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After 7 weeks on strike, Tenet nurses, hospital schedule first bargaining session
A federal mediator has been involved in the talks since Dec. 15, according to the hospital, and scheduled the talks Friday after discussions with both parties, the union said in a statement.
Published March 25, 2021 • Updated April 26, 2021
Hailey Mensik
Permission granted by Massachusetts Nurses Association
UPDATE: April 26, 2021: On Monday, the two sides will meet for their first negotiation session since the strike began 50 days ago.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association estimated the hospital has spent about $45 million on replacement nurse wages and police details over the past seven weeks.
About 800 nurses at a Tenet hospital are on the third week of a strike that's shaping up to be one of the longest among healthcare workers in recent years.
At the hospital chain's St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, nurses represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association have been on strike since March 8 following a breakdown in negotiations over a new contract they've been bargaining for since November 2019.
Nurses have been active on the labor organization front in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and share a common issue at stake — staffing levels, and more specifically the nurse to patient ratio.
At St. Vincent, unionized nurses say their staffing has been worsened by the pandemic, affecting their ability to adequately care for patients. They point to hundreds of unsafe staffing reports filed by nurses over the past year, and the departure of more than 100 St. Vincent nurses over the past 10 months.
The hospital rejects those claims, and said only two citations have been issued by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health since 2019, according to a release.
The changes MNA is asking for are "excessive," St. Vincent Hospital CEO Carolyn Jackson contended in an interview with Healthcare Dive, and the hospital cannot agree to the "aggressive" levels the union is proposing.
The two sides haven't met again since the strike began, and do not have a timeline to get back to the table.
Right now, St. Vincent operates on staffing guidelines brokered after its nurses waged a 49-day strike over their first union contract in 2000. Under those terms, one nurse in its medical surgical units can be assigned to either four or five patients.
The terms proposed by MNA stipulate that one nurse in those units would be assigned to four patients at a maximum. MNA is also asking for a five-nurse critical care float pool, and for the hospital to double its emergency department staff from 71 employees to 157, Jackson said.
California is currently the only state with mandated ratios of one nurse to five patients in medical surgical units.
"It has been our request for them to remove some of those unreasonable, or preferably all of those unreasonable staffing requests, and come back to the table and really work on getting a reasonable deal done," Jackson said.
During the first week of the strike, the hospital paid over $5 million to hire replacement nurses, according to a release. When asked directly about how much the hospital has spent so far, Jackson declined to answer.
"It is definitely an added expense to the hospital, and that is challenging," she said.
The strike in 2000 ended when both parties reached a deal brokered by former Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., that resulted in provisions to limit mandatory overtime and the staffing guidelines currently in place.
But this time it seems "there is no point at which anybody's going to step in and settle this for the two parties," Paul Clark, professor and director of Penn State's school of labor and employment relations said.
The union has garnered support from Massachusetts lawmakers including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. James McGovern and former Rep. Joe Kennedy, who visited the picket line on March 12, along with state Attorney General Maura Healey, who visited Wednesday.
The Worcester City Council also approved a resolution in support of the striking nurses at St. Vincent on March 16.
But those moves wield little power to break the strike, although the political pressure could hurt the hospital.
"The increased cost is, perhaps, public opinion beginning to coalesce behind the union," Clark said.
Strikes have costs for both sides, as nurses on the picket line have gone without pay for almost three weeks now.
"Until the cost becomes too great to one or the other sides, they're going to continue down this road," Clark said.
800 Tenet nurses striking in Massachusetts with no end date By Hailey Mensik • Updated March 9, 2021
Follow Hailey Mensik on Twitter
Filed Under: Hospitals
Sweeping rules prohibiting information blocking and standardizing EHR and software data exchange came at a pivotal time, as the COVID-19 public health crisis quickly highlighted the stark need for smoother data sharing systemwide.


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VISUALLY IMPAIRED CHILDREN
For all visually impaired children, their families and teachers
Blind people who changed history
I have just come across a fantastic resource of role models and positive images of visually impaired people who literally changed the world in different ways. It's on the Disaboom website and i hope you have a look. Here's a taste of what's there.
These famous blind people have changed and shaped the world in many areas such as music, politics, science, art and sport because they refused to allow their lack of external light perception to quench or stifle their inner light. The world has been illuminated by their courage and talent.
Stevie Wonder (Born May 13, 1950) - American singer-songwriter-record producer and multi-instrumentalist. A list of famous blind people wouldn't be complete without this composer's name. Wonder penned such hits as "Ebony and Ivory" that aided the civil rights cause in a non-violent way.
Ray Charles (September 23, 1930-June 10, 2004) - American pianist and musician whose gritty and soulful voice shaped the sound of rhythm and blues.
Claude Monet (November 14, 1840-December 5, 1926) - Founder of French impressionist painting. By 1907, he had become quite famous, but began having serious problems with his eyesight and started to go blind. Even though his eyes continued to get worse, he never stopped painting. At the end of his life, when he was almost completely blind, he painted one of his most famous murals of water lilies.
Andrea Bocelli (Born 22 September 1958) - became blind at 12 years old following a football accident. He was a multi-instrumentalist and has sung with other great operatic singers such as Pavarotti.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 -April 12, 1945) - 32nd President of the United States of America. Roosevelt had several disabilities including vision impairment. He was one of the most popular presidents in history.
Thomas Gore (December 10, 1870-March 16, 1949) - a Democratic politician. He became blind as a child, but never gave up his dream of becoming a senator. In 1907, he was one of the first two senators from the new state of Oklahoma. He was re-elected twice more. He was famous as a member of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
Harriet Tubman - (1820/21-March 1913) - a slave throughout her youth who escaped to Canada but returned to the U.S. where she helped bring hundreds of black slaves to safety in what was called the Underground Railroad. She received a cruel head wound which led to severe vision impairment and seizures. This did not stop her from fighting for the freedom of her people.
Marla Runyan (Born January 4, 1969) - a marathon runner. She is the three-time national champion in the women's 5.000 meter run. Runyan was the first legally blind athlete to compete in the Olympics Games. She placed eighth in the 1,500-meter in the 2000 Sydney Olympics making it the highest finish by an American woman in that event. In 2002 she finished as the top American at the 2002 New York City Marathon to post the second-fastest debut time ever by an American woman.
rvs drinkfles 9 February 2012 at 06:56
These are the proof that even blind people can make a difference. They are gifted with talents and skills and they used it to inspire people. I bow down to them!
cara menggugurkan hamil 7 September 2018 at 07:48
just information we only provide information for those who need it
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"The eye sees a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination awake." Leonardo da Vinci
"The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend." Henri Bergson
"Eyes are more accurate witnesses than ears." Heraclitus of Ephesus
"Among the blind the squinter rules." Proverb
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静岡 セックス ブログ 富山県セレブ人妻出会い キャビンアテンダント ナンパ フィリピン であいけい安全アプリ 無料
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Blind Bloggers: Blogs by People Who Are Blind or Have Low Vision | VisionAWARE
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Making transcription easier
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Help Please -Vision Impaired Blogs // General Discussion
Snellen LogMAR Conversion
6/6 (20/20)
6/12 (20/40) 0.0
6/36 (20/120) 0.8
6/120 (20/400) 1.3
6/360 (20/1200) 1.8
Westminster Visual Impairment Service
Westminster Special Schools Outreach & Advisory Service
Providing access to information, training & resources for schools and parents.
Maurice Sparrow - QTVI
WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED
You have come to this page for reasons either professional or personal. Whatever your reasons please feel free to enjoy this resource. Visual impairment is a low incidence disability and about half of the people who are visually impaired have brain damage which causes them serious difficulties with operating in the world of the visually competent.
I would love to be a catalyst to link up people of all walks of life who have one thing in common - they have been thrown into the world of visual impairment.
I look forward to seeing you again.
WHO World Health organisation and blindness
Disorders of Vision by Gordon Dutton & Richard Bowman
Eye Conditions by Gordon Dutton & Richard Bowman
Lea Hyvarinen: Eye Tests
Dr Lea Hyvarinen
Little Bear - CVI Resources
Optelec UK VI Equipment
Infant visual stimulation
Babies with iPads
ask the optician
thinking outside the light box
albinism fellowship
nystagmus network
look uk
babyscapes
children's centre for the visually impaired
seeing ear library
tactile library
dancing eye syndrome
kids home learning & portage
Macular society
One of the great inspirations to me must be Helen Keller. Helen Keller was not born blind and deaf; it was not until she was 19 months old that she contracted an illness described by doctors as "an acute congestion of the stomach and the brain", which might have been scarlet fever or meningitis. The illness left her deaf and blind. At that time, she was able to communicate somewhat with Martha Washington, the six-year-old daughter of the family cook, who understood her signs; by the age of seven, she had over 60 home signs to communicate with her family.
In 1886, her mother, inspired by an account in Charles Dickens' American Notes of the successful education of another deaf and blind woman, Laura Bridgman, dispatched young Helen, accompanied by her father, to seek out Dr. J. Julian Chisolm, an eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist in Baltimore, for advice.[11] He subsequently put them in touch with Alexander Graham Bell, who was working with deaf children at the time. Bell advised the couple to contact the Perkins Institute for the Blind, the school where Bridgman had been educated, which was then located in South Boston. Michael Anaganos, the school's director, asked former student Anne Sullivan, herself visually impaired and only 20 years old, to become Keller's instructor. It was the beginning of a 49-year-long relationship, Sullivan evolving into governess and then eventual companion.
Anne Sullivan arrived at Keller's house in March 1887, and immediately began to teach Helen to communicate by spelling words into her hand, beginning with "d-o-l-l" for the doll that she had brought Keller as a present. Keller was frustrated, at first, because she did not understand that every object had a word uniquely identifying it. In fact, when Sullivan was trying to teach Keller the word for "mug", Keller became so frustrated she broke the doll.
Keller's big breakthrough in communication came the next month, when she realized that the motions her teacher was making on the palm of her hand, while running cool water over her other hand, symbolized the idea of "water"; she then nearly exhausted Sullivan demanding the names of all the other familiar objects in her world.
Due to a protruding left eye, Keller was usually photographed in profile. Both her eyes were replaced in adulthood with glass replicas for "medical and cosmetic reasons". Wikipedia
Your brain
10 Great Toys for Sight Challenged Kids
Communication and Visual Impairment
Mouse pointers for visually impaired
Measure for Measure – what do the eye measurements really mean?
Barriers and Bridges to Learning
How to adapt a school for a visually impaired child
INFANT VISION STIMULATION
What is the difference between an optician, an orthoptist and an optometrist?
Katie Price reveals the challenges of caring for son with ASD, CVI and a rare genetic disability.
Ophthalmology and opthalmologists
Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine that deals with the anatomy, physiology and diseases of the eye. An ophthalmologist is a specialist in medical and surgical eye problems. The ophthalmologist is the eye doctor. Since ophthalmologists perform operations on eyes, they are considered to be both surgical and medical specialists.
The word ophthalmology comes from the Greek roots ophthalmos meaning eye and logos meaning word, thought, or discourse; ophthalmology literally means "the science of eyes". As a discipline, it applies to animal eyes also, since the differences from human practice are surprisingly minor and are related mainly to differences in anatomy or prevalence, not differences in disease processes. However, veterinary medicine is regulated separately in many countries and states/provinces resulting in few ophthalmologists treating both humans and animals.
History of Ophthalmology
Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
The seventeenth and eighteenth century saw the use of hand lenses (by Malpighi), microscopes (van Leeuwenhoek), preparations for fixing the eye for study (Ruysch) and later the freezing of the eye (Petit). This allowed for detailed study of the eye and an advanced model. Some mistakes persisted such as: why the pupil changed size (seen to be vessels of the iris filling with blood), the existence of the posterior chamber, and of course the nature of the retina. In 1722 Leeuwenhoek noted the existence of rods and cones, though they were not properly discovered until Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus in 1834 by use of a microscope.
Ophthalmic surgery in Great Britain
The first ophthalmic surgeon in Great Britain was John Freke, appointed to the position by the Governors of St Bartholomew's Hospital in 1727, but the establishment of the first dedicated ophthalmic hospital in 1805; now called Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, England was a transforming event in modern ophthalmology. Clinical developments at Moorfields and the founding of the Institute of Ophthalmology (now part of the University College London) by Sir Stewart Duke Elder established the site as the largest eye hospital in the world and a nexus for ophthalmic research.
Ophthalmology and ophthalmologists
Purkinje is a known to all ophthalmologists for Purkinje's cells, Purkinje's images. Jan Evangelista Purkinje was a versatile scholar with wide-ranging interests and an exceptional capacity for innovative thinking. He used the name "Purkinje" until 1850, from whence he used the correct spelling, Pyrkyně. We use Purkinje for the eponyms because that is the more common. Purkinje was a Czech nationalist and had a major influence on Czech cultural life in the middle of the 19th century. He was a friend of the famous German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who wrote about Purkinje: "and should you fail to understand, let Purkyně give you a hand!" Purkinje published a Czech translation of Friedrich Schiller's poems, and translated works of William Shakespeare into Czech.
Purkinje created the world's first department of physiology at the University of Breslau, Prussia in 1839 and the first official physiological laboratory, known as the Physiological Institute, in 1842. Purkinje used to believe that that experiments in one's own body ("in corpore nobili") gave more practical results than those in animal experiment ("in corpore vili") or in fatally ill patients. And when he was a medical student, Purkinje used to investigate the physiology of sight by experimenting on himself with a variety of drugs, including Belladonna. His interest in the physiology of light led him to make animated cartoons, and thus he became one of the earliest motion picture pioneers.
He is best known for his discovery of Purkinje cells, large nerve cells with many branching extensions found in the cortex of the cerebral cortex. He is also known for his discovery of Purkinje fibers, the fibrous tissue that conducts the pacemaker stimulus along the inside walls of the ventricles to all parts of the heart. It was Purkinje, who introduced the scientific terms plasma. An early user of the improved compound microscope, he discovered the sweat glands of the skin, germinal vesicles. He recognized fingerprints as a means of identification and noted the protein-digesting power of pancreatic extracts. He died on July 25 of 1868.
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Chronic disease is on the rise, with over 33% of working age Australians suffering from at least one chronic condition. This situation is increasing as the working population ages and habits become more sedentary. Chronic disease, which is considered to be largely preventable, is identified as the prime cause of lost work time in the working-age population and often leads to disability and early retirement. The costs incurred by organisations are huge, when considering the combined cost of sick leave, workplace injuries, replacement workers, lost production capacity, managing return to work, and staff turnover. In addition, PCBUs (organisations) have an obligation under the WHS Act to take care of their workers physical and psychological health. These factors combine to build a strong business case for implementing a workplace health program, where the cost is more than covered by potential savings, and workers become healthier, happier, and more productive.
The course is aimed at all Workers, Supervisors, HSRs and Managers, who want to explore ways to build a healthy and productive work team.
This course provides information on how to put the "health" into work health safety. It explores ways to go beyond the token "bowl of fruit in the lunchroom", and identify your workplace's key health hazards, and formulate an action plan to encourage healthier habits.
Awareness of the effects of unhealthy habits for business productivity, and worker quality of life.
Identifying workplace hazards, such as poor eating habits, sedentary work, excessive noise, repetitive tasks, exposure to chemicals, smoking, shift work, sun exposure, bullying and harassment, stress and fatigue.
Using workplace audit, surveys and records to identify key risk areas.
Risk assessment and choosing appropriate controls.
Selecting priority risks, and consulting workers on design of a healthy program.
How to gain commitment to initiatives such as quit smoking, improving eating habits, increasing exercise.
Incentives and rewards to encourage engagement in the program.
Embedding healthy practices and policies into a workplace culture of care by addressing vision, places and people.


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Patrol seeks help in identifying alleged assault suspect
Case connection to Jan. 6 breach of Governor's Mansion perimeter
Last updated 2/4/2021 at 9:30am
Washington State Patrol
OLYMPIA - The Washington State Patrol is asking for help in finding a man wanted in connection with an alleged assault during the Jan. 6 breach of the Governor's Mansion perimeter fence.
"We are asking the public for assistance in identifying the subject in this release," the patrol wrote in a press release sent statewide yesterday.
The patrol said the man is a person of interest in a third-degree assault case.
Anyone with information is asked to email the patrol as [email protected], reference Case No. 21-002110.


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Q: LVDS (LCD data) cable replacement The video on my mid-2009 13" Macbook Pro freezes and becomes noisy sometimes, depending on the position of the lid, pressure, etc.
I opened it, and could reproduce the behavior by poking at the LVDS (LCD data) cable.
Is replacing the cable something the Genius Bar can do quickly, or am I better off doing it myself? The cable costs $20 online. I watched the YouTube videos showing how to remove the LCD -- I think I could do it.

A: It's not a very difficult think to do, I used to work at the Genius bar and I can confirm that it takes roughly about 20 mins for me to do, but there's always a queue of repairs to be done so it's very unlikely they will get it done there and then for you, unless you get a nice Genius.
If I were you and if the computer is out of warranty, then I'd say to do it yourself.

A: Ask for a price at the genius bar, I'm assuming the price will be rather high (official repair centers in Austria charge a lot more than 20$ for the cable and add about an hour of work - the whole process would probably cost almost as much as the MacBook is worth)

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text:
Parodies, Switching styles
"Weird Al" Yankovic's "Word Crimes"
"Weird Al" Yankovic's "Word Crimes" is a parody of "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke. "Blurred Lines" came out in 2013 and became a hit. It was a perfect candidate for a parody.
"It was the big song of the summer of 2013 and I felt if I put out my album and didn't have a "Blurred Lines" parody, it would be a glaring omission. Like, Why didn't you do "Blurred Lines?!," Weird Al tells Vulture in an interview.
Weird Al released "Word Crimes" in 2014, as a part of the album Mandatory Fun. It quickly became a hit and was 39th on the Billboard Hot 100, making it one of the top 40 songs at the time.
This parody differs from other "Blurred line" parodies Weird Al explains.
"I've done satires on a small handful of occasions — with Nirvana and Billy Ray Cyrus and Lady Gaga. But for this one, that ground had been well-trod. In the YouTube world we live in, a week after Robin Thicke had his hit, there were 10,000 parodies of it. Most of them were takes on him being misogynistic and a little rape-y. I knew that, whatever I did, I couldn't go down that path."
Weird Al changed the song from borderline rape-y to a satire about both 'grammar nazis' and those that infuriates them. He continued to explain that it was "a sweet thing for me to be able to take that song, which is pretty sexually charged, and turn it into a song about proper grammar usage."
People can argue that grammar and writing conventions aren't important, but they really are to convey the proper meaning. It's one thing to just talk, it's another to be understood.
Weird Al tells The Enquirer that grammar is important to him, "Maybe it's a little OCD of me to always want things to be correct. I let people slide more if it's casual conversation or even social media, but when I get a press release from a record label or see an article in print with a glaring grammatical mistake, the hairs on the back of my neck go up. I don't know why. It just feels like people should know better."
The song "Word Crimes" highlights the common grammatical errors that people tend to make. Here's the music video that also provides visualization for the errors. As well, it adds some of its own such as the misspelling of the word moron by replacing the last O with an A.
What grammatical errors appear in "Word Crimes"?
There are quite a few grammatical issues that the song brings up as well as some potentially not well-known definitions. Let's go through them all in the order they appear in the song so you can listen along.
Conjugate Definition
Grammar – Give the different forms of (a verb in an inflected language such as Latin) as they vary according to voice, mood, tense, number, and person.
'Conjugating allows a sentence to vary. Like the moon or politicians'
Nomenclature Definition
The devising or choosing of names for things, especially in a science or other discipline.
'The scientific nomenclature for a narwhale is Monodon monoceros. The Tumblr nomenclature of a narwhale is a sea unicorn'
Noun Definition
A word (other than a pronoun) used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things (common noun), or to name a particular one of these (proper noun).
'Weird Al, Dylanna Fisher, Keyboard, "Blurred Lines", Doodle and Teddy bear are all nouns
Preposition Definition
A word governing, and usually preceding, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element in the clause, as in 'the man on the platform', 'she arrived after dinner', 'what did you do it for?'.
Examples include on, in after, during.
When It's Less or It's Fewer
Less and fewer both mean that something isn't as much as another thing, but they have two different applications. Less refers to singular mass nouns or quantity or a mass of things. These are things that can't be counted. Fewer refers to specific numbers or specific nouns. These are things that are easily counted. In the video, it compares bottles and the liquid in the bottles. There is less liquid in the bottle but fewer bottles.
You have less money but fewer dollars
She has less morality. She has fewer puppies. (not necessarily related)
I have less trust. I also have fewer cookies. (Also not necessarily related)
I Could Care Less
In a typical conversation, I could care less and I couldn't care less generally mean the same thing – that someone just doesn't care.
The literal interpretation, however, sets these two as very different. I couldn't care less means that you already care the least you possibly can. It's not possible for you to care less. You just don't give a fudge.
Though with the literal interpretation of I could care less, it means that you do care at least a little. There is some amount even if it's just teeny-weeny. This phrase literally means that you care.
The Right Pronoun
This could mean the politically correct use of proper pronouns for those that are transitioning or non-binary. In this case, he may be going for more of the grammatical spin of using the right pronoun for writing a point of view for first person, second person, and third person.
First Person is how we talk when we talk about ourselves, our ideas, our actions. This perspective uses first-person pronouns such as I, me, my, mine, myself, we, us, our, and ourselves
"I'm writing this example while listening to Weird Al"
Second-Person Point of View is where someone is talking about someone else. It uses second-person pronouns of you, your, yours, yourself, yourselves.
"You are an amazing writer; writing all the things."
Third-Person Point of View takes it a step away from the second person and uses third person pronouns such as he, him, his, himself, she, her, hers, herself, it, its, itself, they, them, their, theirs, and themselves. It's typically seen as the disembodied narrator in novels.
'Sarah was still looking for that pineapple when the sun came up'
People do talk about themselves in the second or third person which can get kind of weird in normal conversation. However, it's used for comedic effect or impressions or emphasis. Here's an example from Ellen DeGeneres.
It's Versus Its
Its is possessive which means that whatever the subject is, is in possession or ownership of something else. It doesn't have an apostrophe.
"The cat ate its dinner loudly"
"The monkey freaked everyone out by escaping from its cage"
It's is a contraction for it is or it has. For this one, you use an apostrophe.
"It's an amazing keyboard you have there"
"It's been great having you here with me. Awkward but great.
Contraction Definition
The process of becoming smaller.
'The girl seemed to contract into herself at the mention of an oral presentation '
A word or group of words resulting from shortening an original form.
'Would've is a contraction of would and have'
The word contraction means to push or crush things together. In grammatical terms, it means to squeeze two words together to make it shorter by taking away letters and replacing them with an apostrophe. Such as It's in the previous paragraph. Other examples of contractions include Haven't (have not), Shouldn't (should not), Goodbye (God be with ye), and 'tisn't (it is not). The last one is rather old and not used much but it just sounds cool.
Syntax Definition
The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.
'The syntax of English is rather complicated making it beautiful in a confusing way'
Words That Don't Have X in Them
This is a kind of commonly misspelled words; words that sound like they should have an X, but they don't. Neither espresso nor ecstasy has an X in it. Some other commonly misspelled words include schedule, weather, tomorrow, dilemma, and necessary.
Dangling Participles
When a participle dangles, it means that the subjects aren't connected to the action in a way that makes sense.
"Walking to the kitchen, the garbage can tripped me" is a dangling participle. It seems like the garbage is walking to the kitchen as it's tripping me. A correct version of the sentence that fixes the dangling participle is "Walking to the kitchen, I trip over the garbage can". There are other ways to fix a grammatically incorrect sentence including completely rewriting the sentence to not include a participle. "I walked into the kitchen and tripped on the garbage can" or "In the kitchen, I tripped on the garbage can" or "The garbage can is possessed and it tripped me". There are options.
Oxford Comma Definition
A comma used after the penultimate item in a list of three or more items, before 'and' or 'or'. Also, it's called the serial comma
"In your tea, would you like honey, sugar, cane sugar, brown sugar, demerara Sugar, stevia, or agave sugar?"
This is an optional comma, according to the Oxford Dictionary.
"It's known as the Oxford comma because it was traditionally used by printers, readers, and editors at Oxford University Press. Not all writers and publishers use it, but it can clarify the meaning of a sentence when the items in a list are not single words"
As long as you are consistent throughout your document and are complying with the style guide put out by the publisher or company or style that you're writing for, you can choose to have it or not.
Using Letters For Words
This is a kind of text speak as it's easier to type a single letter rather than a whole word. Using letters for words is really common while texting or on social media. In formal writing such as academics, professional, and romantic letters, it's best to use the full words.
Use A Spell Checker
The quickest way to check for small errors is to use a spell checker. In Microsoft Word documents you can edit the settings of the spell checker to check for a range of things or to ignore certain mistakes.
If you're on the internet you can add extensions to your browser to add a spell checker or a grammar checker such as Grammarly or Language tool. These will automatically check for any errors in your typing.
There are also online grammar checkers that you simply copy and paste your writing into and it'll check for more than just spelling. Some of them check for passive language, informal terms, hidden verbs, capitalization errors and so on.
However, it never hurts to check your writing one last time through proofreading.
Write Words Using Numbers
This is similar to other kinds of text-speech. It's easier to replace a string of letters with one number. Gr8 instead of Great or 4 instead of for are examples.
Weird Al references Prince in this section as he has several albums that use numbers for words in their titles such as 20Ten (2010), Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic (1999), The Vault… Old Friends 4 Sale (1999), and Girl 6 (1996).
He isn't the only artist that does this but Weird Al added it in as a bit of a "nudge". He tells Vulture that there's another reason for referencing Prince. "Well, you know, it's a direct reference to the fact of his song titles that use the numbers and the letters and things like that. But also, it's a little nudge. At the time, Prince was still with us and for decades, he's sort of been my scapegoat because he was always the one guy that has historically and famously never let me do any parodies. So, any time I could give him a little nudge."
Proofreading is one of the best ways to edit work. Whether you do it or someone else does, it's a great way to catch any errors that computers just can't catch. These are things like flow, rhythm, meaning, context, and semantics. There are a lot of resources that can help including CP style guide, Canadian Writer's Reference, and Purdue Online Writing Lab to name a very limited few.
Cunning Linguist
This is a bit of a double entendre for the word cunnilingus. When sung, it sounds like cunnilingus which is the female form of fellatio. Weird Al explains, "I know a lot of kids listen to my music, but that's one of the kinds of things where hopefully the parents will get a kick out of it and it'll go over the kid's head."
Homophones are words that sound similar but have different meanings. It's important to use the right one to keep the meaning of your writing exact and correct.
"They're, There, and Their"
"To, Two, and Too"
"New and Knew"
Homophones are different from synonyms which are words with the same meaning that don't sound alike.
"Sadness and Misery"
"Anger and Rage"
"Water and H2O"
Diagram A Sentence
Diagramming a sentence is a way of breaking down the sentence and being able to visually see all the different building blocks that make up the sentence. It's not used a lot but it is helpful for learning how sentences are put together. If you want to know the steps, head over to Wikihow to diagram your own sentences.
Who Versus Whom
Who and whom are really similar. Only a letter apart but like son and sun, there is a difference. Who means to ask "what or which person or persons?". Whom is used instead of who as the object of the verb or preposition, the object is having something done to them.
If you answer the question with he/she/they then it's who
'Who is that?'
'Who is the host of the party?'
If you answer the question with him/her/them then it's whom
'He kissed whom?'
'Whom did you choose?'
Quotation Marks for Emphasis
To be grammatically correct, there are a few ways to use quotation marks and a few ways to not.
Yes. Do use quotation marks.
Put them around direct quotes.
James said, "I love fireworks"
Use them to mark the titles of smaller works like articles, songs, poems, chapters. For larger ones, like books, plays, anthologies, and albums, you use italics or underlining.
"Interviewing Chetreo", "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia, "Ten Honest Thoughts on Being Loved by a Skinny Boy" by Rachel Wiley
If there's a term that's unfamiliar to your audience or is used in a nonstandard way, then use quotations.
Then the concept of "Otaku" culture is further discussed in the lecture
If a non-technical term is used in a technical sense use quotations.
The theory examines the way that messages "travel" from the speaker to the audience
No. don't use quotations marks.
Don't use quotation marks for emphasis, use italics instead.
I'm for sure, "absolutely" sure.
Don't put quotation marks around indirect quotes or paraphrasing.
Yeah, I heard him say that he "wanted to ask her out"
If you're using cliches or other overused expressions, don't use quotation marks.
It's just "water under the bridge" Janet.
Don't put quotation marks around yes or no if they're used alone.
He said "no".
If you use the phrase so-called, don't use quotation marks around the word afterward.
They're the so-called "owner" of the restaurant.
Doing Good or Doing Well
These are two often used responses to the question "How are you doing?"
Doing good means that you are actively doing good, or participating in making the world a better place. It's altruistic but doesn't really answer the question.
Doing well means that you and your circumstances are good. This is what people mean when they say they're doing good.
Irony Versus Coincidence
Irony and coincidence are very often confused with one another.
Irony suggests a binary, an opposite or a contradiction to the outcome. For example, irony would be a fire engine on fire or a vegan chef at a BBQ restaurant.
Coincidence suggests chance or fate or a fluke. Rain on a parade isn't ironic, it's just a coincidence. Seeing two people on the train that don't know each other but are wearing the same outfit is an eerie coincidence but not ironic.
Figurative Versus Literal
Literal Definition
In a literal manner or sense; exactly.
'She literally punched me'
[informal] Used for emphasis while not being literally true.
'I was laughing so hard, I literally died'
Literally is meant to be used in the exact sense, without exaggeration. It's what's actually happening. However, it's been used more and more in informal settings to be used as an intensifier. It's becoming synonymous with figurative even to the point of being included in the definition in some dictionaries.
Figurative Definition
Departing from a literal use of words; metaphorical.
'She was figuratively flying'
Artwork representing forms that are recognizably derived from life
Their artwork is figurative of something.
'This artwork is figurative of 1920's romanticism'
Figuratively is meant for the figurative, the metaphorical. It's about what's happening in a figurative sense.
Errant Definition
Straying from the accepted course or standards.
'An errant poet decides to write in full sentences'
Not in the right place; having moved from the correct position or course.
'An errant string hangs from her Bruce Banner sweater'
Writing in Emoji's
Emojis are fun and cute. In a casual setting, they help to convey meaning in text messaging when there isn't any tone or body language or facial expressions. However different emojis could mean different things to different people and different situations. They're great for casual conversations as long as they add to the meaning and don't muddle it. Also, don't use them in an academic essay.
Tell me in the comments, what word crime annoys you the most?
Dylanna Fisher May 12, 2018 August 26, 2021 "Weird Al" Yankovic, Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke, Covers, Grammar, Grammar Errors, Switching styles, Word Crimes
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