NancyProofed

We’ve just returned from Iceland, and the Icelandic language truly challenged me. The one consonant combination that made no sense, at first, but grew to be fun to speak is the double L. Because it is two letters, it is technically a digraph. We’re not going deeply into the technicalities of phonemes, but I will discuss the sounds I heard and eventually learned to make. Find it on the Nancyproofed site: https://www.nancyproofed.com/blog/heard-in-iceland

When I was a kid, a television commercial promoted prunes for regularity, one that made me giggle uncontrollably. The snort laughter really exploded when the voiceover sincerely said, “Prunes. Is one enough? Are two too many?”

I often want to apply these prune questions to writers’ use of one word when two are needed and vice versa. While authors’ body regularity is not a topic I wish to address—ever—the questions do have crossover value! This month's blog takes a look at compound words and two-word phrases confused regularly. I mean with regularity.

Check it out: https://www.nancyproofed.com/blog/two-when-one-will-do

For my friends in up county Fairfield, check out the auditions for DISASTER at Ridgefield Theatre Barn!

Audition for Disaster! the Musical at the RTB tonight, Wednesday, July 8 from 7-10pm! https://ridgefieldtheaterbarn.org/about-us/auditions/

June 16, Bloomsday, the day that celebrates Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Irish writer James Joyce's modernist novel ULYSSES. Some might say that the last chapter would have benefited from a stringent proofreading session, but I do love a fantastical run-on sentence to wrap things up every now and then.

Happy Magna Carta Day! Cheers to 13th Century's King John in Runnymeade!

All hail the ballpoint pen, celebrated today and, in my business, every day! Many thanks to László Bíró for the invention and kudos to Marcel B**h for its mass production. It explains why my European friends use the term "biro," and how the "Bic" pen is available to the masses.

Just saw this in LinkedIn--priceless!

Many moons ago, when I taught 6th grade in rural Georgia, several of my students with strong Southern drawls struggled to distinguish between the sounds of E and I, usually within words.

These days, I’m seeing a lot of spelling errors switching E and I at the beginnings of words. I find them quite a bit in captions, the transcription of spoken words in videos and news blasts. My theory is that companies and vloggers allow AI to interpret the dialogue, and AI prints what it “hears,” not necessarily paying attention to what the person is actually saying. It takes a human to intervene.

In my capacity as a verified human (I am NOT a robot!), I will explore four sets of tricky words that begin with E/I, words that confuse the best of us, regardless of any accent or AI intervention. Then, I’ll provide hints for remembering how to spell the word that matches the intended meaning.
https://www.nancyproofed.com/blog/the-ei-dilemma

Shakespeare didst inspired a discussion of the use or absence of apostrophes in holiday titles. This blog entry will focus on American holidays, because, after all, our 250th birthday deserves a little apostrophe love.
Read the blog: https://www.nancyproofed.com/blog/holidays-to-apostrophe-or-not-to-apostrophe

May the fourth be with you.