FACTOIDS

WHERE DOES ‘OK’ COME FROM?

Etymologist AllEn WAlkEr rEAd uncovered the first use of the word, and it turns out that "OK" was a joke that endured. "OK" emerged during a craze for intended comic misspellings of abbreviations in Boston in the late 1830s.

"OK" was a playful shorthand for "oll korrect"(which itself was a play on "all correct”). Obviously, the ‘joke’ was that neither word was correct. (Other abbreviations that were popular at the time included – "KG" for "know go" ["no go"] and "KY" for "know yuse" ["no use"]. "OK" was used among the upper middle class, where knowledge of it implied in-group status. Its first use in print was in the Boston Morning Post in 1839.

"OK" probably would have faded away (like "KY" and "KG") except for the presidential election campaign of 1840. Democratic candidate, Martin van Buren was known by his nickname, "Old Kinderhook" – or OK (which referred to his hometown of Kinderhook, N.Y.) and provided the already familiar expression with staying power.

Over the years "OK" has spread around the world. It is a wondrously versatile word that can be an adjective, adverb, noun and verb, signifying acceptance, satisfaction, mediocrity, safety, consent, and something that works adequately.

ROGER THAT!

Roger that is a phrase used to affirm or acknowledge a statement or question. It dates back to US radio communications as early as 1941, based on then-use of the given name Roger in the US military phonetic alphabet for the word for the letter R. Here, the Roger stands for the initial R in “(Message) Received.”

To indicate a message had been heard and understood—that is, received—a serviceperson would answer Roger, later expanded to Roger that, with that referring to the message. In military slang, the phrase Roger wilco conveyed the recipient received the message and will comply with its orders, shortened to wilco Roger was brought into the spotlight in part due to public broadcasts of NASA’s Apollo missions in the 1960s. Soon after, Roger that entered the popular lexicon as an interjection (Roger!)

[Radio code now widely uses the NATO phonetic alphabet, where Romeo represents R.]

Drugs Vs Medicine

We frequently use these words to mean the same thing, but drugs and medicine are not the same things. For starters, the word “Drug” is derived from Greek “Pharmacon” meaning “Drug”. The word “Medicine” derived from the Latin “Medicus” meaning “healing, or physician.”

A drug is any chemical substance which when it acts on the living body alters the physiological process; it is used for the prevention, diagnosis, control, and treatment of disease. Medicine is the formulated form of a drug. A drug has no suitable dosage form and dose; medicine does.

Sources of drugs are plants, animals, microorganisms, minerals, synthetic sources, semisynthetic sources, and recombinant DNA technology. The source of medicine is drugs formulated with or without other substances All medicines are drugs; however, not all drugs are medicines.

(Think of it this way: All people who live in Chicago live in Illinois, but not all people who live in Illinois live in Chicago.)

KITTY-CORNER (OR CATTY-CORNER)

First, they both mean the exact same thing. Second, neither has anything to do with cats or kittens. To be kitty-corner is to be located on the diagonal from something else. It originated in Middle English as catre corner, where it was related to a Latin term for four-cornered. Unless you have somebody holding your golf clubs permanently stationed in the corner of your room, don’t use the spelling “caddy corner.”

Both the old and new spelling are approximations of the Chinese sound, pronounced similar to "pay-cheeng." The same pseudo-change is seen in the name of Nanking which is now written as Nanjing. Also (and for the same reason- a change in the spelling system), Chunking is now written as Chongqing.

WHY AND WHEN DID PEKING CHANGE ITS NAME TO BEIJING?

Short Answer: The Chinese capital did not change its name, but Chinese words began to be spelled in English differently. In Chinese, the name stayed exactly the same and most Chinese people aren’t even aware that some Westerners think that there had been a name change. The old spelling was Peking. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the govern- ment adopted the pinyin transliteration method* and used this to write many of the proper names (including place names, people's names, etc.) using the Latin alphabet. Theoretically, this was when Peking became known in the West as Beijing. In reality, however, the West has been using the old spelling long after it had already been replaced in China. It has only been since the 1980s that China started to enforce its official name on all flights, sea routes and official documents.

* [Also called the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, it is a system of romanization for the Chinese written language based on the pronunciation of the Beijing dialect of Mandarin Chinese). The gradual acceptance of Pinyin as the official transcription used in the People’s Republic of China signaled a commitment to promote the use of the Beijing dialect as the national standard, to standardize pronunciation across areas that speak different dialects, and to end the confusion in Romanizing (converting text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script) and alphabetizing Chinese characters.]

ME, MYSELF, OR I

Deciding whether to use me, myself or I in a sentence is one of the most common grammar mistakes people make. Proper grammar is essential to making a good impression, whether you’re expressing yourself orally or in writing. It doesn’t matter if you’re communicating with a customer, applying for a job, or any other types of communication, it’s important to learn how to speak correctly. In many cases, you only have one chance to make a good impression, so it is always a good thing to wow them with correct grammar!

At some point during their education, many people developed the idea that we shouldn’t use the word “me.” As a result, you often hear communications that say things like, “Please give your requests to Suzie or I…” or “Please give your time sheets to Bob or myself.” Both are incorrect!

I

Only use “I” when you are referring to yourself in the subject of the sentence. In other words, you are the one acting. (“I threw the rock.”) This seems simple enough, but what gets confusing is when you add another person to the subject. An easy way to decide whether you should use me, myself, or I in combination with another person in the sentence is to temporarily remove the other person from the sentence and see what sounds right.

Which of these is correct? (Remove the other person (Lisa) and the word 'and' to see which sounds best.)

A. “Lisa and I went to the movies.”

B. “Lisa and myself went to the movies.”

C. “Lisa and me went to the movies.”

The correct answer (hopefully obviously) is A. If you remove 'Lisa, and' you now have a choice between “I went to the movies,” “Myself went to the movies,” or “Me went to the movies.” When you do that, it’s easy to see which one is correct.

Me

The pronoun “me” should be used when someone else will perform the action to or for you. Which of these is correct?

A. “If you have a problem, please call Rick or myself.”

B. “If you have a problem, please call Rick or me.”

C. “If you have a problem, please call Rick or I.”

In this example, you are asking someone to call you, or perform an action to you. Just like before, to see which one is correct just remove the other person (in this case, Rick) from the sentence. The answer is then easy: “If you have a problem, please call me.”

I can tell when people are being judgmental just by looking at them.

Myself

The pronoun “myself” should only be used when you are performing the action on yourself. No one else can do anything to yourself.

Here are some examples of how “myself” is used correctly:

A. “I dressed myself today.”

B. “I’ll wash the dishes myself.”

C. “I got some ice cream for Grace and myself” (If confused, remove Grace from the sentence and see how it sounds.)

The misuse of “I” and “myself” for “me” is caused by nervousness about “me.” “Jim and me are going to the party,” is not correct. It should be “Jim and I” because if I went to the party alone, you would never say “Me is going. . . .”

Remember the simple test: Remove the second person from the sentences where you feel tempted to use “myself” as an object or feel nervous about using “me.” You wouldn’t say, “The IRS sent the refund check to I,” so you shouldn’t say “The IRS sent the refund check to my wife and I” either.

At One Fell Swoop

‘At one fell swoop' means 'suddenly; in a single action.' Shakespeare supposedly coined the phrase in Macbeth in 1605:

MACDUFF: [on hearing that his family and servants have all been killed] “All my pretty ones? Did you say all? O hell-kite! All? What, all my pretty chickens and their dam at one fell swoop?”

Explanation: The Oxford English Dictionary defines 'fell' as meaning 'fierce, savage, cruel, ruthless, dreadful, terrible.’ The 'kite' referred to is a hunting bird. And the 'swoop' is the rapid descent made by the bird when capturing its prey.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY

President Biden became the first president to officially recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day in 2021; it falls on the same day as Columbus Day, and is intended to be a time of reflection, recognition and celebration of the role Native people have played in U.S. history. There are 574 federally recognized Indian Nations (variously called tribes, nations, bands, pueblos, communities, and native villages) in the United States. Approximately 229 of these ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse nations are located in Alaska; the other federally recognized tribes are located in 35 other states. In addition, there are state recognized tribes located throughout the United States recognized by their respective state governments. n