Simplifying Legal Jargon

The importance of simplifying stressed again. Plain English, not unintelligible sentences. The talk says it all.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/alan_siegel_let_s_simplify_legal_jargon.html

Thinking Small - Writing Big

"I try to leave out the parts that people skip." By saying this, Elmore Leonard, an American novelist, has merely shown the ultimate goal to us. If you leave out the parts that people skip, the rest should be interesting, amusing, catchy and have the impact we want our piece of writing to have on the reader. Deliberately or not, he 'forgot' to say how exactly we can manage to detect and delete those unnecessary bits. As writing is a great deal a matter of craft, William Zinsser's simple tips are the light for those stumbling in the dark of the writing tunnel.

Think small. Narrowing the topic is hard work, as many writers don't know what exactly they want to write about once they start writing, and tend to generalize in order to be on the safe side. No one is able to do many things qualitatively at the same time: watch TV , study, chat with friends. Actually, it is possible, but all these activities are likely to be done superficially, without enjoying and devotion they deserve. Therefore, choosing one segment of the initial topic is likely to translate into clear thoughts, clear standpoints, and - clear sentences. "A clear sentence is no accident" says Zinsser. It is a consequence of narrowing, simplifying and finally finding out what exactly you want to write about.

If we try to visualise the 'thinking small' process, what we get is short paragraphs, that is, the visual representation of our thoughts. It makes it easier for the readers to follow you. I know a great deal of people who immediately get put off by a long block of text. I belong to the same group, too. However, don't make them too short. This may have a counter effect. Instead of helping the reader to follow your thoughts, you may annoy him with the constant 'chopping' of what should be integrated into one paragraph, into one idea.

Words are the writer's tools and he/she should have a lot of respect for them. Knowing all the shades of meaning and the correct usage of words gives the writer the power to organise his text and express himself/ herself in a much more vivid and original way. In the majority of cases a colourless phrase can be replaced with a single, colourful word. Why say extremely angry, when there is livid, or furious? Words are precious. If you know what to do with them, a whole world of expressing yourself is literally at your feet.

Written with reference to: On Writing Well, William K. Zinsser , Part 1

Writing: The Personal Transaction

One of the aims of the writing process is successful transaction. What kind of transaction are we talking about actually? Above all, the personal transaction between the writer and the reader. Writing is merely another medium of communication. The way you speak and address other people should somehow reflect onto the piece of paper you have in front of you just before merging into the process. Of course, I am not referring to writing newspaper articles and research papers in which objectivity plays the main role ( however, even in these types of writing you should integrate yourself somehow), but to writing for pleasure mainly. One more thing is also important: do not do anything which simply is not you.

Secondly, don't be fooled by the myth that there are born writers and those who are not. Talent really is important, but not to the extent people tend to think. In order to make the transaction natural and find your own style, be prepared to rewrite endlessly, to fight against clichees and clutter, to reach the level of abundant clarity, without any uneccessary symbols and metaphors for the sake of methaphors.

Be yourself. Let your enthusiasm infect the text and the reader. Although words can never tottaly describe feelings, try to do this as best as you can. Therefore, the first step is being yourself. All other issues are to be resolved, sooner ol later.

Written with reference to: On Writing Well, William K. Zinsser , Chapter 1

Writing: How Difficult It Really Is?

Is writing hard? Is the way you write determined by pure talent or just endless rewriting?

How to create your own style and yet remain in the domain of a clear, simple clutter-free area?

Answers to these and many other questions can be found in an excellent book I'm currently reading: On Writing Well by William K. Zinsser. As one single post would be overloaded with data if I tried to summarize everything I have read so far, I am going to compose as many posts as there are chapters in the book and thus dedicate as much attention as it is needed to each and every topic. Writing really is hard work, but it can turn into magic once you start understanding what it is all about. So, may this be the introductory post - we have yet to see what this book has to offer once we start using tips and hints from it.

Online Dictionaries

When dealing with words, dictionaries are absolutely essential. Paperback editions seem to be dying slowly these days, whereas online dictionaries are confidently gaining ground. That's why I feel the need to discuss the latter ones more and mention my absolute favourites.

1. The Free Dictionary

A unique combination of precision, proficiency and style. It is very detailed, covering many fields such as Legal English, Business English, Medical English etc. Moreover, it provides the user both with an abundance of explanations and transaltions into various world languages with great precision as well, which is, according to my experience so far, a very rare thing. After you go through the definitions, check the synonims, antonims or idioms containing a word in question, you may test your knowledge by doing some exerecises provided on the right hand side of the webpage. The thefredictionary.com designers have done everything to make the user feel at home. You may customize the page yourself and thus make it suit your interests and needs, which is also a marvellous touch from the authors of the site and the whole project. All in all, A+ for this one.

www.thefreedictionary.com

2. Oxford Collocations Dictionary Online

Collocations are also an important part of the language puzzle which has to click into place if you want to achieve proficiency and fluency. Although slightly old-fashioned in terms of web pages, it is very easy to use and provides you with what you exactly need. A nice tool for translators, above all.

http://llohe-ocd.appspot.com/

3. Online Rhyming Dictionary

Good news for poets and songwriters: this website can be a useful companion while trying to shake up new lyrics or lines. Always test your choice and rewrite until you find the right combination. This tool can be more than helpful.

http://www.rhymer.com/

I am sure that there are many more online dictionaries worth mentioning, and I am sure that I will include them here the moment I come across them. By then, I warmly recommend using the abovementioned sites both for study and pleasure.

Tongue Twisters

Do you remember the famous professor Higgins and his 'student' Eliza Doolitle? Can you remember the phrases he makes her repeat all the time until she gets them right?

“The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain”
“In Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen.“

Can you pronounce them easily? Well, some people can, but other people struggle to do it. Why is that so? The answer is that these two sentences belong to the group of the so-called tongue twisters. A tongue twister is a phrase/ sentence/text specially designed for practicing pronunciation of certain consonants, vowels or consonant clusters. I consider them a very powerful 'teachers' tool' for enabling students prunounce whatever they want. And, above all, it's fun! Isn't that what all teachers want: both fun and learning for their students? They are suitable for learners of all ages, especially for children, because of the 'fun' effect they bear. Here are a few more examples of tongue twisters :

Picky people pick Peter Pan Peanut-Butter, 'tis the peanut-butter picky people pick.

If Stu chews shoes, should Stu choose the shoes he chews?

Through three cheese trees three free fleas flew.
While these fleas flew, freezy breeze blew.
Freezy breeze made these three trees freeze.
Freezy trees made these trees' cheese freeze.
That's what made these three free fleas sneeze.

Whether the weather be fine
or whether the weather be not.
Whether the weather be cold
or whether the weather be hot.
We'll weather the weather
whether we like it or not.

And, finally, a brilliant one:

If Dr. Seuss Were a Technical Writer

Here's an easy game to play.
Here's an easy thing to say:
If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
And the bus is interrupted as a very last resort,
And the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
Then the socket packet pocket has an error to report!
If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,
And the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash,
And your data is corrupted 'cause the index doesn't hash,
then your situation's hopeless, and your system's gonna crash!
You can't say this? What a shame, sir!
We'll find you another game, sir.

If the label on the cable on the table at your house,
Says the network is connected to the button on your mouse,
But your packets want to tunnel on another protocol,
That's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall,
And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss,
So your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse,
Then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang,
'Cause as sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang!
When the copy of your floppy's getting sloppy on the disk,
And the microcode instructions cause unnecessary risk,
Then you have to flash your memory and you'll want to ram your rom.
Quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your mom!


These tongue twister poems can inspire you to come up with dozens of new activities for your students. They might make up their own tongue twisters according to what they need to practice or make chain tongue twisters ( each student contributes with the words he/she needs to practice ). Be as it may, this type of exercising can make a language classroom a room full of laugh, fun and creativity.



The examples were taken from: http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/en.htm

Turn the Blender On!

Imagine putting two different words into a blender. Press the 'start' button and voila! It's like making lemonade: you throw away what you don't need, and keep the essence. The result is a new, fresh word tightly packed with meanings - a blend.

A blend is a word made up of parts of two or more words. There are no specific rules - you take something from the first word, something from the second and there it is - new meaning(s), new ways of using it, making numerous possibilities for creating new words. This trend has been very popular recently and the outcome of blending is a lot of neologisms. Let me illustrate what I actually mean.

bit : Have you ever asked yourselves how this word was actually named? Here's the solution - you take binary, blend it up a bit with digit and, finally, this is what you get - bit - such a little word carrying so much semantic content!

Let's take a look at some other examples of blends:

guesstimate: a combination of guess and estimate

screenager: screen + teenager = a person who spends hours and hours in front of the TV set - what a good description of a typical teenager, don't you think?

transistor: transfer + resistor (here's one older word)

celesbian- a lesbian celebrity

blog- a blog is your 'web diary', your 'web log' That's how blog was created.

These are only a few examples of this extremely productive process of creating new words. Our 'duty' is only to keep our eye on new blends, or to simply be creative and make new blends that will meet our needs. Let me try :

Bregards! (My message is: best regards!)

Eponyms in the English Language

Everything in this world has its history. So do words. We might think that we know the real meanings of the words and phrases that we use, but, is that really so? Some words live secret lives in front of our eyes as if they were trying to hide where they originally came from. It seems that the deeper we go in searching the etymology of certain words, the more fascinated we tend to be. And the moment of epiphany usually comes quickly: Oh, that’s why they call that and that this way! And thus we enter the magical world of meanings, different word forms, word origins – to put it short, the world of countless possibilities. One of the ways in which we can reveal the secrets that lie behind words is by knowing why they were named so. Sometimes it is easy: Achilles heel, Adam’s apple, the Gordian knot , these almost cliché phrases, or, to be more precise, eponyms, reveal themselves instantly as many of us have heard of them so often. But what with the words we use on a daily basis, not even thinking about what they might have once meant? That’s where the journey begins.


The term eponym was created about a century ago. It is derived form Greek words epi meaning ‘on’ or ‘upon’ and onama meaning name. So an eponym is “Upon a name”, that is, transfer of names.


The following are the examples with their explanations, etymology and interesting accounts that accompany these everyday words.

Food

There are many food items that are, actually, eponyms. The stories of their origin are sometimes quite unusual, sometimes exciting, but certainly never ordinary.

Mayonnaise: Port Mahon in Minorca, at one time Portus Magonis, was named after Mago, the younger brother of the Carthaginian general Hannibal, who had planned to devastate Rome in the second Punic War. It became the capital of the Spanish island of Minorca. There's no argument that PortMahon gave its name to mayonnaise. Some say, however, that this sauce was created in 1762 by the chefs of Richelieu to memorialize the victory of the French over the the British. But others say that Due de Richelieu himself prepared this dressing. Richelieu was known as a glutton. The dressing came about, it is said, when Richelieu raided the nearest kitchen and tossed what edibles he could find into one pot. And presto—mayonnaise. A more credible story is that chefs created a dressing in Paris in honor of Richelieu's victory at Port Mahon. They named it Mahonnaise.

Marmelade: A story repeated for centuries says that when Mary Queen of Scots (1542-1587) was out of sorts, the only food that could tempt her was a conserve of oranges, for which she had an inordinate fondness. Hence the name of this jam after the queen's indisposition: Marie malade ("sick Mary"), which, with time, became marmalade.

Praline: There is a story abot the origin of this word and it concerns the chef of Marshal Cesar du Plessis-Praslin (1598-1675), who became the French minister of state in 1652 and who concluded a successful military career upon reaching the the place of field marshal in command of the entire royal army. One story has it that Praslin's chef prepared the sugar-coated praline for King Louis XIV, a dinner guest of the marshal. Another, and one with more authoritative approval, is that the praline had its genesis in the marshal's stomach problems. The marshal liked to nibble almonds, but they gave him heartburn. His chef suggested that if the almonds were browned in boiling water, they would be more easily digested. The result of the chef's ingenuity was a happier marshal, with fewer heartburns, and a confection of sugar-coated almonds that has become quite popular under the name praline.


Pickle: The pickle's provenance can be traced to one William Beukelz or Beukel, a fourteen-century Dutch fisherman who was known as the first to "pickle" food. Though Beukel pickled fish, his name, mispronounced slightly, came to apply to pickled cucumbers. Although most people enjoy biting into a large dill pickle, they don't want to be in a pickle, which is an unpleasant situation. And to be pickled is to be steeped in brine, but a person who's pickled is steeped in something that will not agree with a sobriety test.


Cereal: Ceres, the ancient Roman goddess of agriculture (identified with Greek Demeter), was patroness particularly of grain, or cereal, and plants. The Latin adjective form is cerealis, "relating to Ceres." She was especially the corn goddess.

Clothes

Many clothing items are eponyms. Here are the stories about some of them.

Raglan sleeves: Raglan sleeves became well-known during the Crimean War in 1852 because of a coat worn by the commander-in-chief, Lord Raglan. The sleeve made the coat different from others, and it has continued to be stylish to this day.

Tuxedo: The Algonquian word for wolf is p'tukit (pronounced with a silent p) and means "the animal with a round foot." From that Indian word a lake about forty miles from New York City came to be known as Tuxedo Lake. Much of the area surrounding the lake was purchased by Pierre Lorillard, the tobacco heir, and subsequently a fashionable and exclusive resort and residential community was developed called Tuxedo Park. At one lavish affair, a brave aristocrat who disliked the formal "soup and fish" full evening clothes rebelled and wore a tailless jacket. The innovation was startling, but the shortened jacket became an immediate success. The new style was dubbed tuxedo after the name of the place where the garment was first worn. Today many men who appear before a clergyman ready to take his marital vows are dressed in that "wolf's clothing."

Pants/Pantaloons: For decades in England no gentleman would dare be seen wearing what were mockingly called pantaloons. No less a national hero than the Duke of Wellington was refused admittance to a club because he was wearing long pants rather than the breeches and silken hose expected of a member of royalty or another person of high rank. The pants worn in America by almost every man and many women is an abbreviation of pantaloons. The forebear of these articles of dress can be traced to the baggy trousers worn by a character in the Italian commedia dell'arte. A physician had been the patron saint of Venice—San Pantaleone. (The literal meaning is "all lion." Pan means all, and leone is "lion.") Pantaleone in the comedies was an elderly buffoon interested only in lechery, but who was usually outwitted by the women. He always appeared wearing spectacles, one-piece, skintight breeches, and stockings that bloomed out above the knees. The passing years has transmogrified this patron saint of Venice into a lovable but simpleminded character in Italian comedy. With a slight orthographic change to pantaloon, his name was then equated with "clown." The word in plural form (pantaloons) subsequently entered the English language to describe a particular type of trousers. As fashions changed, pantaloons became the name of various types of trousers over the years. In time it was used in the shortened form of pants as the designation for trousers in general.

Knickers: Knickers as a short breeches garment can be credited to Washington Irving—not that he was a clothing stylist, but because his two-volume guide was illustrated with these breeches. Irving wrote a humorous but pompous story of the early life of New York, as told by one of the early settlers. He chose the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker. The book, titled A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, was published in 1809. Although this delightful work became better known by its shorter title, Knickerbocker's History of New York, the short breeches, fitting loosely and gathered at the knee, developed a fashion hold after illustrations by the great comic artist George Cruikshank appeared in a later edition in the 1850s. These breeches were first called knickerbockers, but the name was later shortened to knickers. They became popular as knee pants for young boys, for cyclists, and for outdoor men who play golf, and even for silk bloomers for women. And so knickers were born.

Miscellaneous

Frisbee: One historian maintained that the game began on the Yale campus in 1827 when an undergraduate showed his displeasure at being compelled to attend chapel services by hurling the collection plate through an open door. The flipping of plates caught on (collection plates?), and a new pastime was born. A story that has better credentials cites the drivers of the Frisbie Pie Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who, during their lunch breaks, amused themselves by throwing around tin pie plates. With time, this fun activity took hold at Yale University, and then spread to other campuses around the country. The students found it sport to sail these tins, reminiscent of flying saucers, toward one another and then have them hurled back. One way or another, Yale gets the credit for launching the Frisbee toss. The name of the pie company was later emblazoned onto the saucer, which then became known as Frisbee, and the saucers' material changed to plastic. Just about 1950 a certain Fred Morrison introduced on the West Coast a product he called the original "Flyin' Saucer" and hawked his product for seven years. At that time two ingenious entrepreneurs began the manufacture of plastic circular plates and kept the name "Frisbee" to honor the Frisbie Pie Company. By using assembly lines, they were able to produce large quantities of this throwing disk and, in fact, sold more than 100 million of them.


Baedeker: Baedeker, a travel guidebook, is an authoritative work first published inGermany by Karl Baedeker (1801-1859), born in Essen, Germany, the son of a printer and bookseller. He followed his father's footsteps and became a printer with a shop in Coblenz, publishing the first of his famous series of guidebooks, modeled on John Murray's Handbook, in 1839. The book, titled A Rhineland Journey from Basle to Dusseldorf, was immediately successful and was known for its reliability and thoroughness. Baedeker then prepared guidebooks covering other areas, which equally described in detail what a tourist might want to know about the important cities and places of historic interest or questions of cuisine. And so tourists throughout the world felt safer, were more knowledgeable, and were able to enjoy their vacations better with a Baedeker in hand. Baedeker inaugurated the practice of marking with one or more stars the objects and places of interest according to their historic or aesthetic importance, which gave rise to the expression starred in Baedeker. That Baedeker became an international generic term was exemplified by Chekhov when he said, in a letter, "Here I am alone with my thoughts and my Baedeker." Although with the proliferation of travel books over the last century Baedeker is not a word so often heard anymore, it still is an apt (albeit loose) replacement for "guidebook."

Robot: The word robot came from a Czech play, published in 1920 and premiered on stage in Prague in 1921, called R.U.R. The initials stand for Rossum's Universal Robots, a corporation that manufactured robots, mechanical creatures, enslaved to work for human beings. In the play the robots developed the capacity to feel and hate. Eventually, they rebelled, became monsters, turned on their human masters, and overpowered them. The author, Karel Capek (1890-1938), a Czech playwright born in Bohemia, borrowed the word robot from the slavic robota, meaning a forced laborer. The play was extremely popular on both sides of the Atlantic, so much so that the word robot came to be used of any person who was dehumanized because of too much work involving nonproductive tasks or to a person who works automatically without employinginitiative. The word was also applied during World War II to the German "flying bombs" or "Buzz-bombs" sent against England. In the scientific world of today, a robot is used as a term to describe automated apparatus that performs human functions.


As it can be seen from all the examples above, the field of eponyms is certainly full of many interesting things and surprises. The story about eponyms is almost always closely connected to history, a particular person or a specific situation that make it so unique. I am sorry for not being able to include all the beautiful stories I have found as well as all the words that deserve to be here. While preparing this presentation, I noticed that there are surprisingly few books on eponyms, which is more then unfair for such a colourful and exciting language area. In my opinion, this topic is more than motivating for us to go further and reveal , perhaps, some new eponyms, which are still waiting do be discovered.



Taken from: A New Dictionary of Eponyms, Freeman, S. Morton, Oxford, OUP 1997