Wording – WELCOME TO THE JIREVERSE

WORDING: WARY OR WEARY

Weary is feeling or showing tiredness.

Wary is feeling or showing caution.

One of the easiest typos that Microsoft Word’s spellcheck (and Grammarly) won’t catch is just the case of an accidental ‘e’. Because of this, it’s a word I have on my list of words to search for when editing to verify the context. Because, as almost interchangeable as these words can be, the intention of having someone be too tired to care vs. worrying is a big difference in defining your character.

WORDING is an ongoing (but irregular) series of posts I’ll be making about words. I won’t always delve into proper use. depending on the word and what it means to me and potentially others there may be articles about words that trigger me, words I love, words that always look misspelled to me and more.

WORDING: HERB

Today’s wording is all about Herb Brooks, Herbie Hankcock, Herbie the Love Bug—no I mean herbs. One of those odd things the English language makes us remember is that there are silent h’s in our language. Like hour, when talking about an herb that is pronounced with a silent h we use ‘an’ instead of ‘a’.

I know it’s a silly rule, but I’ve always secretly liked it. I like saying ‘erb’ and if ever befriend a Herbert, I’m probably going to be obnoxious and call him Erb or Erbert or Erbie. Which I’m almost certain is a terrible joke he has heard way too many times before. So I’ll only refer to him that way in my head, lest I desire to lose a friend.

The silent h in herb really makes the word flow to that b sound at the end like a bubble gently breaking the water surface. Saying ‘Herb’ with the hard H sound reminds me of a frog late at night. Herb-bert-her-bert.

Other words that begin with a silent h also include:

honest, heir, honor, and the aforementioned: hour.

That’s pretty good company our herbs are in. Enjoy the silence.

WORDING: SHOULD

Many years ago, working in sales, I took a call and a man placed his order and requested the items by a particular date. Me, feeling full of charm and friendliness said, “We should be able to do that for you.”

The customer’s demeanor knotted. “You ‘should’?” He snarled.

In my mistake, still rather jovially, I replied the affirmative.

He did not like that one bit. As uncomfortableness swelled, I finally realized I needed to adjust my word choice and said, “Yes, we will.”

Magically appeased, the order was place and the call was ended. But I have thought a great deal about that exchange in the years since.

Was he being a jerk? Did he just do it to assert dominance?

While, I like to assume the guy was just being a jerk, there’s a chance my upbeat (forced as it may have been) demeanor on the phone may have irked him and led him to place less faith in my turn of phrase.

But it taught me a lot about word choice and how others can perceive my usage differently.

I think the only way I could’ve made him doubt me more in that moment was had I said, “We could be able to do that for you.”

To me, the ‘could’ feels as if there is some unspoken contingent.

Where as in retrospect ‘should’ sounds less committal, though probable. But I swear if you heard my tone, it was confident like when a child already on their best behavior asks you if they can can have some ice cream and you say, “I should be able to make that happen.”

WORDING: SUNSET, SUN SETS

You can say “THE SUN SETS IN THE WEST.”

Or you can say, “SUNSETS OCCUR IN THE WEST.”

You can even say, “THE SUNSET OCCURRED IN THE WEST.’

SUN SETS is correct because it is referring to a single sun, you could use ‘A’ or ‘THE’ to make it so.

SUNSETS is correct because it is referring to plural.

But SUNSET still needed a verb since it is a noun, where as SUN SET is the noun and verb. You can’t say THE SUNSET WEST or THE SUNSETS WEST but you can say THE SUN SETS WEST.

I probably use sunsets too often in my writing. Between them and a sunrise, they are things I’ve experienced, and have a feeling associated with them. Not all are breathtaking, but they carry a pretty universal symbolism to them. However, I always prefer to make the sunset active. Like “THE SETTING SUN CAST AN ARRAY OF ORANGE AND PURPLE.’

Technically, I could/should write “THE SUNSET CAST AN ARRAY OF ORANGE AND PURPLE.”

Much like music, the slightest change creates a different tone. Every musician (that’s not a drum machine) plays differently, how will your sunset be cast?

WORDING: MUST

Let’s talk, if we must, about the word MUST.

It’s one of my favorite four-letter words because it makes the speaker sound so desperate when they say it, or even weak.

“It must have been someone else.” Always sounds suspect to me.

“We must complete the assignment or we’ll all die!”

It’s a word to be used when something is necessary or required. It’s a word I feel like I heard way too much as a kid. And it’s an ugly sounding word, kin to ‘musk’ and ‘uh’, like the antithesis of ‘most’ or the swamp cousin of ‘moist’.

But sometimes, ugly words are what MUST be used to get out point across.

One of my favorite movie titles and all-time favorite HAMMER HORROR film is FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED!

Have you seen it?

It’s the fifth in their series and unfortunately, spoiler, even though the fiery ending would lead us to believe the dastardly doctor has been destroyed, there was one more sequel (the Ralph Bates starring HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN being ignored, but not out of distaste, I adore that movie, that movie features one of my favorite endings of all-time–maybe I’ll write more on that later).

WORDING is an ongoing series of posts I’ll be making about words. I won’t always delve into proper use. depending on the word and what it means to me and potentially others there may be articles about words that trigger me, words I love, words that always look misspelled to me and more.