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I have wanted to delve into grammar with my ExcitingWriting Advisories for some time but had many reasons for not going there. How much can I cover in one EWA? Would my readers like me to cover the subject? In some areas of grammar, there are disagreements on proper usage. After publishing 67 issues of my EWA, I have come to these conclusions: If I do not set out to be inclusive, no one can fairly accuse me of being incomplete. My readers would like me to cover grammar subjects. Of course, there are disagreements on usage issues, but I can weigh in with my thoughts. So, here goes.
–Chuck Lustig

Rising Above the Common Comma.

Commas are to writing what fire hydrants are to dogs; they break up the walk, I mean, the writing, into easy portions.

Here are a few things I know about commas:

1. Use of serial commas (or, if you are writing a screenplay, you could call it, “No Country for Old Commas.”): What do I mean by serial commas? “I like X, Y and Z.” “We covered subject A, B and C.” The rule in the AP Style Guide and many other style guides: Use commas between simple serial items but omit the comma between the next-to-the-final item and the word “and.”

If the items in the series are complicated, do not omit the last comma. For example:

The issues in the campaign are the value of the dollar, the rule of law, the failure of foreign policy, and the separation of church and state.
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by Stan Richards from TalentZoo.com

Stan has been honored as one of The Wall Street Journal’s “Giants of Our Time,” an Inc. magazine “Entrepreneur of the Year,” and an Art Directors Hall of Fame inductee. The Richards Group was named America’s Best Creative Agency by the American Association of Advertising Agencies in 1997. In 2006, Graphic Design USA ranked it one of the six Most Influential Agencies in America.

First, the cliché: Creatives are restless. On good days, they have the attention span of a caffeinated finch.

Now, the problem: For too many people who hire creatives, the above rings true.

Ask anyone faced with building a team of terrific, committed creatives, and you’ll hear the same theme played back:
Attracting top talent is hard enough. But keeping it? Next to impossible. The siren song of higher profiles, newer challenges, and greater opportunities will have today’s star hire following her muse out the door tomorrow.

And yet, through decades of building a thriving agency, an amazing client roster, and several dozen feet of trophy shelving, what makes me proudest about The Richards Group is our unheard-of staff loyalty. The creative tenure here sets industry records; our 24 group heads have been here an average of 16 years. Better still? We’ve several young teams with growing profiles who have yet to be poached. And it isn’t for lack of trying. Read more

Join AIGA Houston & Ad2 Houston for a field trip to the CAM for a FREE guided tour of the Design Life Now: National Design Triennial exhibition and a social following at Absinthe.

DATE & TIME

Thursday, April 10, 2008

6pm Tour at the CAM - Contemporary Arts Museum

7pm Social at ABSINTHE

COST: FREE

LOCATION 

CAM - Contemporary Arts Museum

5201 Bayard, Houston, Texas 77006

ABSINTHE

609 Richmond, Houston, Texas 77006

For more information, contact

Robin Parrish at 713-942-7959 or robin@brandextract.com

Entertain and embellish with the typefaces of IHOF, Comicraft, and Norwegian Fonts. We are known for workhorse text and corporate typefaces, but these new collections offer something slightly different from standard fare, proving that FontShop is your source for decorative and novelty typefaces, too.

The Leadstream just launched a new web site for 2008. Take a look at the best performance-based media and web services agency in Texas.

Contributed by Chuck Lustig, of ExcitingWriting Communications

Strike: The modern meaning of this word developed from the Old Norse, striuka, “to deal a blow.” By around 1325 “strike” came to mean “to deal a blow” and “to collide.” The first use of “strike” to refer to a labor dispute came in 1918. When sailors refused to go to sea, they would “strike” the sails. The first use of the word as a baseball term came in 1841; the first time, to describe a military attack, 1941. (Courtesy: Online Etymology Dictionary, ? 2001 Douglas Harper)

Bat: This word derives from Late Latin, batter, “to beat,” then progressed to Old French, batte, then made its way to the Gaelic batt or bata, meaning “staff” or “cudgel.” It then migrated into Celtic and made it into Old English as “batt,” then passed into Middle English as batte, a stick. The first use of the word “bat” as a kind of paddle used to play cricket dates from 1706. (Courtesy: Online Etymology Dictionary, ? 2001 Douglas Harper)

Ball: This word came to us through Old English from Old Norse and Old German. It was probably brought to Britain, then inhabited by Celts, by Germanic tribes (the Angles, Saxons and Jutes) around the 5th Century C.E. “On the ball” came into usage as a sports term in 1912. “Ball and chain” as a prisoner restraint came into usage in 1835. The song “Ball and Chain” was recorded and popularized by Janis Joplin in 1967 but was composed and first sang by Moma Thornton. (Courtesy: Random House Unabridged Dictionary, except for the part about Janis Joplin)

Fan: The first use of this word was in the 1880s and, interestingly enough, its first use was to describe someone who loved following baseball. It then expanded to other sports and then to cultural and other endeavors. “Fanatic” is derived from the Latin word fanaticus, meaning literally “pertaining to a temple.” The Latin word for temple is fanum, which came to be associated with wild religious rites. So when people go wild over baseball, remember “fan” started out describing religious enthusiasm. (Courtesy Katherine Barber, Six Words You Never Knew Had Something to Do with Pigs.)

Run: This word started in Iceland as rinna, then migrated to Germany in the form of rinnen, then to Old English, as rinnan, then to Middle English as rinne and finally to its current form in Modern English.

Base: Deriving from the Greek word basis, which then became the Latin word basis which morphed into “base” in English, something upon which something else rests. Just as a statue rests on its base, a base became the place a player rested between plays.

Ump: “Originally in the 14th Century the word was noumpere, from the Old French nonper, meaning “not a pair,” that is, a third party considered to be an impartial judge. Noumpere came into the [English] language in the mid-1300s but by the mid-1400s, people had redivided the word? thinking that “a noumpere” was actually “an oumpere.” Thus, the word lost its initial “n” and came down as “umpire.” Initially, it meant an arbitrator in a dispute. In sports, its use dates from the 1700s.” (Courtesy Katherine Barber, Six Words You Never Knew Had Something to Do with Pigs.)

Here are a few expressions that derive from baseball.
How often do we use them without being aware of their origin?

• That was a curve ball!
• That was a change-up!
• That one came out of left field!
• Was he off base or what?
• Three strikes and you’re out!
• I struck out on that deal!
• I didn’t even get to first base (with her)!
• Ballpark some figures for me, why don’t ya!
• That was a minor-league (or bush-league) effort!
• This is how things are done in the big leagues.
• I’ll give you a rain check.
• Take a seventh-inning stretch.
• Right off the bat, he says to me?.
• Ask hardball questions.
• He pitched him softball questions that were easy to answer.
• He’s already got two strikes against him.
• They were just running up the score.
• Just get on base, will you?
• Batter up!
• She hit a home run with her presentation!
• They brought in a heavy hitter!
• That’s the way the ball bounces.
• He dropped the ball.
• Batter up!
• Let’s bat around the idea.
• He went to bat for him.
• Keep your eye on the ball!
• Play ball!