This is an expanded version of the Editorial that appears in the October 2017 issue of CEP
Imagine my excitement when I saw the cover of the latest Reader鈥檚 Digest; it was the Genius issue 鈥� boasting 鈥淪ecrets to a sharper mind鈥� and 鈥淲hy it pays to increase your word power.鈥� I couldn鈥檛 wait to dig in! I鈥檓 a long-time subscriber 鈥� I started reading my parents鈥� copies when I was in elementary school 鈥� and I have always enjoyed the monthly vocabulary quizzes. And now, here was an entire issue with words as its theme. How exciting!
The cover story, 鈥淲hy It Pays to Increase Your Word Power,鈥� discusses research showing that people who read books for as little as 30 minutes a day over several years lived an average of two years longer than people who didn鈥檛 read anything at all, and that books provided a bigger boost to longevity than newspapers or magazines. The researchers believe books encourage 鈥渄eep reading,鈥� which forces the brain to think critically and make connections; that in turn helps build new pathways in the brain, which can promote quicker thinking and may provide a defense against cognitive decay. I鈥檇 like to think that their sample of magazine readers did not include AIChE members reading CEP, as we, too, strive to encourage deep reading and critical thinking.
Another article, 鈥淟ogophile Heaven!,鈥� is a 鈥渢our of [the editors鈥橾 89 favorite underappreciated words, offbeat phrases, and brainteasing grammar.鈥� Among them: Phrases coined by the military, such as blockbuster (a bomb big enough to take out most of a city block) and deadline (a line that, if crossed, a prisoner would be shot dead). Words that mean the opposite of what they sound like, such as inflammable (which we ChEs know means easily inflamed, not fireproof) and noisome (meaning obnoxiously smelly, not noisy as it鈥檚 sometimes used). And words that are their own opposite, like dust (meaning either to add fine particles, or to remove particles), left (remaining, or departed), oversight (watchful care, or an inadvertent error), and screen (to show, or to hide). Plus a page that explains and demonstrates graphically how 鈥淏uffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo鈥� can be a real, grammatically correct sentence. (See below for the explanation.)
The article that really spoke to me is 鈥淐onfessions of a Word Nerd,鈥� probably because I, too, am a word nerd, as you may have figured out by now. Its author, Kory Stamper, is a lexicographer at Merriam-Webster, one of 鈥渁 couple dozen people who spend their workweek doing nothing but writing dictionary definitions 鈥� sifting the language, categorizing it, describing it, alphabetizing it. They are word nerds who spend the better parts of their lives thinking deeply about adverbs 鈥︹�� She says that to be a lexicographer, 鈥淔irst and foremost, you must be possessed of something called sprachgef眉hl [pronounced shprahkh-guh-fyl], a German word we鈥檝e stolen into English that means 鈥榓 feeling for language.鈥欌�� Other definitions include 鈥渁 sensitivity to language,鈥� 鈥渁 flair for language,鈥� and 鈥渓inguistic instinct.鈥�
I鈥檝e said many times that I love my job, that I鈥檝e found my niche, that editing is the perfect job for me. Now I know why 鈥� surely I鈥檓 possessed of sprachgef眉hl. You can teach someone vocabulary and grammar, but sprachgef眉hl is the key to the CEP team鈥檚 editorial success.
So as you devour this 96-page issue, read deeply, think critically, build neurological pathways, and live long and prosper!
How can 鈥淏uffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo鈥� be a grammatically correct sentence? Let鈥檚 break it down.
As a noun, 鈥渂uffalo鈥� refers to animals; as a verb, it means 鈥渂ully;鈥� capitalized, 鈥淏uffalo鈥� is a city in New York and is used here as an adjective to tell us where the animals are from. Another quirk is that 鈥渂uffalo鈥� is both singular and plural.
At its core, the sentence says that buffalo bully buffalo:
Buffalo buffalo [that] Buffalo buffalo buffalo [i.e., bully] buffalo [i.e., bully] Buffalo buffalo.
or:
buffalo (from Buffalo) [that are] bullied by (other) buffalo (from Buffalo) bully (yet other) buffalo (from Buffalo).
You can find Reader鈥檚 Digest鈥檚 explanation here:
1
Copyright Permissions
Would you like to reuse content from CEP Magazine? It鈥檚 easy to request permission to reuse content. Simply to connect instantly to licensing services, where you can choose from a list of options regarding how you would like to reuse the desired content and complete the transaction.