'm afraid. 'Albeit' comes from the Middle English al be it meaning, "although it be." In English it means "even though; although; notwithstanding." It doesn't mean 'however.' It's a conjunction (like "and, but, so ...") and its purpose in life is to join words, phrases or sentence parts. The dust storm was unpleasant, albeit not unexpected given the drought. Thanks to Jordan Roberts for suggesting I take a bit of a look at this word. If you have any ideas for tips, please send them to me ... This week's quiz: OK ... true or false this week: 1. juxtaposition: to place side by side 2. filibuster: one engaged in unauthorised warfare 3. truncate: put out of action 4. incarcerate: deny the use of 5. eugenic: produces fine offspring 6. convocation: a provincial synod of the clergy 7. complicity: arranged on a temporary basis 8. tantamount: coming to the same thing 9. peculate: to embezzle or steal money 10.equivocation: change in personality After last week's variations on a theme filler, John wrote: "I like what W.C. Fields said about success: If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again, then give up - there is no use being a damn fool about it."And Yehuda Y Zimmerman spotted my (ahem) "deliberate" omission of the comma: "A technical point, of course. Why should I try "try" again? This doesn't make much sense. Shouldn't I try, try again? Better would be, "When at first you don't succeed -- try, try again. This ensures that the sentence is grouped properly." All I can say is it's just as well you're all on the ball ... You definitely keep me honest! Here's a story LaVonne found, that illustrates the importance of having a good vocabulary (as if you needed any convincing ...) My company had a successful year,
and at the annual meeting, employees eagerly awaited the general manager's
report
on the performance of our branch. Last week's quiz: An easy one this week - form nouns from the following (to check if a word is a noun, pretend that the word "the" comes in front of it) 1. detain - DETENTION 2. erode - EROSION 3. confer - CONFERENCE 4. achieve - ACHIEVEMENT 5. relieve - RELIEF 6. proceed - PROCEDURE 7. impede - IMPEDIMENT 8. acquaint - ACQUAINTANCE 9. utter - UTTERANCE 10.fortify - FORTIFICATION Frank Sirrett, who has an English bookstore in Spain ... wrote to me after last week's quiz: "Erode has me on a tangent. A noun from erode? I began with "erodent" and went on to "Erode by any other name." It is going down hill from there. Erodizer, erodephile and erodemiser struck me and then I began on adjectives. Erodient erodic (as in literature that wears the brain away) and on and on and on." You may remember that it was Frank who regaled us with the Tale of Shakespeare's Typewriter some months back: http://www.write101.com/W.Tips142.htm Here's another interesting thought LaVonne found: "If the
English language made any sense, lackadaisical would have something to do with a
shortage of flowers." (Doug Larson) Then add a flag and message to the Map of the World: http://pub37.bravenet.com/guestmap/view.php?usernum=3170114826 You can read the previous 99 messages by clicking on the List button at the top of the page. A Little Something Extra There is a nasty myth out there in the writing world. It is this: Writing for children is easy! Why? After all, children are easy to please. How many times have you read a children's book and thought, "I could write this! In fact, I could write something better!" Maybe you can, maybe you can't. Read these tips by writer, Jennifer Reed, on writing for the children's market: http://www.write101.com/chmarket.htm Word of the week: Omphaloskepsis (n) the contemplation of one's own navel. What a corker of a word! It comes from the Greek omphalos (navel) + skepsis (examination). "I'm sorry, Lavinia. Much as I'd love to attend your fund-raising work-shop for the Ladies Beginner Recorder Music Group, I'm already committed to a session of omphaloskepsis." Oxymoron of the week: almost pregnant ... Sorry Girls, you is or you ain't! This week's Latin phrase may sneak up on you after reading the little something extra: Furor scribendi (A rage for writing). Regards, Jennifer P.S. Lost the details of how you can contribute to my Running Away Fund? 1. Pay by PayPal:
2. Click here to subscribe for a full year OR 3. Use your credit card on my secure order form: http://www.write101.com/fund.htm (You can also access the PayPal subscription link from this page if the link above didn't work for you. With PayPal, you can use your credit card, PayPal account or pay online using your own cheque account.) OR 4. Send a cheque: http://www.write101.com/fund.htm Click here to subscribe for the next year:
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