Happy Thanksgiving 2015 from Working in Words

Happy Thanksgiving all around. Blessings and best wishes to all.

Truly thankful.

Handy hack for writers and transcribers

Sometimes I stumble upon smart stuff that makes my job a whole lot easier without costing me a nickel. This swift little tip is one such thing.

As a writer, I find that my desk can easily become cluttered with extraneous paperwork. When I try to focus on an article outline, peruse a press release, or work from an interview transcript, I can be easily distracted by tumbling sheets of paper. So you can imagine my delight to come across this simple solution, using a dual-clipped clothes hanger. The hangers with the rubber tips on the clips likely work best, while protecting the computer monitor screen from scratches.

Take a look. Click here to watch the actual  how-to video (in a new window), which includes a couple of other handy hanger hacks as well. One is for the kitchen, and the other is for the clothes closet. Pretty slick.

No more lost paper hang-ups. The task at hand is clipped and ready to use. I like it.

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50 Mistreated Words and Desecrated Phrases: Wet Your Appetite

I hate to throw a wet blanket on a popular expression, but this one is misused far too often. It really isn’t possible to wet one’s appetite. That phrase simply doesn’t hold water.

The word “whet” actually means “to sharpen.” Think of sharpening a knife, using a whetstone. When you whet your appetite, you are sharpening it, in a sense. Your appetite becomes more pronounced, making your desire to eat more obvious.

Sure, when you want to whet your appetite, it may help to wet your whistle first. But that is another matter altogether.

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50 Mistreated Words and Desecrated Phrases: Vice-a-versa

Misuse of this phrase seems almost universal. How many times have you read this as “vice-a-versa”?

The actual phrase, “vice versa,” is derived from Latin. “Vix” means position or location. “Versa” means “to turn.

Vice versa points to the polar opposite of something. Most often, it pertains to the order of two things. Used properly, a technology writer might say, “All programs must be closed before switching off the device, not vice versa.” A food columnist might write, “Spread the peanut butter on one slice of bread, followed by the jam on the second slice, or vice versa.”

All things in good order.

“Vice versa” often pertains to two things that are interchangeable – or most decidedly not.

To sum up, those who are well versed will use the phrase correctly and say something is vice versa. Otherwise, they might have to face off with the grammar and language usage vice squad.

Hey, it could be verse. Some folks even say, “vicey-versa.” That’s just plain dicey and not at all nicey.

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50 Mistreated Words and Desecrated Phrases: Travesty

“It’s a travesty.” Is it really?

When something truly terrible happens, it’s probably not a travesty. The word “travesty” is often misused, when the right word might be “tragedy.”

What is a travesty? 

Properly defined, this word points to a distortion, falsehood, or absurdity.  A travesty may even be a mockery or perversion of something real. A caricature, burlesque, farce, or sham might be called a travesty.

A simply horrible actual turn of events would likely not be. One might say it would be a travesty to paint a tragedy thusly.

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