Archive | Word Rant

Oy, Another Word Rant

Words are interesting things. Letters carefully assembled can convey lofty ideas or simple thoughts. Small words can carry significant meanings. Right down to the arrangement of the characters. Such is the word JOY. The dictionary definition is thus:

joy (joi), n. [OF. joie, fr. L. gaudia, pl. of gaudium
joy, fr. gaudere to rejoice, be glad.] 1. A feeling
of lively pleasure, as that excited by good fortune,
success, or the like; gladness. 2. State of happiness; bliss.
3. That which causes happiness. 4. Gaiety;
merriment. – Syn. See PLEASURE. v. i. & t. To
rejoice; delight.

If the ‘J’ is removed from the word ‘JOY,’ it becomes OY.

In two letters, OY, is a Yiddish word that means heartache, sadness, sorrow, pain, and grief. A word with precisely the opposite meaning of JOY.

OY.

A word we have become all too familiar with as of late.

Brevity

If brevity is
the soul of wit.
Then for this poem,
this is it.

– Elvis Swift

Collaboration

col·lab·o·ra·tion
[kuh-lab-uhrey-shuh n]
noun
  1. 1.
    a product resulting from collaboration:
    Levi Strauss worked in collaboration with Jacob Davis to invent what are today’s blue jeans
  2. 2.
    the act or process of collaborating.
    “we certainly enjoyed our collaboration

Redacted

The letter* accompanying this essay was written for a 7th grade English class. The assignment was to present various types of letter writing styles such as business, informal, personal, etc., as an entertainingly written report.

The sample letter displayed has been chosen to show forth handwriting with it’s value and benefits when applied in an educational setting. ELVIS SWIFT Dry Goods & Supply is an advocate and ardent supporter for preserving the teaching of cursive writing in today’s school curriculum. Many schools across the country have removed teaching handwriting from the classroom deeming the practice unnecessary in today’s world of digital communication.

*Our pictorial example has been heavily redacted for no other reason than that it seems to us that that is the current appropriate manner in which to present written communicated information.