Defuse
Diffuse:
to spread over a wide area (or between a large number of people)Argus-eyed means ‘vigilant’ or ‘extremely observant’.
It refers to Argus (or Argos), a Greek mythological giant with a hundred eyes. He is usually pictured as a man with eyes all over his body.
There are slightly different versions of the story but the following is the basics of it.
Argus served the goddess Hera, and he was famous for slaying the monster Echidna (she was half-woman, half-snake).
Hera’s husband Zeus had been ‘romantically pursuing’ a nymph named Io. When Hera nearly discovered them together, Zeus transformed Io into a white cow. He claimed it was just a cow – definitely not a woman he had pestered into having sex with him. Hera was not fooled and she asked to keep the cow. Zeus had no choice but to agree.
Argus was tasked with guarding the cow. To help him, Hera gave Argus the gift (or curse) of sleeplessness. His eyes would never tire.
Zeus wasn’t going to let that stop him. He sent the god Hermes (also his son) to free Io. Hermes lulled the giant to sleep by playing music, and then killed him.
Hera honoured Argus by placing his eyes on the tail of her favourite bird, the peacock.
Thank you to Jeneane Behme for kindly nominating me for the Dragon’s Loyalty Award. I love Jeneane’s writing and her commonplace book (such a wonderful idea).
The Dragon’s Loyalty Award is for the loyal fans and commenters, whether the recipient is a fellow blogger or someone who follows and comments regularly.
5 facts about me:
Harry is on the right. This is as close as they get to each other.
I have 2 cats. If you follow me on Twitter you might have seen pictures of them already. Harry is 17 years old, and I couldn’t adore him any more than I do. He is frequently to be found dropping leaves everywhere or dribbling on my laptop. Maisie is 8 years old, and she allows me to live in the same house as her. She is frequently to be found policing the cat flap so Harry can’t get in.
I would like to thank all my regular readers. If you would like to take part, please consider yourself nominated! You can find the details on Jeneane’s post.
I’ve received a few nominations for blogging awards/challenges but I haven’t got round to responding to them yet. I’m very flattered that fellow bloggers thought to nominate me for any.
I was nominated for this award by Keelan Miskwi. Thank you, Keelan.
The purpose of this award is to motivate and encourage bloggers and let them know that they’re appreciated, no matter how big or small their blog is.
How and why I started my blog
I started my blog because I chose WordPress.com to host my professional website. WordPress is good value for my current needs and the interface is (mostly) hassle free. There’s a wonderful blogging community here and I wanted to be part of that.
As I trained and gained experience as proofreader, I realised the things I know now would have been very handy for student-me and administrator-me to have known. My hope for my blog was that I could share my little bits of knowledge and that there might be people out there who would find it helpful.
Advice for new bloggers
I still think of myself as a relatively new blogger. I’m certainly still learning! I do have some practical advice for new bloggers which is, if you haven’t already done so, you should set your blavatar. It is used as the site icon for your blog.
Go the WP Admin board for your site and choose settings. This should take you to the General Settings page. On the right-hand side, it should say ‘Blog Picture / Icon’. The picture you upload there will then replace the standard-issue WordPress symbol that shows on bookmarks and browser tabs. There is a WordPress support page you can consult for more details.
I won’t tag any bloggers to pass on the award, but please consider yourself nominated if you would like to take part. The guidelines are on Keelan’s post.
Some people get very upset when disinterested is used to mean the same thing as uninterested.
Disinterested was used to mean uninterested in the 17th century, and modern usage suggests that disinterested is often considered a synonym of uninterested.
However, I would recommend maintaining the distinction in formal writing. This helps to avoid any confusion over your meaning.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the usage in informal writing or in everyday conversation.
In my experience, it is common for people to get confused when using ‘tact’ and ‘tack’.
Tact:
Tack:
Task:
Thank you to Johanna Levene aka Afthead for suggesting this post.
I really like this eggcorn. It makes sense: squid live in water and I imagine living in water makes you damp. I’m not sure why damp squid are seen as failures or as disappointing; that seems rather unfair on them.
The phrase is actually damp squib. It is usually considered British English.
A damp squib is a situation or event which is less impressive, exciting or popular than expected.
A squib is a type of firework or firecracker. Small explosives used in the military and in industry are also called squibs. If a squib gets damp, it won’t go off.
To British readers – I hope your Bonfire Night wasn’t a damp squib. If you are going to see fireworks this weekend, I hope you have a wonderful time! (Fireworks are one of my favourite things.)
If you are self-publishing your work, it is worth knowing about widows and orphans. They can be ugly, and removing them will help your finished publication look even more professional.
Widows
The first type of widow is a short last line of a paragraph at the top of the page. The definition of ‘short’ will vary. Generally, you can pick your preference out of the following:
I prefer to regard ‘short’ as less than the full line width. Whichever definition you wish to adopt, make sure that you are consistent throughout.
As the author, you are well placed to decide how to deal with any widows that occur: add or remove some text on the previous page so that the line can move up or another line can move down (or just make the line longer if that’s what you want).
Make sure you check any for any knock-on effects. Sometimes even small changes have repercussions for the surrounding pages.
Here is an example of a widow.
The second type of widow is a very short last line of a paragraph. This is usually fewer than five characters (including punctuation). You should be able to deal with these by adding or removing a word or two earlier in the paragraph.
Paragraphs that are only one line do not count as widows.
Orphans
Orphans are a single line of text under a new heading at the bottom of the page. If the first line of a paragraph falls at the bottom of the page, it is sometimes also regarded as an orphan.
Here is an example of an orphan.
As suggested above, you can add or remove words to fill or create space. It will depend on the capabilities of the formatting software you are using, but you might be able to amend the space above and below headings and illustrations.
If you can think of a sensible way to save or add space, it is probably worth doing when you are faced with a widow or orphan.
My definition of widows and orphans is based on that stated in Basic Proofreading by Distance Learning (Fourth Revision) by Gillian Clarke and Margaret Aherne.
I have put together a page of resources. I mentioned a few books in my previous posts that I think are helpful or interesting, and I thought it might be handy to have a central list. It may be of interest to writers and students in particular. The books I have included are accessible and fairly straightforward.
I have also included a couple of websites I find or have found helpful.
I’ll update the page with any new discoveries.
Alternate:
Alternative:
In American English, alternate has come to be used in the sense of something being another possibility or choice. (The Chicago Manual of Style suggests this is appropriate when that something can be regarded as a substitute.) It is not common to see this in British English, and it is often regarded as incorrect.
Hannah McCall 