Number 3
I’m sending this edition early because of the holiday. I won’t be answering e-mail this week either, but I am reading it, and I thank you for it.
Another good suggestion from a reader: I am sending Parvum Opus in plain text format in the body of the e-mail, and sending the formatted version as an attachment. There’s very little formatting, but the italics and bold make a difference, and I don’t like using asterisks and similar keyboard devices. Even if I knew all of those recently invented text markers (which do not even correspond to pre-computer devices used on typewriters, such as underlining), I think they look cluttered. So you may open the attachment or not, as you prefer.
A lawyer sent me a further legal definition of “actionable”: “Most attorneys use the word as a term of art. [For] example, ‘actionable words’ [refers] to someone’s claim of defamation caused by another's improper communication, concerning the offended person’s privacy.” And improper communication is what Parvum Opus is all about.
When I taught English composition to college freshmen, someone in every class would ask, “How can I learn to write better?” Of course there’s no quick fix but there’s a short answer: I always told them to read more, and to read good books, something other than newspapers and magazines. The long answer is – learning to write is a never-ending task. In the introduction to Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Betty Edwards told the story of an old Chinese drawing master of great age, who said that at the end of his life, he was just beginning to understand how to draw; he called himself “old man mad about drawing.” Someone once said that a piece of writing is never really finished, it is only abandoned (i.e., to print) – every written work can be improved or at least changed.
Now I would suggest something else to help with spelling and, to a lesser degree, vocabulary: crossword puzzles and other word games. You could replace a worse time waster with this one. You’ll usually find a crossword puzzle in your newspaper every day, but there are other kinds of word and logic games in Games magazine and the Penny Press and Dell variety word puzzle magazines. The reason I say puzzles are of less help with vocabulary is because the definitions in puzzles are narrow and out of context. The very tricky British-type puzzles, sometimes called Cryptic Crosswords, twist word meanings; you have to be an agile thinker to figure these out. Good exercise.
I think there may be a spelling gene. It’s a matter perhaps of neural perception and processing (not to mention the English language) as much as education; not only dyslexic people have problems with it. (By the way, have you heard about the agnostic, insomniac dyslexic who sat up all night pondering whether there really is a dog?)
People have more trouble with short, common words than long ones, because we tend to go to the dictionary for a longer, less familiar word. English has many homonyms, and we often trip up on there, their, and they’re; too, two, and to; etc. A reader who works with government publications sent a great example of this: “One of my favorites, from many years back, had to do with regulations governing erosion control by using dykes – in print, in the official text of the regulations. I questioned where they found all those women to do that heavy work, and NOBODY UNDERSTOOD THE QUESTION – not in the promulgating agency, and not in ours.”
“Theatre” seems to have entered the dictionary (or a dictionary) with no indication that it’s the British spelling. If someone wants to name their theatrical company or a building The High-Toned Theatre, that’s OK. But one of my son’s high school English teachers insisted that “theatre” means something different from “theater.” It doesn’t, and it seems pretentious. I saw a fast-food restaurant, one of a big chain, in Kansas City that called itself a “Family Fun Centre.” Imagine, one might go in expecting bangers and mash only to be faced with burgers and fries.
Is there any reason ever to write “Xmas” except in a telegram or some other place where space counts? And don’t tell me X stands for the cross which stands for Christ. If Christmas isn’t the time to write out the whole word, when is there enough time?
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you! And best wishes for other holidays of your choice!
Copyright Rhonda Keith 2002. Parvum Opus or part of it may be reproduced only with permission, but it is permissible to forward the entire newsletter as long as the copyright remains.
Parvum Opus is a publication of KeithOps / Opus Publishing Services (www.keithops.us).
Feel free to e-mail me with comments or queries. If you don’t want to receive Parvum Opus, please reply with “unsubscribe,” “quit,” “enough,” or something like that in the subject line, and I’ll take you off the mailing list.
Return to KeithOps.