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Today’s case: “You All,” “Y’All” and “You Guys”:

A humourous use of the contraction “y’all” occurred to someone in my faith community, in western Canada, several years ago. Over a cup of coffee, she recalled the “culture shock” of attending a conference in the U.S. South and being greeted (shortly after she arrived and after entering a local shop alone) with “Hi Y’all! How are y’all doing today?” This friend (whose was born, raised and educated in Scotland) instinctively looked beside and behind her, to see who else was being addressed! And of course, it was only her.

Etymologist Bryan Garner writes that many residents of the American South and Southwest, “even highly educated ones, use the uncontracted ‘you all’ as the plural form of ‘you.’”

He writes that the usage has developed out of convenience, since the pronoun “‘you’ alone can be either singular or plural — and therefore is sometimes ambiguous.”

He adds, however that “you all” is “less susceptible to raised eyebrows than ‘y’all,’” (which my Scottish friend received) and which is often thought to signal the speaker’s lower class origins (e.g. recall the language of the old television program, “The Beverly Hillbillies.”  I’ll look for “y’all” soon in the new “Corner Gas” movie, soon to be in theatres.)

Garner notes a further trend that there is “a noticeable tendency in [Southern U.S.] urban areas to replace [‘you all’] with ‘you guys,’ even if those addressed include females. One Texas writer calls ‘you guys’ a ‘horrid Yankee construction.’ Steve Blow, ‘What’s Up with Y’all?’ Dallas Morning News, 27 Sept. 2002, at A25.”

Garner adds that “‘you guys’ . . . may have resulted from the great influx of a geographically diverse population” in large cities in the Southern U.S. “throughout the 1980s and 1990s, coupled with a growing sense among natives that ‘you all’ and ‘y’all’ signal provincialism.” ((c) Bryan Garner, “Usage Tip of the Day,” August 20, 2014)

Have you ever caught yourself using “you all,” “y’all,” or, more commonly on the Prairies, “you guys?” None of these constructions pass muster with the expectations of education and gentility that are associated with business writing. But such uses do occasionally appear, in social settings around us. And of course the likelihood of your adopting them increases if you visit a community where they are the linguistic norm. (Although my Scottish friend admittedly did not adopt the “y’all” in her time in the American South.)

Please share with me your linguistic anomalies and questions through the “Contact” page on my website (www.elizabethshih.com)

And I hope y’all have a good day!

Readers might be surprised to read that I didn’t enjoy the first half of the recent autobiography/business biography of Huffington Post’s editor-in-chief, Arianna Huffington.  She is a much lauded celebrity: she was named as one of “Time” Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People,” has written a syndicated column and many books. Huffington has also given prominent TEDtalks and hosted a radio program on business–she’s about as high profile as it gets.

In her latest book, Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom and Wonder (New York: Harmony, 2014), Huffington (like Sheryl Sandberg and Debora Spar before her) describes hitting bottom in exhaustion, from trying to “do it all,” at work and at home. Opening with a fall she suffered in her home office due to sleep deprivation, she spends the first half of the volume describing how the relentless pursuit of the “two traditional metrics of success – money and power” caused her  to sacrifice family, health and ultimately her career, from stress and burnout.

Thrive embodies her theory that we need a “Third Metric” for redefining success, besides the usual two, if we (women and also those men to whom the argument applies) are to live healthy, balanced and meaningful lives. This third set of values consists of our ability to draw on intuition, inner wisdom, our sense of wonder and our capacity for empathy and giving to others. Continue reading “On “living in the moment” with wonder—visiting Arianna Huffington’s business bio, _Thrive_ (2014)”

Today, I return to what I call “wordsmithing”—revisiting word usage from Bryan Garner’s learned volume, Garner’s Modern American Usage (Oxford UP, 2003).

One especially interesting phrase and concept are “weasel words.”

On the origin of the phrase, Garner cites a speech by Theodore Roosevelt in 1916: “One of our defects as a nation is a tendency to use what have been called weasel words. When a weasel sucks eggs, it sucks the meat out of the egg and leaves it an empty shell. If you use a weasel word after another [,] there is nothing left of the other” (cited in Garner 826-827).

So weasel words are supposed to be “intensives,” but actually weaken a statement. The following are weasel words: “clearly,” “obviously,” “somewhat,” and “very.”

Some examples of usage:

•   “But I had clearly marked the suspicious area with chalk.” (implies that the area was not marked clearly).

•  “When we arrived, it was obviously too late to call” (implies that it was not too late).

•  “He was somewhat indifferent to her attentions” (implies he was not indifferent).

•   “She agreed that it was very true that she had overlooked the child’s needs” (implies that she had not overlooked the child’s needs).

Garner further reports that “some writers have incorrectly assumed that the metaphor suggested itself because of the wriggling, evasive character of the weasel” (827). Although that is not correct, weasel words are nonetheless associated with a subject failing to take responsibility for an action, thought, mood, etc.

Do you find yourself speaking or writing with “weasel words?” How can you return to the action, thought or mood that the “weasel word” modifies, to evaluate the subject’s (e.g. your or others’) potential irresponsibility?

The Oxford English Dictionary tells us that gratitude means “thankfulness, appreciation of kindness.” The passing, last weekend, of Canadian Thanksgiving made me consciously reflect on the many blessings in my life, for which I do feel much gratitude.

Thanksgiving falls near my and other family members’ birthdays and the fall celebration is always mercifully less commercial than Christmas. For these reasons, I find that it’s easier to become aware of the good things at work in my life and reflect that awareness in interacting with others—be they clients, prospects, colleagues, competitors, family or friends.

I feel particularly grateful to all of the people who offered me psychological support throughout my years at university and to those who have offered me support as I have invested hard work and in building my communications business. At least 20 folk come to mind, including some whose paths no longer cross with mine, but whose influence continues.

What an extraordinary blessing I receive to work hard on projects that interest me and that make a difference to my clients and to the larger communities where they work and live. And to have readers like you who take the time to read my blog: Thank you for being a part of my circle. I am deeply grateful for the life-enriching gift of having meaningful work.

In this war-torn, conflicted and endangered world that endangers civilians in Syria and Iraq; that violates the rights of people of the Ukraine; and besets the most vulnerable in an Africa beset by Ebola, it’s vital that we take the time to be conscious of the blessings of our lives. So much of contemporary life has us complaining and “venting” to colleagues, families and friends. We need to do that to cope with stress, true. But who among us actually has a “gratitude circle” of peers with whom we quite consciously count our blessings, especially in tough times?

The health-giving effect of feeling gratitude has been documented by many schools of medicine. And in various faith traditions, gratitude is also essential. . . . In the Quran, gratitude involves a threefold awareness that blessings come from God; that appreciation should be expressed to the Creator; and that people should proclaim those blessings.  . . . Not so differently, in the Christian tradition, we also must acknowledge that all good things are created from God, including us.  There are nearly 100 passages in the Bible that refer to God’s grace and the human need to express gratitude, for that grace.

If and when your world is beset by struggle, loss or difficulty (be it professional or personal), do you have the support of others near you to enable you to achieve peace of mind? When you do find stability and security, does your well of gratitude flow as abundantly, with these people? That is my wish for you, this Thanksgiving.

For today’s posting, I return to two of American etymologist Bryan Garner’s usage tips of the day,  that he has published in the last month.

The first term is “transpire.” The historically correct meaning of “transpire,” Garner reports, is “to pass through a surface; come to light; become known by degrees.” But that meaning is no longer in use. Today, “transpire” is popularly used as a formal word equivalent to “happen,” “occur” or “take place.” But Garner reports that used this way, the term is only a “pomposity” replacing everyday words, such as those just cited, in the last sentence.

For example, “Satisfied that something unusual was indeed transpiring [read “happening”], the team then arranged for a visit to the house” (David Lazarus, “Ghostbuster Snares Clients on New” [S.F. Chronicle, 13 Oct., 2002]).

A second, incorrect use of “transpire” is to mean “pass” or “elapse,” as in “Three days transpired [read: passed] between the call and discovery of the dead child” (Steven Paulson, “911 Call Was Made from Mansion Before Body Found” [Times Union (Albany) 10 Jan, 1997]).

In summary, Garner writes that “transpire” is a word that writers should avoid . . . altogether simply to avoid distracting readers, whether traditionalists (who dislike the modern usage) or others (who may not understand the traditional usage).”

The second word of today’s blog is a phrase that is often misused: “hoi polloi.” Garner reports that its meaning is “the common people, the masses.” “Hoi” in Greek means “the” (plural), “the hoi polloi” is redundant. But he says that the three-word phrase persists and “ought to be accepted.”

Garner reports, however, that “hoi polloi” does not mean the elite. This mistake in meaning has occurred through a false association with “hoity-toity” (which means “arrogant, haughty) or “high and mighty.” Garner gives this example of misuse: “You may shell out $75 or $80 per person, sans tax and tip, for the Tribute experience, but, trust . . . Tribute has been drawing Detroit power brokers and the upper-end hoi polloi (read: upper crust] since it opened in April” (Jane Rayburn, “Restaurant Reviews,” Detroit News 3 July, 1997).

So, adapting Garner’s two tips for this week, we could write:

“Over time, his understanding of geometry-trigonometry transpired, adding to the scholarly achievements that only alienated him further from the hoi polloi at school.”

Garner inspires writers with the precision of his work. My call-to-action is to apply the same kind of precise diction in both your spoken and printed word. Such excellence is a lifelong pursuit; but it’s never too late to try!