Wrap-Up and Spelling Demons

Overall, I got what I wanted out of this course. Furthermore, what I learned went beyond what I expected. I can't think of anything off the top of my head that I would have liked to have learned but wasn't covered, but if I do think of something later, I can most likely find it in that handy-dandy Bedford Handbook (that I own now, because it was cheaper to buy it used from Amazon than to pay to rent it from the school bookstore. Go figure.).

And now, some spelling demons of mine.

• license
• mischievous 
• onomatopoeia
• conscientious

And, as a former spelling bee participant, I list all of my disqualifying words.

• immersed (5th grade)
• (can't remember sixth grade)
• upholstery (7th grade)
• forfeit (8th grade. Not for the 'e' and 'i,' but for being so nervous about the 'e' and 'i' that I forgot the 'f' in the middle.)

Some Effective Advertisements

 

English-ish

Some Words and Phrases in the English Language that Came from Somewhere Else

Déjà vu

Elite

Matinee

Poncho

Fenestrate

Macho

Fahrvegnuegen  <-- (a campaign word used by BMW)

Swatch (not the small piece of fabric, but the Swedish wristwatch)

Yankee Doodle (the English sang the song to make fun of us, but we liked it, so here we are)

Faux pas

C'est la vie

Que sera sera

Another Take on Modern Slang and Phrases

Trigger warnings: Casual mention of violence, and swearing. Mainly swearing, but if you can get past the crude language, it's really very funny.

Newly Coined Words

Neologism-- "the introduction or use of new words or new senses of existing words." (Dictionary.com)

The idea of creating a new word is exciting.  If it wasn't, Andrew Clements would have had no motivation behind writing Frindle, and we probably wouldn't add to the Oxford English Dictionary as often as we do now.  Take this quote from Akeelah and the Bee:

Look, I wasn't dissing you. l was Christmas shopping. 

''Dissing''? I thought we didn't use words like that. 

I thought we only used words from the dictionary in here. 

''Dis, dissed, dissing: to treat with disrespect or contempt; 

to find fault with. '' New words get added to the dictionary every year. 

 However, not all the new words we come up with can be used so eloquently. For example, "selfie" and "twerk."  I agree with what Conan O'Brien has to say here.

 

Effective Punctuation in Sentences

"All the faith he had had had had no effect on the outcome of his life."

"A panda bear eats shoots and leaves."
(and its companion)
"A panda bear eats, shoots, and leaves."

I like the first one's lack of punctuation because it makes people uncomfortable. Yes, I'm probably a horrible person for saying that, but being able to read that sentence correctly is what I consider to be a small triumph. It's one of those things you have to read aloud.

I like the second pairing, of course, because the punctuation is the only differing factor and the two sentences have completely different messages. Most people use the "Let's eat Grandma," example to illustrate this point, but I like my example better. Pandas are cute.


But be careful of this panda.  This panda has guns.

Effective Figures of Speech

Honestly, I think that the effectiveness of any figure of speech depends on the audience it's presented to.  For example, when Simon and Garfunkel sing the lyrics, "I am a rock, I am an island," most of us know he is speaking metaphorically, but the little kids in the audience who haven't learned about metaphors yet are most likely picturing something like this:
(just to be clear, a rock and an island.)
And then of course, there are the realists.



Nevertheless, figures of speech CAN be effective if they are relevant to the point you are making.



-"Just like a tree that's planted by the water, I shall not be moved."
Here, we know that the speaker is clearly not a tree, but because they have presented this simile with a situation where the point can clearly be seen, the writer would be hard-pressed to confuse the reader by using this phrase.



I really wish I could come up with more, but I think I've made my point.  I leave you with a cliched figure of speech in image form that should give you an idea of what this kind of writer's block feels like.