October 2024 Vol 6 Issue 10
Tell Your Story Newsletter (TYSN):
Teaching English as a Second Language
Let us help you tell your story!
Welcome Mid-October, 2024!
What does “October mean (to you)? What changes does it bring?Media reports in late September and early October have concentrated notably on social justice and public health issues in our community, and at a time when Saskatonians prepare to vote in upcoming civic, provincial and federal government elections.
On September 30th, we observed the “National Day for Truth and Reconciliation,” to honour the Indigenous children, who (as the Government of Canada acknowledges), “never returned home (from government- and church-led residential schools), and their survivors, alongside their families and communities.”
Young Indigenous children faced emotional, physical and sexual abuse, and endured the forced suppression of their language, culture and familial relationships. But change has been slow to arrive.
The day has also become known as “Orange Shirt Day,” an “Indigenous-led, grassroots commemorative day, intended to raise awareness of the . . . impact of residential schools [and] to promote the concept that ‘Every Child Matters.’”
In my faith group on September 29th, we donned orange shirts and listened as guest speaker Patti Polowick discussed the need for change: through public apologies to the Indigenous people of SK (and beyond); through our refusal to condemn those who (intergenerationally) struggle with homelessness and addictions; and through recognizing the Biblical and spiritual basis of both truth and forgiveness.
And on October 10th, we observed “World Mental Health Day,” an international day (writes the the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union [UFCW]) “to raise awareness of the stigmas surrounding mental illness and the importance of promoting mental health.” Change here, too, is desperately needed.
Globally, close to one billion people now live with mental illness (reports the World Health Organization [WHO]); and the Covid-19 pandemic has further reduced people’s mental wellbeing. Yet mental health continues to be “one of the most neglected areas of public health.”
Efforts need to be mobilized to increase the quality and accessibility of good mental health care–and no place greater than in SK. On its website (https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-mental-health-day), the WHO reminds us that good “mental health is a universal human right.”
Yet we find ourselves experiencing impoverished (some might say “third-world”) healthcare in a first-world province. Change is needed.
Indigenous healing and reconciliation with settler cultures and the improvement of human mental health are two of the greatest cultural and health-related movements we face world-wide. They demand that we work toward meaningful change (and surpass mere “lip-service”).
Survivors have important stories to tell that can yield change, as we advocate for more respect, tolerance and support than current times provide.
And appropriately, the month of October is usually a month of seasonal change. As Environment Canada’s forecasts indicate, our current warmer-than-seasonal weather will be displaced at month’s end, by single digit degrees above zero, Celsius.
Yet our days are marked with the turning and falling of gloriously golden and crimson leaves, that bring great beauty to our lives, even as we brace ourselves for the change of winter.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary tells us that the name “October” shares roots with “octopus” and “octagon,” which originally meant “tenth” in Anglo-Saxon and Middle English—so that “October” designates the tenth month of our Gregorian calendar. That is one of its stories.
But to add to the complexity of linguistic history (a theme popular with this month’s featured dictionary writer, Susie Dent), the name “October” also reflects the earlier Latin “octo” and the Greek “okto” (both of which mean “eight”). So in the earlier Roman calendar, “October” occurred in the eighth month, an earlier story . . .
In keeping with stories of change, in “Article One” this month, I visit a recent book from acclaimed British lexicographer (dictionary writer), Susie Dent, on the meaning of words that have surprising (hi)stories to tell.
In “Storytellers’ Corner,” I cite Canadian entrepreneur and strategist, Arlene Dickinson on how, by exchanging the often harsh thoughts we have of ourselves with ones of self-worth, we can empower our minds and lives.
And in this month’s “Shop News,” I share sundry items of visits, events and news that energized me in recent weeks, making me glad to have exchanged time in my office to engage with peers like you!
What has October brought to you? Have you plunged into your work, embracing the reality that summer has finally passed? Or have you stepped aside from the daily grind, mindfully, to notice the season’s beauty and distinctness?
And please send your updates and ideas for future issues of “TYSN.” I’d be delighted to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth
Principal
Storytelling Communications
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IN THIS ISSUE:
—ARTICLE ONE: What stories are behind your words? Susie Dent has some answers
–STORYTELLERS’ CORNER: Arlene Dickinson on retelling your story of self-worth
–SHOP NEWS
—ABOUT US
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Article One: What stories are behind your words? Susie Dent has some answers
In her recent book, Interesting Stories about Curious Words: From Stealing Thunder to Red Herrings, Britain’s most popular “lexicographer” (dictionary writer), Susie Dent, shares some of the fascinating stories behind common English words and phrases.
Those of us who communicate for our living (I teach English-as-a-Second Language) are not surprised to know (as Languagelinks.ca reports) “that over half of the English language comes from French and Latin.” In fact, “more than 60% of our vocabulary has its origins in France.”
And when we read the work of Susie Dent, it’s not hard to imagine her as the heroine of Pip Williams’ recent popular novel, The Dictionary of Lost Words, a plausible but fictional telling of the work of late Victorian and early 20th-Century lexicographers who developed the first-ever edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).
Describing her career of researching and writing dictionaries, Dent cites Eric Partridge (Britain’s “20th-century chronicler of slang expressions”) as saying there are “more imagination and enthusiasm in the making of a good dictionary than in the average novel.”
Dent cites a favourite anecdote, also from Partridge–of an elderly Englishwoman who, after borrowing a dictionary from the public library, returned it with the comment that it was “a very unusual book indeed—but the stories are extremely short, aren’t they?”
In Interesting Stories, Dent brings together hundreds of her favourite eclectic histories of English words, whose criterion for inclusion was only that the stories “might elicit an ‘ah!’, an ‘of course!’ or maybe even a ‘what!’”
Dent writes that “curious minds will always need curious words,” so learning languages, such as English, including the fantastic words that she collects, need never be boring.
Here, this month, are ten of the favourite words Dent chronicles in her book:
(1) “Long time no see“: “A mock traditional greeting to a person one has not seen for a long time. It is a form of Pidgin English based on Chinese “hăo jiǔ méi jiàn.”
(2) “Wotcher”: “A late 19th-century alteration of the greeting, ‘What cheer?’, or ‘How are you?’”
(3) “All one’s geese are swans”: “To overestimate; to see things in too rosy a light. All one’s children are paragons, and whatever one does is, in one’s own eyes, superfluous.”
(4) “Booby”: “A species of ‘gannet’ (large seabird) is called a booby because of its apparent stupidity. The Spanish bobo means ‘silly.’ It was this that gave rise to the idea of a ‘booby prize.’”
(5) “As mad as a March hare”: “Hares are unusually . . . wild in March, which is their rutting [mating] season.”
(6) “A Leopard cannot change its spots”: “A person’s character never changes fundamentally. The allusion is to Jeremiah 13:23: ‘Can the Ethiopian change is skin, or the leopard his spots?’”
(7) “Teddy bear”: “A child’s toy bear, named after Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt (1858-1919), who was fond of bear-hunting. Roosevelt was shown sparing the life of a bear-cub in a cartoon drawn by C.K. Berryman in 1902 as a spoof on the president’s role as an ardent conservationist.
In 1906, The New York Times published a humorous poem about the adventures of two bears named Teddy B and Teddy G, in Roosevelt’s honour. The names were then given to two bears newly presented to the Bronx Zoo, and manufacturers seized on the event to put toy bears called ‘teddy bears’ on the market.”
(8) “Higgledy-piggedly”: “Jumbled up in a confused mess. The word first appeared at the end of the 16th century and may have been inspired by the slovenly reputation of pigs. It is an example of what linguists call a ‘reduplicative compound,’ in which two words are paired on the basis of their sound, and one of them tends to be a fanciful add-on.”
(9) “To get someone’s goat”: “To annoy a person. The expression, an old Americanism, is said to relate to a practice among racehorse trainers of soothing a nervous horse by putting a goat in its stall. Someone wanting the horse to lose could sneak in and remove the goat. The horse would again succumb to an attack of nerves and would not run well. But one can irritate a person by constantly butting in, and this may be a more likely reference.”
(10) “Dogsbody”: “Someone who does all the menial jobs that no one else wants to do, typically a young person or trainee employee. The term dates from the 1920s and was originally applied humorously to peas boiled in cloth on board ships and subsequently to a junior officer.”
And now it’s your turn: Do these “curious” stories about words appeal to you? How much of a role does storytelling (more broadly) play in the languages you speak and write?
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STORYTELLERS’ CORNER . . . .
STORYTELLERS’ CORNER:
This month: Arlene Dickinson on retelling your story of self-worth . . .
From entrepreneur extraordinaire, Calgary-based Arlene Dickinson (Dragon’s Den investor and Canadian strategist), comes some other words we can tell ourselves–these in keeping with the advancement of all entrepreneurs, but women, in particular:
“The next time you stop yourself from enjoying life’s moments, doing something new and exciting or putting yourself out there, because you don’t like your body or your looks, here’s a new short tape”– a change to your personal story –“to play in your head”:
“I am more than good enough.
I am beautiful exactly as I am.
I can’t wait to show myself what I can do.
I am uniquely and proudly me.
And then, thank your body for its strength in getting you through the days and nights and for keeping your spirit alive.”
Dickinson concludes from her own experience that it’s not easy for entrepreneurs “to drown out the insecure thoughts” that run through our minds.
But she says: “Keep rehearsing these lines” and you will revise those thoughts–and with them, your story!
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SHOP NEWS:
This month, I am especially thankful for the collaborative articles I have co-authored with fellow women writers of “Saskatoon Freelancers’ Roundtable.” The fifth of our pieces appeared in this fall’s issue of “Freelance” magazine and online ezine, publications of the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild.
Thank you to Ashleigh Mattern, Julie Barnes, Adele Paul and Ashlyn George for the collaboration.
Our final article addressed issues of “time management.” And our group looks forward to writing collaboratively again, in the future. Perhaps we will then include our group’s photographers and designers.
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CORRECTION from last month’s (September) issue!
The Praxis School of Entrepreneurship’s 30+ year, “startSMART” program is not ending, as I earlier reported, but is instead changing shape through a new online network for January, 2025.
Alumni of the past 30+ years are cordially invited to a “refresher” socializing and networking potluck, with date and time forthcoming, early in 2025. Stay tuned!
And please let fledgling entrepreneurs in your circles know that powerful training and community building opportunities, via the Praxis School of Entrepreneurship, are coming soon!
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I have been deeply moved this month by a visit I made to Rev. George Yando, of Prince Albert, who served as a spiritual advisor and interim minister (five years ago) to my faith community (St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church).
During a recent visit, I was touched by Rev. Yando’s continued humanity, warmth and empathy for others, even in the face of his own terminal illness.
Sometimes hospital visits become visitations, in which the visitor themselves is transformed.
Thank you, Rev. Yando.
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Special thanks this month to WESK’s CEO Miriam Johnson, and WESK team members, including those I spoke with–Program Lead, Jenelle Yochim; Brand Manager Michael Betteridge; and Client Services Manager, Cara Cote, for developing a “speed networking” format for “YXE Connect” on October 9th.
All entrepreneurs were given 15 minutes in each of four sessions to ask questions and network with service providers.
The service providers included representatives from representatives from Saskatoon’s legal, financial, banking and other advisory services (who also deserve our thanks).
The smaller group format enabled ambiverts (like me) and introverts and newbies (whom I met) to speak more openly and engage more deeply with others, thereby extending the event’s “connective” power.
I look forward to seeing what the WESK team does for YXE’s November meeting to encourage engagement from our diverse entrepreneurial community.
Thank you, WESK!
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I’m happy to share that my ESL/EFL training organization, the TEFL Org (formerly known as TEFL Scotland) founded in 2008 by EFL teachers, Jennifer MacKenzie and Joe Hallwood, celebrated its 16th anniversary on October 9th!
TEFL Org has recently been awarded the label of a “B-Corp Certified business” for “meeting high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability” in business. TEFL Org has won numerous awards, including the “Queen’s Award” in 2022.
The company “has trained over 185,000 TEFL teachers [including me], who have entered the industry as confident and capable educators” (www.Tefl.org)
Here’s a birthday video about TEFL org: Congratulations on 16 great years to Jennifer, Joe, Alan, Carl and the entire TEFL Org team!
There are always new businesses or events to promote and new people to thank. But this is a “wrap” for mid-October!
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ABOUT US:
Between 2011 and December 2018, Elizabeth Shih Communications chronicled the stories of B2B marketing and communications on the Prairies and across the country.
Effective January 1, 2019, I rebranded as “Storytelling Communications.” I now help new and economic immigrants to secure contracts or find better jobs by improving their language skills. And I also write and edit “legacy stories” of businesses in our community.
Interested in learning more? Please contact me through my CASL-compliant website (www.elizabethshih.com).
After I receive your message, I’ll be pleased to discuss projects with you!
Please visit my website for more information (www.storytellingcommunications.ca).