Modern English is interspersed with words from other languages, in fact English originated from various other tongues. As such there are many “foreign” words which we use every day and new words are added all the time. English is a living language. It evolves as we do.

The problem lies not with the usage of these other words but with the way people hear them being used and then try to use them in their own speech without knowing what they mean.

Some people are like parrots. They hear a word being used, think it sounds cool and off they go throwing the new word into their conversation willy-nilly. What’s worse is when they write it down not having any clue how it’s spelled. What’s worse than that is other people copying them and before you know it we have idiots butchering not only English but the other languages these words represent.

Since there are many French words in English – some of which are no longer used by the French – I’ll confine my post to the butchering of some of these words.

A common word we hear is ‘touché’. I knew someone who used to say touché at the end of random sentences, for no apparent reason. Maybe he thought it made him sound worldly? All it did was confuse his listeners. Some people believe it is a slang word – ‘tooshay’.

I’ve heard people refer to their bread sticks as ‘bag-you-ets’. It took me a while to realise they meant ‘baguette’. And many a time I’ve seen it spelled ‘baget’, so with that spelling shouldn’t it be pronounced ‘bagay’ as in ‘ballet’ and ‘tourniquet’. Unless, of course you’re American and pronounce the ‘t’ on the end – who knows why? Those same people also say ‘nitch’ instead of ‘neesh’ when using the word ‘niche’.

Most people know that ‘au revoir’ is goodbye in French and indeed when spoken the ‘re’ is hardly discernible but I have seen it written as ‘orvoir’ – again by an American. I’ve also heard it pronounced ‘or revor’. Please people, a little finesse.

Another one is ‘c’est la vie’. Usually pronounced correctly although often used incorrectly. It’s the spelling that trips people up. I have seen ‘sayla vee’ and my favourite ‘sailor v’, perhaps the friend of sailor x. Wouldn’t you think ‘sailor v’ was a rather strange thing to be putting into a sentence, especially when it had no nautical reference?

By far the most amusing butchering of a French word I have seen is ‘voila’. I don’t care to remember the times I’ve seen it written as ‘walla’. It seems to be all over the Internet, this strange ‘walla’ term. As in ‘walla! here it is’ or ‘I’ve finished it, walla’. I’ve spent too much time expressing my concern in the comments section of these badly written pieces.

There are many strange words in the English language. If you want to sound even half intelligent then take the time to learn the meaning and proper spelling of such words. A little research into their origins will ensure you’re using the term correctly and it can be fun and interesting. Call me a geek but whenever I read or hear an unfamiliar word I immediately look up the meaning and correct spelling.

Perhaps that’s why I’m writing this and not you 🙂

 

Keep the Faith

 

I just read a blog post about fitness resolutions written by someone who lives in the northern hemisphere. She commented that whoever came up with the idea of making New Year resolutions regarding getting in shape must have come from warmer climes than she currently resides in.

As I write this the outside temperature is hovering around 42°C (108°F) so I feel qualified to give my opinion.

The point she was making is that it’s hard to get outside and exercise when the weather is cold, snowy and potentially life-threatening. So someone from the southern hemisphere, where it’s summer in January, must have started the New Year fitness tradition.

The point I’d like to make is that it’s hard to get outside and exercise when the weather is hot, sunny and potentially life-threatening so I don’t think so.

Not to be too pedantic but the New Year resolution initiative started with the Romans who, I believe, had their winters in January.

My main point is it’s not easier to get outside in the heat and exercise. I have to take my dog out walking at 5.30am. It’s the coolest time of the day and if you drove around town you’d see many folks out getting their exercise before the heat sends everyone scuttling indoors to hang out with the air conditioner.

Day after day of relentless heat can try the most patient person and the lack of sleep makes everyone tired and irritable. The sense of humour wears a little thin and productivity is not as high as you’d want it to be coming out of the starting gate of a new year.

I can only imagine a cold, snowy winter – although at the moment it sounds wonderful, for maybe an hour or so – but I have to think it must be easier to get moving in extreme cold than in extreme heat. After all, wouldn’t you want to get moving just to keep warm?

If I cast my mind back to last winter I do recall that it’s not easy to start but once you do it’s easier to keep going. I work out with weights every second day and this time of year it resembles a bikram yoga class. The one advantage being that you get it done early and get it out of the way.

A possible solution, and a more sustainable one, is to set resolutions at the beginning of every season. That way you can review your progress every three months and adjust what isn’t working, and add to what is. It relieves the pressure of a twelve month plan and breaks your goals down into attainable chunks.

And why do we do all this? Because we strive to be extraordinary, different from the masses and more than mediocre. For me it’s the right way, not necessarily the easy way.

 

Keep the Faith

I would love to read your thoughts.  Leave a comment below.

 

 

Is it just me or does it seem like the word “actually” is popping up in people’s conversations and writing a lot more than it used to?

Now that I’ve brought your attention to it I guess it won’t be just me.

Did you know that if you take “actually” out of your speech and writing, in most cases, it will be improved?

The word, actually, does have a specific meaning but like a lot of other words these days it has become fluff and filler and no longer holds any value.

Just look at “very” and “really”. They have become so overused they no longer have any worth and now detract from the writing. If you wish to convey the idea that something is good then putting “very” or “really” before it doesn’t make it any better.

Good is good. There aren’t degrees of good. Something which is good is still as good as something which is very good or really good.

Another overused word is “basically”, and don’t even get me started on “totally” and “literally” which all seem to be interchangeable with “actually”. They do not all mean the same thing. They all have separate and distinct meanings.  Most of the time it is unnecessary to use any of these words to have your ideas understood and if you want to sound less like a vacuous idiot don’t use them unless you mean it.

My point is, these words all have meaning and value but they have been inserted into text and speech so much that they’ve become meaningless, and “actually” is one of the worst offenders.

It should be used to express amazement or shock or to signify something is “in fact”. I’ve read paragraphs where it has been used in almost every sentence and, while the words which followed it may have been facts, we get it; there is no need to use it so liberally. No literary masterpiece is ever peppered with this word. The writing looks and reads better without its use.

So please, only use words when they mean something and add to the speech or text. Put the meaning back into these overused words and use them sparingly and when they are required to emphasise meaning.

Now that you’ve read this you will all start noticing how prolific and redundant these words are in everyday speech. To save your sanity do what I do, every time you read or hear one of them just ignore it and read or hear as if it isn’t there.

And if you come across one of those unfortunates who totally adds “totally” to the beginning of every utterance, then totally walk away, fast. Throwing your hands in the air is also acceptable.

Keep the Faith

I would love to read your thoughts.  🙂 Leave a comment below.

On Keeping the Faith

Many of my valuable, long-standing clients have encouraged me to add a blog to my website and share my interesting take on life. Perhaps to write about some of the common or more unusual errors I come across in my line of work, and to express my outlier opinion on life in general. I agreed with them, and I’ll be posting fresh and thought-provoking content every Monday morning.

These clients have such confidence in me and my abilities they have cultivated my own faith in myself and in doing so have inspired me to pay it forward. We all need a healthy dose of belief in ourselves and in other people so let me start off this new, fresh year with enough faith for everyone.

Will You Get it Right This Year?

 

At this time of year many of us are excited about the prospect of a brand new 365 days of promise and potential.

How do we keep that feeling for the entire year? By February many of us are over it and continuing on down the same road as last year and the year before that.

I say ditch that long list of resolutions, it’s a set-up for failure. You know yourself, and you know you won’t do half the things you say you’re going to do. Don’t make it harder to live with yourself by failing to live up to your own high standards, after all, everywhere you go, there you are. There’s just one thing we all need to do this year. Read on to find out what it is.

In the last few years there has been a definite shift in the way we are connecting with each other and sharing our knowledge and experiences. Social media engagement is at an all-time high and I’d like to think that our collective consciousness and awareness has come along for the ride.

So what is it we should resolve to do for ourselves in 2014? Many of us spend far too much time doing things for which we have no passion, for people we wouldn’t ordinarily give the time of day to, all in the name of “making a living”. The word “living” in that last phrase should be the first clue.

We all have at least one thing we are really good at it, one special talent that we do better than 99% of the population. When we are engaged in this activity the time flies by and we don’t feel like we are working at all. We do this “thing” very well because we enjoy it, or perhaps it is because we enjoy it that we do it very well. Either way that is our second clue.

Life is too short and too precious for us to be making a living doing something we either don’t like or aren’t good at, or worse, both.

There is busyness and then there is productive work. So many of us spend our days being busy but not productive and have little to show for it at the end of the day.

We must find our unique talents and share them. The world needs our special gifts, those things which no one can do the way we can do them. Keeping them from the rest of the world borders on selfish and irresponsible, for everyone involved. Once you start to do what you really love you’ll notice an excellent side-effect. Those resolutions you ditched earlier will now be a lot less challenging.

On a final note, while I’m a great advocate of doing what you love we also need to strike a balance and do what we dislike regularly. No one likes doing the dishes, paying bills, mowing the lawn or washing the car. These things, along with all those other annoying jobs no one likes, maintain our lifestyle. But if we’re doing what we love to create that lifestyle then those maintenance chores become much easier and more bearable. Besides, it can be very therapeutic and brings a feeling of accomplishment. As the folks at Nike say, Just Do It!

So to everyone reading this, whether they are in the northern hemisphere experiencing winter or, like me, down in the southern hemisphere where every day feels like summer, may you all find your passion and your “you” gifts this new year and share them with all of us. Don’t wait until someone else does it, they may be waiting until you do it. Take the lead and show the world what it is you’re really made of.

The world can wait just a little longer while you click here 

Wishing everyone a happy and productive New Year and remember to always

Keep the Faith