All Write Imagineering

TheImagineer

Volume II

Spring 2012

A Publication of

All Write Imagineering

Tips, tidbits, a little bit of this and a little bit of that to entertain and inform about the world of language...

the English language that is.

by Mary Jacoby Hastings

"Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much."

In This Issue

Veterans History Project

Grammar Quiz

More Lessons in Language

Words to Live By

Predictions That Fell Flat

Words to Live By

"What has been done has been done; what has not been done has not been done. Let it be...

Let us look expectantly to a new day, new joys, new possibilities."

Grammar Quiz

Whose vs. Who's

When is it correct to use "whose" and when is "who's" used?

Answer

"Whose" is the possessive form of "who."

Example using "whose:"

Whose home is it? (It is hers.)

"Who's" is a contraction meaning "who is" or "who has."

Example using "who's:"

Who's the owner of the house?

(She is.)

_____________

Farther vs. Further

In which context is "farther" used instead of "further?"

Answer

"Farther" refers to actual distance.

Example using "farther:"

"The trip from Denver to Durango was farther (actual distance in miles) than we thought."

"Further" refers to figurative distance meaning, "to a greater degree" or "to a greater extent."

Example using "further:"

"We should plan to investigate this further." (to a greater extent)

Veterans History Project

The United States Congress created the Veterans History Project (VHP) in 2000 as part of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

The mission of the VHP is to collect, preserve and make accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.

It is my privilege to be a part of this project as a volunteer with the American Red Cross Services to Armed Forces. Thanks to a grant to the Red Cross, I am interviewing veterans and recording their firsthand accounts of wartime experiences on tape for the permanent archives in the Library of Congress.

This project is not affiliated with the book I am authoring, which features the stories of veterans, both heart-wrenching and humorous. Not every veteran wants to be recorded, so my book, Giving Veterans a Voice, provides an alternative for those that still want their stories captured for the ages in print.

The majority of the proceeds from my book will go directly to the American Red Cross Services to Armed Forces.

If you are a veteran or know a veteran, still living or deceased, whose story must be shared, please contact me and I will make it happen!

Lessons

in Language

Volume II

Aphorisms

and

Paraprosdokians

Aphorisms

An aphorism is a short, pointed sentence that expresses a wise or clever observation or a general truth.

"No one ever says, 'It's only a game' when their team is winning."

"Always be yourself because the people that matter don't mind...and the ones that mind don't matter."

"The trouble with bucket seats is that not everybody has the same size bucket."

"I've reached the age where 'happy hour' is a nap."

Paraprosdokians

A paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax.

""War does not determine who is right - only who is left."

"Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."

"Evening news is where they begin with 'Good evening', and then proceed to tell you why it isn't."

"A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station."

Predictions

That Fell Flat

2010 Collapse of the United States

In 1998, Russian political writer Igor Panarin claimed that the United States was on the verge of civil war, which would result in wealthier states withholding tax revenue from the federal government and seceding from the union. After the resulting collapse of the nation , predicted for 2010, it would be split into six parts and divided up by the newly dominant world powers.

In a 2008 article in The Wall Street Journal, Panarin explained that under the restructuring, the west coast would be controlled by China, Hawaii by Japan, the southeast would become part of Mexico, the northern Midwest would go to Canada, the northeast would join the European Union , and Russia would get Alaska. He said, "There's a 55 to 45 percent chance right now that disintegration will occur.”

Online Shopping

In 1966, Time magazine ran a bold prediction: “Remote shopping, while entirely feasible, will flop - because women like to get out of the house, like to handle merchandise, like to be able to change their minds.”

While it is true that in 2011, many people still like to leave their homes and see products first-hand, this prediction was way off the mark and becomes more so every year. Consider the ever-increasing popularity of the annual Cyber Monday after Thanksgiving.

The most damning statistic was cited in Minnesota’s Herald Journal, which quoted a study by the independent research company Forrester Forecast. The 2010 study projected that approximately $173 billion would be spent in total online shopping sales in the U.S. that year.

Atomic Energy

Winston Churchill was the British prime minister during World War II, and his unwavering example provided the citizenry with much-needed leadership in a frightening time. Today he is considered one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century, and after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, his name was frequently invoked when describing the leadership of New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Whatever his leadership capabilities may have been, however, they didn’t do much for his knowledge of atomic energy. In 1939, as the technology was being tested for use in future weaponry, Churchill remained unimpressed with its capabilities in combat. “Atomic energy might be as good as our present-day explosives,” he said, “but it is unlikely to produce anything very much more dangerous.”

Six years later, the first atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing hundreds of thousands of people and causing the unconditional surrender of Japan one week later.