Diary of a Word Nerd

More teen terms you should know

Posted on February 26, 2020 by Julia Tomiak / 6 Comments

A fun and witty teacher I enjoy, who is a huge favorite among her students, recently lamented: “When I started teaching, I aspired to change lives. Now, after many years, I’ve realized I have neither vibed nor have I capped.” She shook her head and looked at me. “I don’t understand what they are saying anymore. What is vibed?”

I love working with teens and also often find myself perplexed and intrigued by their vernacular. Last fall, I finally figured out “yeet”. Before that, I had to learn meme. Today, this Word Nerd is proud to report that she just might have a handle on cappin’ and vibin’.

Have you heard these terms? When I ask my 16 year old son how practice was, he often replies, “Fine, ya know, we were just vibin’. ” (short for “vibing”.) My daughter announced some good news in our family group chat this morning, and 19 year old son replied, “No cap?”

For all you puzzled people out there, especially you, Jennifer, ;), here is an explanation of “cap” and “vibe”.

vibe/vibin’ (verb) (Urban Dictionary)

hangin’, doing nothing, chillin’, relaxing
listening to music
connecting with your surroundings
feeling cool or relaxed or into something deep
general state of enjoying or feeling good about a situation, person, place, or thing; can be used to describe interest in someone and like wise how they feel about you; can also be used to describe various levels of intoxication/pleasure from drinking/sex
Vibe check: when one person assesses another one’s vibe; can be friendly; can also be aggressive, like beating someone up if they say or do something stupid

So, if my boy tells me he was vibin’ at practice, he was probably just chilling out with his friends. (I assume no intoxication and/or sex were involved.)

cappin’/ capped/ cap (Urban Dictionary)

saying something that isn’t true; lying
showing off
short form of “high cappin” which was used in the 80’s to describe some one who lies about their social status or who flaunts brand new merchandise but is in debt

When “cap” entered our group chat this morning, and certain family members expressed confusion, I gave this Word Nerd explanation:

Are you cappin’ = are you kidding? no way!
no cap = no lie/ no joke; He makes awesome pancakes, no cap.
stop cappin’= stop lying/ bragging; Stop cappin’, you never even played basketball.

Some were impressed; some were disturbed. Hopefully you are now well informed. And Jennifer, I’m confident that you have positively affected the lives of MANY students, no cap. 😉

If you like to learn new words and the origins of their meanings, visit the Wondrous Words Wednesday meme at Bermuda Onion. Each Wednesday, bloggers share new words they’ve learned.

Have you heard these teen terms and do you know how to use them? Are there others that still confuse you? I’d love to do some research.

Improving vocabulary

Why do we have leap years?

Posted on February 21, 2020 by Julia Tomiak / 0 Comment

Last year, I published a post explaining some of the unusual attributes of my birthday month, February. I mean, it’s short and it’s spelled funny! What’s the deal? (Turns out, it has a lot to do with the Romans.) But I left out an important quirk about February – Leap Years! Since 2020 is a Leap Year, I figured Word Nerds would want to know how we got here. Turns out we can blame Leap Years on the Romans too.

Our modern calendar is 365 days long and is based on the Earth’s movement around the Sun. However, it actually takes the Earth 365.2421 days to orbit the Sun, and over time, not including that quarter of a day adds up. We add a Leap Day every fourth year to keep our calendar matched up with astronomy.

In ancient times, the year was based on the lunar cycles and actually didn’t include some months. In 46 B.C., Julius Caesar, ruler of the Roman Empire, revamped the calendar so it was based on the sun. This “Julian Calendar” included 12 months, 365 days, and a Leap Year every four years. However, an extra Leap Day every four years added an extra 11 minutes every year, which meant that by the 14th century, the calendar was 10 days off of the solar year.

According to History.com, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII fixed this problem by modifying the calendar to include Leap Years every four years except for years divisible by 100 and not 400. The year 1900 was not a leap year because 1900 is not evenly divisible by 400. (1900 / 400 = 4.75) We use this “Gregorian calendar” today, although it still has problems that will need to be fixed. I’m also a little confused, because 2020 isn’t evenly divisible by 400. 2020 / 400 = 5.05. Guess that .05 is a negligible issue needing future correction?

What other calendar quirks does the Word Nerd need to explore?

Thanks for getting nerdy with me!

Who I Am

Love Yourself

Posted on February 14, 2020 by Julia Tomiak / 7 Comments

Valentine’s Day can be a tricky holiday. If you are in love, it’s great. But if you don’t have a significant other, or you are currently unhappy with yours, all of the pink and hearts can make you feel lonely at best and queasy at worst.

How about this year, whether you have a great partner or not, let every heart and rose you see be a reminder of the very real need to love… yourself! Make sure kind thoughts and words are floating in your head and out of your mouth. Embrace what makes you fabulous and accept what needs improvement. Have a little bit of chocolate, but not too much, because you love yourself. 😉

Thanks for being kind with me!

Book reviews/Who I Am

Strive for balance

Posted on February 7, 2020 by Julia Tomiak / 4 Comments

I’m currently listening to The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See. It’s fascinating historical fiction set on the Korean island of JeJu where women hold the power and perform dangerous physical work while the men stay at home and care for children. Shout out to Amy Makechnie for recommending it!

I’ll have more about the novel’s exploration of the lives of women when I review the full book, but today, as we continue to debate growing climate concerns, I want to focus on the women’s attitude about the sea. The Island of Sea Women describes how a collective of women dives regularly in the ocean, without much equipment besides goggles and a knife, to gather sea creatures and plants to eat or sell. As the years pass by, and technology improves, their gear changes. But when some suggest they start wearing oxygen tanks on their backs to increase their safety and the lengths of their dives, the main character, Young-sook, and her diving companions refuse. Young-sook says:

Everything we do must be natural. Otherwise we’ll harvest too much, deplete our wet fields, and earn nothing.

The women of this book strive for a sense of balance. It governs how they interact with their world.

Imagine how different our world would be if we all practiced similar self-restraint, even when it meant sacrificing convenience, in order to maintain a sense of balance within our environment.

Thanks for imagining with me. Wait, maybe we should do more than imagine. Maybe we should practice some self-restraint in the name of balance right now! What do you think?

Improving grammar

Grammar check: “on accident” vs. “by accident”

Posted on January 31, 2020 by Julia Tomiak / 42 Comments

Over the winter break, we had friends over, played lively games of “Throw, Throw Burrito” (Have you tried it? Always fun. Sometimes heated.), and debated the finer points of grammar. Yes, we’re kinda nerdy like that. Besides me correcting my children’s tendency to ask “Where is it at?” (son- you don’t need that extra preposition), we debated the use of “by accident” versus “on accident”.

I immediately thought “by accident” was right because it’s what I’m used to. But saying “on accident” just substitutes one preposition with similar meaning for another, so could it be incorrect? I consulted Grammar Girl, the Grammarist, and Urban Dictionary to find out.

Grammar girl consulted a study done by Leslie Barratt, a professor of Linguistics at Indiana State University. Barratt found that the use of “by accident” or “on accident” appears to be driven by age. People born before 1970 use “by accident”, people born between 1970 and 1994 use either form, and people born after 1995 usually use “on accident”. “By accident” is more popular in written language, but its use has declined since 1940. Urban dictionary called “on accident” a “terrible, terrible grammar plague.” The Grammarist says the “on purpose” variation is used exclusively in the United States.

No one, including Barratt, can explain why. Some have suggested the change came as a parallel construction to “on purpose”. Some think it could be the influence of Spanish language in the U.S. Others think “an accident” has been misheard as “on accident”. Many agree the expression has spread via the media, and that is why it’s more popular with younger Americans. Although some style guides discourage the use of “on accident”, it will probably grow in popularity as time progresses.

So there you go… like so many other things in life, this question has a gray answer. If you still aren’t sure which phrase to use, you could always say “accidentally”. That avoids the whole problem!

Thank you to Catherine for this blog post inspiration, and good luck in the grammar debate with your dad!

Which do you use, “by accident or on accident”, and why? I definitely prefer “by accident”, but perhaps that’s showing my age. 😉

Thanks for getting nerdy with me!

Improving vocabulary

Spice up your vocabulary in 2020!

Posted on January 22, 2020 by Julia Tomiak / 2 Comments

Today, my guest Isabel Cabrera from Global English Editing has a few suggestions for updating your vocab this year. Check out her infographic!

A strong vocabulary can set you apart from other writers.

To boost your vocabulary, put away the thesaurus. Using larger, complex words that mean the same thing will alienate your readers and encourage them to click away from your writing. Instead, try using new words that have recently become mainstream. Not only does it make your writing fun to read, but the content feels much more natural.

The new words you need are in the infographic below.

Global English Editing has compiled a list of the 19 best new words to use in your writing. They’re words everyone knows, especially younger readers. From social media to promotional pieces, these words can be used virtually anytime, anywhere. If you spend a lot of time on the internet, you may already know some of these. But even if you don’t, it won’t take long for them to be added to your writers toolbox.

You want your writing to be unique, and using these words is what will help get you there. Pretty soon, people will begin to stan everything you write.