Author: kiwi

Je ne sais quoi is an idiomatic expression from French which literally means, “I don’t know what.” In English, we use it when referring to something that is difficult to describe, often in a positive context.

For instance, if you see woman walk by, and you think she is attractive but you can’t quite pinpoint why, you might say, “She has that je ne sais quoi,” or “That girl has a certain je ne sais quoi.” In this example, it is used in the same sense as you might use either of the English phrases “a sense of allure” or “an air of mystery.”

A one-word English equivalent that would work in place of this phrase is ‘something.’ For instance, you could say, “She has that something about her” or “That girl has a certain something.” The phrase ‘something-or-other’ would probably also work in this context.

A couple of other one-word equivalents that might work, depending on the context, are: ‘intangible’ and ‘indescribable.’ Some lengthier examples you could use would be phrases like ‘impossible to describe,’ ‘defies description,’ and ‘I have no words.’

In a positive context, particularly referring to someone’s appearance or sense of confidence, one might also use words like ‘panache,’ ‘allure,’ and ‘pizzazz.’ You could also use the term ‘x-factor’ in many cases.

While there is no one-word exact equivalent to the French phrase, all of the above examples offer similar connotations that could be used to convey the same thing, depending on the context.

Sometimes, describing an event or thing seems to take many words, but doing even research can often dig up an alternative word that explains everything you need in just a few syllables. Although synonyms often have slight differences and nuances between them, there are usually several alternatives to one word in the English language which enables more variety in written work and speech. Once one synonym is identified, even more can be found using tools such as a thesaurus or online resource. So what would be a one word example for a bad effect or a bad situation?

A bad effect could take many forms. Maybe it’s a bad or negative side-effect, for example something that has resulted as a consequence of taking certain medications. Maybe it’s an unfortunate result after a series of events. These kinds of bad effects could be described as “hindrances”, “impacts”, or even “consequences”. Depending on the context of the phrase being used, bad effects could also be “implications” or “complications”. The variety is endless.

Similarly, a bad situation has many different shapes. If a person finds him- or herself in a bad situation, it might be an unsafe one, one that will not provide any kind of personal gain, or simply one that is uncomfortable. This kind of phenomenon could be described as a “predicament”, “situation”, “scenario”, or even “difficulty”, “plight”, “quandary”, or “muddle”. These words are vague and overarching, but, especially in context, they will convey the same message in much fewer words.

The phrase “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish,” is an aspirational slogan adopted by Apple founder Steve Jobs. It represents a conscious attempt by a successful man to emulate the strategies that he associated with achieving his success.

Mr. Jobs was attempting to express the opinion that the most daring choices are made from necessity. He believed in desperation as a form of manufacturing that necessity, and he demanded of himself that he emulate conditions of necessity in order to produce in himself the motivation that he felt he required to produce at his best level.

The idea is that hungry people will work harder, and that foolish people will attempt things that more reasonable to people or not. It implies that necessity is not only the mother of invention, but that necessity can be simulated in order to spur more invention.

It must be made clear that this is an aspirational slogan, and that the people who adhere to the slogan do not do so literally. It is good to be hungry in the sense that it is easier on your body to have a more sparse diet. It is not good to not be able to get enough food, and the idea that caloric insufficiency increases productivity does not seem supported by the data. By the same token, Mr. Jobs was most certainly not a foolish man. His work habits were more characterized by excessive rationality and cautious elaboration on what came before then anything that could be described as foolish.

Careful examination of the phrase shows that it is essentially an athletic advertising slogan. It is the thing that competitive people say to themselves in order to compete more fully. It contains the obverse of insight, so it has little intrinsic meaning.

In the English language, we have proper nouns and improper (common/generic) nouns. Only proper nouns will begin with a capital letter.

In dealing with the four seasons (winter, spring, summer and autumn), we must remember that these words are usually improper nouns. Thus, they are not capitalized most of the time.

There are a few exceptions to this rule.

1. If the season is placed as the first word in a sentence, then it must, obviously, be capitalized. This is not because it is a season, but because it is the first word in a sentence.
2. Autumn brings cool, crisp weather.
3. If the season is part of a title or name, it should be capitalized because it is now part of a proper name.
4. The Winter Sports Committee
5. If the season is personified in writing, then it should be capitalized. This is often done in poetry and sometimes in prose. To personify something means to give it human characteristics. If you wanted to write about summer as if it were a person, then capitalization is required.
6. Summer gently moves across the open prairies to bring warmth and life to all.
7. If the season is a person’s given name. Given names are always proper and as such they will always be capitalized.
8. Spring Elizabeth Jones

Knowing when to capitalize the seasons is a simple matter of learning the rules of capitalization. Just remember, proper nouns (names) are capitalized and improper nouns are not.

Many differences exist between the terms assure, ensure and insure.

The term assure is a verb of confirmation. It means to confirm something in another person’s mind or to drive a point home. One could also use it to emphatically emphasize an idea or comment. For example, “I assure you that I do not smoke cigarettes!” is a strong confirmation that the person does not smoke cigarettes. The term is best used when the writer wants to state and restate something so that there will be no mistakes about it.

The term ensure is a verb that means to make sure that some action is either carried out or is going to occur. One should use the term ensure when he or she is trying to evoke confidence or security in another party. For example, “Please ensure that the doors to the office are locked when you are counting the safe” is a request for the person to make certain that something happens.“Our company ensures that you will be 100 percent happy with our product” almost sounds as if it is a promise. The company is trying to comfort and reassure its customers of their impending satisfaction.

Insure is a term that means to protect or safeguard something. People most commonly use it when they are referring to health, life or automobile policies. Examples of this term in action are as follows:

“Are you going to insure the car?”
“Did you insure your home before you bought it?”
“Will they insure a person who has a terminal illness?”

English is full of words that may have identical or nearly identical sounds and spellings but vastly different grammatical uses. Some examples of words like this include “two”, “to”, or “too”. What about “then” and “than”? What is the difference between these two words and how are they are actually used in proper English grammar?

Although “then” and “than” look a lot alike, their usages are completely different. In the case of the word “then”, there are numerous meanings. “Then” can mean ‘at that point in time’, such as “I wasn’t able to take the phone call then”. “Then” can also mean ‘next’ or ‘afterward’. This usage is for describing a series of events. For example, “I went to the bank, then I went to the store to buy food with the money I withdrew”. A third meaning is ‘in addition’, ‘on top of that’, or ‘also’: “The coffee is only one dollar, then tax”. Finally, ‘then’ can be used with ‘if’ clauses, such as: “If you want dessert, then you’ll have to finish your vegetables”.

In the case of the word “than”, this word is used as a conjunction strictly for comparisons. For example, ‘the brown dog is faster than the white dog’, or ‘this mistake is more common than you might realize’. If someone were to ask you if your friend is taller than you are, you would reply “Yes, he is taller than I (am)”, using both the correct conjunction as well as the correct object pronoun.

Language tends to transform in use over time, and this appears to be the case when discussing “publicly” versus “publically” as correct spelling. It is undeniable that dictionaries spell the adverb of “public” as “publicly”, but in recent years trends have shown a rise in the use of “publically” amongst English-speakers. This trend in no way makes the spelling of “publicly” as “publically” correct, but it is worth noting that people all over the English-speaking world are using the incorrect spelling at a rate fast enough to catch the attention of several dictionary sources.

The spelling of “publicly” in no way follow any English language trend. If you consider the word “basic” and its alternative form, “basically”, you’ll realize that “basic” is never spelled “basicly”. Were it spelled this way as well, it would more closely represent that of “publicly”. The inconsistencies between words within a language, as which is witnessed in English, contributes directly to the difficulty level experienced when trying to learn a new language. English is notorious for its inconsistencies; therefore, the example of “basicly” and “publicly” accurately represents this struggle.

Although many people may choose to use what is technically a very wrong spelling for the world “publicly”, one should still be made aware of the variations that exist – and especially of the variations that are grammatically and orthographically incorrect. Without these precautions, one risks falling into repeated traps of colloquialism which reduces the quality of written pieces and the presence of professionalism in communication.

Those of you who are new in America may have heard the word ‘ratchet’ used, especially among auto mechanics and in urban areas. In most instances you will hear this word, the term is used to refer to a type of mechanism used in mechanical applications such as tools. An example of a ratchet is a socket wrench, a tool that is commonly used by auto mechanics to loosen bolts on cars and trucks. (It is called a socket wrench because it uses different size sockets to loosen different size bolts. The socket is fastened to a key, which prevents the socket from falling off easily.)

How a Ratchet Works

A gear (or linear rack) and pawl system work together to allow movement only in one direction. The gear or rack will usually have teeth that are asymmetrical. On one side of each tooth, there will be a gentle slope. This is what allows free movement. The slope on the other side of each tooth is much steeper. When the pawl touches this slope, it prevents any further movement. This action is used to provide mechanical advantage in order to loosen bolts. (This type of mechanism is also used in other tools, such as jacks, cable ties, alarm clocks and lever hoists, to name a few. Refer to Wikipedia for more information.)

‘Ratchet’ Is Also a Slang Term

The word is also used (though rarely) as a slang term in referrence to an unattractive person (usually a woman) with a loud, annoying personality and a tendency to think they’re God’s gift to the world. A typical ratchet likes to dress in skimpy, skin-tight outfits, ridiculously high-heeled shoes and fish net stockings, hangs out in clubs and wears an overwhelmingly large amount of make-up that will sometimes clump on their face. (Refer to Urban Dictionary for more information.)

In our modern day world, we use the phrase “10-4” (ten four) to mean “I heard and understand what you said.”

That is actually the meaning of the phrase in its origin, too. Back in the early days of radio use, policemen realized that speed and encrypted messages were best when trying to communicate with each other.

An employee of the Illinois State Police, Charlie Hopper, took a series of numbers and assigned each number its own meaning. For example, the number 1 meant “bad connection” while the number 9 meant “say again or repeat.”

This shortened method of communication was quickly adopted, but there was a slight problem. Due to the technology available at the time, early radios sometimes did not effectively transmit the first part of a message. By adding the word “ten” in front of the coded number, radio users were guaranteed to get the important part of the message.

Thus, “10-4” was used to communicate the phrase “I acknowledge.”

During the advent of television in the 1950s, households began to hear the phrase used in police dramas. This helped the public to understand the meaning of the phrase. Later on, CB radio users adopted the same codes and this spread the popularity of the phrase “10-4” even further.

By the 1980s, the phrase “10-4” was in wide use by the entire country and everyone understood its meaning without difficulty.

This phrase (and other ten codes) began to be phased out of use in the early 2000s.

A highly digitalized world has brought on a plethora of alterations to the English language. While grammatical correctness itself has failed to alter in any way, spellings and sentence structure in daily written language have faltered some. While it may be widely understood what the word “through” means and how to spell it, for example, that knowledge is not preventing English speakers from using “thru” instead. This abbreviated text, although realistically only dropping three letters, evidently adds enough ease to typing a conversation that the spelling is frequently adapted in text-based communications.

The spelling for the word “through” has of course not officially changed, at least not for several centuries. In modern English, it remains the same as it has since Shakespeare was writing. However, a boom in technology – in particular text message on phones and instant messages on computers – have led people to shorthand at every opportunity possible. “Thru” is intended to have an identical meaning to “through”, it simply uses less characters. These abbreviations do, however, become crucial in instances where character count is highly limiting. “Thru” would not be used to replace “through” in a novel or a homework assignment, but it would be very realistic to use “thru” as a way to shorten up “through” in a short tweet on Twitter.

There is really no formal way to use the spelling “thru”, but it is important to recall its usefulness when in the proper context. “Through”, nonetheless, remains the orthographically correct word of choice.