Word of the Day: "Night"

"Night"  [ nahyt ]

noun

1. the period of darkness between sunset and sunrise.

Also, an evening used or set aside for a particular event, celebration, or other special purpose (sometimes initial capital letter); e.g., a night on the town; poker night; New Year's Night.

Word origin:

First recorded before 900; Middle English.

Old English niht (West Saxon neaht, Anglian naeht, neht) "the dark part of a day; the night as a unit of time; darkness," also "absence of spiritual illumination, moral darkness, ignorance".

From Proto-Germanic nahts (source also of Old Saxon and Old High German naht, Old Frisian and Dutch nacht, German Nacht, Old Norse natt, Gothic nahts).

The Germanic words are from PIE nekwt- "night" (source also of Greek nyx (stem nykt-) "a night," Latin nox (stem noct-), Old Irish nochd, Sanskrit naktam "at night," Lithuanian naktis "night," Old Church Slavonic nosti, Russian noch', Welsh henoid "tonight").

Ancient Egyptians imagined the sky to be the star-spangled body of the goddess Nut, arching over the land. The name of Nut, became Greek nyx, Latin nox and Noct.

from: https://digitalthought.info/awo2.html

The fact that the Aryans have a common name for night, but not for day, is due to the fact that they reckoned by nights.

Thus, in Old English combinations, night was "the night before (a certain day or feast day)". In early times, the day was held to begin at sunset, so Old English monanniht "Monday night" was the night before Monday, or what we would call Sunday night, and saeterniht was "Friday night." The Greeks, by contrast, counted their days by mornings.

from: https://www.etymonline.com

Doomscrolling

Word of the Day: "Doomscrolling"

[ doom-skroh-ling ]

noun. Digital Technology. The practice of obsessively checking online news for updates, especially on social media feeds, expecting the news to be bad. The feeling of dread from the negative expectation fuels a compulsion to continue looking for updates in a self-perpetuating cycle.

Origin: First recorded in 2016

Example Sentences:

Instead of doomscrolling or studying the latest polls, people should consider exercising, enjoying nature and hobbies, or socializing with friends.

- From Los Angeles Times

Children doomscrolling for hours a day is causing widespread harm, according to Josh MacAlister, the Labour MP and former teacher behind the private member's bill being introduced in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

- From BBC

The fading of memories and the relentless passage of time are familiar feelings for the generation accustomed to doomscrolling through endless feeds.

- From Salon

Doomscrolling is also defined as an excessive consumption of short-form videos or social media without stopping. It can be considered a form of internet addiction disorder. In 2019, an NAS study found that doomscrolling can be linked to a decline in mental and physical health.

The practice of doomscrolling can be compared to an older phenomenon from the 1970s called the mean world syndrome, a belief that the world is a more dangerous place to live in than it actually is, as a result of long-term exposure to violence on television.

"Doomscrolling" was recognized by Merriam-Webster as an official word in September 2023. The term gained traction in the early-2020s through events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the George Floyd protests, the 2020 US presidential election, the storming of the US Capitol in 2021, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine since 2022.

Infinite scrolling, the continuous loading of content as the user scrolls down, eliminates the need for pagination and encourages doomscrolling behaviors. This feature removes natural stopping points and has been described as a pathway to both problematic smartphone and social media use.

The act of doomscrolling can be attributed to the natural negativity bias people have when consuming information. The idea is that negative events have a larger impact on one's mental well-being than good ones. Evolution may explain why humans seek out such negatives: if one's ancestors, for example, discovered how an ancient creature could injure them, they could avoid that fate.

As opposed to primitive humans, however, most people in modern times may have a question, they want an answer, and assume getting it will make them feel better... They keep scrolling and scrolling, thinking it will be helpful, but they end up feeling worse afterward.

Doomscrolling can also be explained by the fear of missing out, where people take part in activities that may not be beneficial to them, but which they fear "missing out on".

Obsessively consuming negative news online can also be partially attributed to a person's psychological need for control. During uncertain times, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, people may have engaged in doomscrolling to gather information and gain a sense of mastery over the situation. Nevertheless, while attempting to seize control, many doomscrolling individuals developed more anxiety towards the situation rather than reducing it.

The mechanism may involve a part of the brain called the inferior frontal gyrus, which has a role in information processing and integrating new information into beliefs about reality. The brain selectively filters bad news from new information used to update one's beliefs. When doomscrolling, the brain may feel under threat and shut off its "bad news filter" in response. The result is more negative emotions that can make one feel anxious, depressed, and isolated.

In a study by psychologists, the participants who watched three minutes of negative news in the morning were 27% more likely to report experiencing a bad day later. In contrast, the group who watched news stories that were focused on solutions reported having a good day 88% of the time.

Some people have begun coping with the abundance of negative news stories by avoiding news altogether. In 2023, 39% of people worldwide reported actively avoiding the news, up from 29% in 2017. In the UK, interest in news has nearly halved since 2015.

References available from: Wikipedia

English Chaps Selling Chapbooks

To grasp the meaning of Chapman, consider the history. The original English spoke German as one would expect Germanic people to do. The key is the phrase 'Anglo-Saxon'. The Anglo component comes from the Angle people who came from Angeln and Engle. Its nearest modern equivalent would be southern Denmark. The language of the Angles was Englisc from which we get English. The Saxon component comes from the Saxons who came from what is now northern Germany. These Germanic people began as mercenaries in what became England in the dying days of Roman Britain and finished as its conquer starting a few decades after the last Roman Legion left England in the 5th century.

The English language was altered by Roman Catholic missionaries who brought their Latin mainly in the 8th century. Around the 9th century, the Vikings took over the north and east of England and many old norse and Danish words changed the English. Then, the Normans altered the language starting in the 11th century. Their status as conquerors is revealed in the English. For example, an Englishman tended to pigs, but the finer cuts went to the Norman masters. So swine and bacon (the opposite of living high on the hog, were least desirable and fit only for an Englishman) were English words. The finished product, mutton is Norman French.

Let us go back to German old English to understand what a Chapman is. Among the German people, the counterpart was the surname Kaufman, which is derived from the old high German word 'chouph'. The old English had several words of similar meaning. 'Cop' meant barter. 'Chipping' was a place where things were bought. 'Ceapian' meant to buy. The old English word 'ceap', also meaning barter, eventually mutated into our modern word cheap. More telling is the old English word 'Ceapman', the old word for a pedlar or merchant, who were usually traveling merchants moving from village to village. It mattered not what specific goods they sold, they were Chapmans.

Chapbooks were thus small books or pamphlets, usually of popular tales, ballads, or poetry, etc., formerly sold on the streets by chapmen.

But be aware, the noun 'chapter' (= a main division of a book, treatise, etc.) has a different origin. It was first used in 1175-1225, coming from Middle English -- var. of chapitre, from Old French, and from the Latin: capitulum (= little head; capit-, s. of caput head + -ulum -ule ). In Late Latin, it meant section of a book; in Medieval Latin, it meant section read at a meeting, hence, the meeting, especially one of canons, hence, a body of canons.

Owl Editing

Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western

When words like northern, southern, eastern, and western precede a place name, they are not ordinarily capitalized because they merely indicate general location within a region. When these words are actually part of the place name, however, they must be capitalized.
For example:

Preceding a Place Name:
northern New Jersey,
western Massachusetts

Part of a Place Name:
Northern Ireland,
Western Australia


Correct the following:
1. I live in the north or North.
2. I love to go out west or West.
3. He is from the Deep South or deep south.
4. Where is the north pole or the North Pole?

Gender vs. Sex

Feminists eager to remove references to sexuality from discussions of females and males not involving mating or reproduction revived an older meaning of “gender,” which had come to refer in modern times chiefly to language, as a synonym for “sex” in phrases such as “Our goal is to achieve gender equality.” Americans, always nervous about sex, eagerly embraced this usage, which is now standard. In some scholarly fields, “sex” is now used to label biologically determined aspects of maleness and femaleness (reproduction, etc.) while “gender” refers to their socially determined aspects (behavior, attitudes, etc.); but in ordinary speech this distinction is not always maintained. It is disingenuous to pretend that people who use “gender” in the new senses are making an error, just as it is disingenuous to maintain that “Ms.” means “manuscript” (that’s “MS”). Nevertheless, I must admit I was startled to discover that the tag on my new trousers describes not only their size and color, but their “gender.”

from: http://www.wsu.edu/%7Ebrians/errors/nonerrors.html
Paul Brians, Common Errors in English

Owl Editing

Shared

How do you feel about using 'shared' when one person seems to be telling, explaining, describing, or otherwise, speaking to another?

Some copyeditors replied:

I recently copyedited a book that was based on research and interviews the author had done with members of a church in Southern California (sociology of religion is the academic disciple, and this was for a large, well-known scholarly publisher). Nobody spoke, everybody shared -- whenever the author reported something she was told during an interview, she'd write something like "John shared that he enjoyed coming to the church's Sunday service" (or, worse, "John shared how he enjoyed coming to the church's Sunday service"). I got rid of every single one of them, and I haven't heard any complaints. (Mary)

In addition to the therapy setting, I'd also use the term to describe sharing intimate personal information with a trusted friend. And, of course, a sarcastic comment when someone says something you really don't want to hear. For instance, someone describes a recent bowel movement while we are eating lunch: I might say "Thank you for sharing."
In any case, I'd watch for overuse of the term. "Said" is a good word, use it often. (Allen)

Its use in classrooms to embarrass whisperers ("Bobby, why don't you share that with the class?") long predates its use in psychobabble; but it seems to have an edge to it in either situation. That is, when someone says "please share that with the group," I think it comes across as a bit more prying than "please tell us what you're feeling," for example. In the other direction, "I'd like to share something with you" sets the listener up to hear a confidence rather than just an interesting story. (Dick)

It is also used in informal, community-oriented Christian (specifically Mennonite in my experience) church services for the time when members can stand up and talk about what's on their minds. "Sharing time" takes on almost epic significance in some of my siblings' and my memories of attending church at my parents' small-town Kansas Mennonite church... It probably morphed over from the psychobabble of the 1970s, when the informal worship took hold among, at least, Mennonites. But "sharing time" is alive and well in the twenty-first century. (Andrea)

It has its uses, as others have pointed out, and I agree that the word is used appropriately in most of them... But I also think that sometimes, it can sound artificially... well, sissified. Touchy-feely. Hyper-euphemistic. Palliated. I picture a Donna Reed-like woman among her plastic-encased living room furniture and spotless carpet, pristinely playing hostess, to not only make her guests feel comfortable but put her niceness and perfection on display, a niceness that is exoterically and for all intents admirable... Even so, or perhaps because of it, somehow one suspects there's a bit of mildew in the under-layer.

Whenever possible, I'd prefer having a person tell, explain, describe, relate, confess, disclose, declare, reveal, offer, paint, reflect upon, reminisce or whatever else they might do to communicate their experience. "Share" is dangerously close to being overused. (Fox)

I have edited several doctoral dissertations where shared seemed to be the only verb the authors knew. Although it may be appropriate occasionally, for the most part, it sounds extremely artificial and I change it. (Nancy)

My feeling is that I hate it and it's not used only in counseling-therapy situations. I hear it a lot in schools, especially elementary schools. My disdain for the usage might have something to do with my kids' elementary school where everyone was a nice person who truly meant well, but they went overboard in fostering every shred of self-esteem to the point of ineffectiveness (I have pieces of paper here officially praising my kids for, among other things, returning the ball to the box after recess instead of leaving it on the playground -- we keep them for the comedy they provide and so my kids can complain that they were never rewarded for not breaking windows or not stealing cars). Unlike Dick, I'd never thought of it as prying, just cloying. When I hear it I can't help but picture a sarcastic TV skit like one would see on Saturday Night Live or The Daily Show. I can just hear Samantha Bee asking a senator if she would feel better if she shared with the public her predilection for pole dancing at Flash Dancers on her days off. (Donna)

The 'Re-' Prefix

As a rule, the prefix "re" (meaning "again") should not be followed by a hyphen. However, a few words require the hyphen to distinguish them from other words with the same spelling but different meaning.

For example:

A recreation program for employees
A re-creation of the original sketches
To recover from an illness
To re-cover a chair
To resign the position
To re-sign the contracts

Which is the correct word spelling?

1. to (repress re-press) one's emotions
2. to (release re-lease) the apartment
3. to (re-sort resort) to violence
4. as he (remarked re-marked) to me

Answers:

1. to repress one's emotions
2. to re-lease the apartment
3. to resort to violence
4. as he remarked to me

From: http://www.basic-learning.com/

'Normal' and its Synonyms

normal, natural, ordinary, regular, typical

All of these words are applied to that which is usual or expected because it conforms to a standard or rule. Normal implies that a particular person or thing does not exceed certain limits, or does not deviate far from an average or a standard established for a group, class, or species. [Normal body temperature ranges between 96.80 and 98.60 Fahrenheit; normal temperature in New York City for June is around 70^o.

Regular implies accordance with some rule, plan, or method: to follow regular army procedures.

Typical indicates possession of those properties or characteristics that represent a particular class of things and differentiate it from all other classes of things: the typical clubbed antennae of the butterfly.

Ordinary, as an equivalent for normal or regular, emphasizes commonness or usualness and often stresses the absence of superior qualities. [An ordinary man is no genius; ordinary ways of doing things keep within the rules but do not initiate improvements.]

Natural emphasizes the agreement between an action and the innate character of the agent involved. Thus, it is natural for man to seek happiness, for birds to migrate, for the sun to set.

Antonyms: abnormal, atypical, irregular, queer, unnatural, unusual.


Ref: Hayakawa, S. I. (1982). Use the Right Word: Modern Guide to Synonyms and Related Words. Reader's Digest. 726 pp.

Comprise vs. Compose

These are two of the most commonly misused words in the English language. Comprise means to include; compose means to make up. It all comes down to parts versus the whole. When you use comprise, you put the whole first: “A soccer game comprises (includes) two halves.” When you use compose, you put the pieces first: “Fifty states compose (make up) the United States of America.”


Owl Editing website