Monthly Archives: December 2015

Which Word?: Words of the Year

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Hello everyone!

Since 2015 is drawing to a close, I thought I’d do a slightly different Which Word? segment this week and bring your attention to the 2015 Words of the Year, as decided by the Oxford English Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, and dictionary.com. I find all three particularly interesting this year…you can decide which word is your favorite!

Dictionary.com’s word is identity, which seems a highly relevant selection in light of the many aspects of identity and their significance that appeared in the news this year. As a word that has been widely debated and largely redefined in both the popular and political spheres, identity was the subject of many dictionary.com searches–and dictionary.com actually rewrote their definition of it (and related terms, such as identify) to remain in line with current events. Interestingly, identity is the only Word of the Year that is actually a word.

Merriam-Webster’s word is not a full word, but instead a suffix: -ism. Merriam-Webster selected this suffix to represent the many words ending in -ism that spiked in lookups this year. In a year full of so many charged political conversations, it’s not surprising that many people were curious about the exact meanings of many -isms.

While Merriam-Webster leaned toward the political side in its Word of the Year selection, Oxford English Dictionary’s word is firmly in the popular realm. I use the word “word” here loosely, as the OED Word of the Year is not a word at all, but rather an emoji (one of the highly popular face icons used to express emotion in typed text). It is the “face with tears of joy” emoji, seen as tears-of-joy-emoji. While dictionary.com’s and Merriam-Webster’s words both indicate society’s wrestling with core ideological issues, the OED’s choice of an emoji for its word illustrates how the nature of language itself is changing. As today’s world becomes increasingly united and blended, overcoming geographical separations through technological advances, so language and art are coming together to form a new (and more thorough) form of expression–and categorizing an emoji as a Word of the Year brings home just how pervasive that change is.

So which word is your favorite? Which word best expresses your year?

Happy New Year! Until next time!

BodyWHealth Release!

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Hello everyone!

It is my pleasure to announce the release of a book that has the power to change all of our lives for the better. Written by prominent doctor and life coach Roddy Carter, BodyWHealth: Journey to Abundance is a beautiful mix of accessible science, the author’s own life experience, and encouragement. Through the mechanism of seven Keys that unlock WHealth, Roddy tells his readers how to tap into their innate capacity for health, happiness, and prosperity–allowing anyone the ability to live life abundantly. Much more than a self-help book, BodyWHealth promotes simple lifestyle changes to bring you complete physical, emotional, and mental health.

The book is now available in hardcover, softcover, and e-book formats, in bookstores and online at Amazon. There will also be a San Diego book signing on Wednesday, January 6, at 7:30pm, at Warwick’s in La Jolla (http://www.warwicks.com/event/roddy-carter-2016). For more information about the author or the book, please visit the official BodyWHealth website at http://www.bodywhealth.org/.

I’ll be at the book signing to get my copy, and I hope you’ll join me…there’s no better way to start a new year than by giving yourself the gift of WHealth!

Which Word?: Problematic Possessiveness

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Hello all!

Today I’d like to talk about two word pairs that I see confused in somebody’s writing at least once a day: its/it’s and your/you’re. I’ve noticed among writers both pro and amateur a strong tendency to use it’s where they should use its and you’re where they should use your.

Why?

My theory is that these pervasive errors can be chalked up to possessiveness and the fickle rules of the English language. You see, these two word pairs violate the general English rule that possession is indicated using the ‘s. For almost everything in English, we indicate possession by adding ‘s to the end of the noun: Bobby‘s pencil, the school‘s playground, the couple‘s wedding. So it makes sense to us that it’s and you’re would indicate possession. But that’s not the case!

The apostrophes in it’s and you’re are actually indicating contractions, not possession. Thus, it’s actually means it is and you’re actually means you are. It’s the other half of the pairs that indicate possession: its and your, with no apostrophes. So, the dog wanted to play with its ball and it’s the dog’s ball, and you’re planning to wear your red dress tonight, right?

I’m sorry to say that I don’t have any particularly clever way for you to remember which word to use when for these word pairs, except bearing in mind that they violate the usual ‘s rule of possession. But hopefully simply having the issue brought to your attention will help you remember to check your its/it’s and your/you’re usage. And just avoiding that error alone will separate your writing from the crowd’s–and make your readers appreciate you that much more!

Until next time!

Which Word?: Quote vs. Quotation

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Hello everyone!

I’m back with another confusing word pair. Today’s set falls into the category of errors that are made so commonly that most people don’t even realize they are prone to making those errors! That’s because the English-speaking world has largely started using quote as both noun and verb. We see a lot of both May I quote you? and The following quote from Mark Twain shows why he’s the best author ever. And since that’s become what’s known as “common usage,” it’s actually considered acceptable to use the word quote exclusively, and never quotation.

In more formal writing, however–and just as something that’s good to know so that you can make a conscious choice about what to use in your own writing, whatever level of formality–“correct usage” comes into play. The correct usage is that quote is the verb and quotation is the noun. So, May I quote you? is correct, but The following quote from Mark Twain… is incorrect. Instead, the correct phrase would be The following quotation from Mark Twain shows why he’s the best author ever.

So now you know, and you can decide which way you’d like to use this word pair! I’ll be back next time with more!

Until then!