Word

2022 - 10 - 17

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Image courtesy of "moosejawtoday.com"

Word Wisdom: Sagacious (moosejawtoday.com)

The word sagacious means of keen and farsighted judgment. A sagacious decision is caused by or indicating acute discernment. It appeared in the English language ...

The monkey slipped out of the house and ran as quickly as he could to the forest to find the boar. Now the monkey was in the next room and overheard every word of the conversation. "You may send the butcher back when he comes." The boar was at home, and the monkey began his tale of woe at once. I must now sell him to the butcher and make what money out of him I can. Perhaps if I go to him and tell him the strait that I am in, he will give me his counsel. said the wife. The boar said: "Hasn't your master a baby?" And it is related to the Latin sagus which refers to prophetic insights. One evening the man came home in a very bad temper and told his wife to send for the butcher the next morning. It appeared in the English language in the early 17th century. The German DAX is down 24%.

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Image courtesy of "Los Angeles Times"

A Word, Please: Try not to shudder when you read this column (Los Angeles Times)

Some "careful users of the language" dislike the use of "headquarters" as a verb, even though it's easily understood, writes grammar expert June Casagrande.

The “headquarters” entry in AP today says only that, if you use it as a noun, it can take a singular or plural verb, depending on which works best in your sentence. I can’t pinpoint the exact year that AP’s style authorities changed their mind about the verb “headquarter,” but I can confirm that, at some point, they changed course. If you write that a company “is headquartered in New York City,” everyone will immediately get your meaning. Reference guides at the time, for example Webster’s New World College Dictionary, had long recognized “headquarter” as a verb. “Do not use ‘headquarter’ as a verb,” AP instructed at the time. Right or wrong, my boss had the authority to tell me how to do my job, so I just changed every instance of “headquartered in” to “with headquarters in” without question.

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