2011 Word of the Year is 'Tergiversate'

A panel of editors, lexicographers and others at Dictionary.com have chosen the Word of the Year for 2011. The word is...Tergiversate

Pronounced "ter-JIV-er-sate", it means “to change repeatedly one's attitude or opinions with respect to a cause, subject, etc.; equivocate.”

'Homo Optimus' Has Been Approved for Premium Distribution!

...which means it will be on sale in the Apple Bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, etc. about two weeks from the end of this week (so, around December 17th, approximately). I sent Mark Coker, the founder and CEO of Smashwords, my distributor, an email asking him to look into why the approval might be taking so long. It has been 'pending approval' since 11/2. I did the same thing for the last book. It seemed to get hung up for more than the usual week to ten days. Anyway, I looked this morning and it is approved for what Smashwords calls Premium Distribution. The standards for publication are more stringent. Of course, the sales potential is also much higher, something I wanted to be in place for the holidays when all those new iPads, Nooks and Kindles will be given as gifts.

Lazy Language?

A Word About Our Language
My books and paintings...that’s what this blog was created for. Books are a way we use language. Today I’d like to take a little time to write about our language, more specifically spoken language, not written language...and English.

Language changes all the time. It evolves just like we do. The rapid pace of our lives has had an effect, I believe. Some of these changes have resulted in the use of lazy, ambiguous, even rude (whether intended or not) language. I have two examples today.

Are you all set?
Here’s a pretty common restaurant scene. You’re sitting across the table from someone, engaged in conversation, sometime during the meal. The waitress/waiter stops by and asks, “Are you all set?” For the life of me, I have no idea what she just asked. Is she asking...

“Are you finished?”
“Do you want your check?”
“Do you need anything or anything else or anything more?”
“Is the meal OK?”
“May I clear the dishes?”

Which is it? Am I the only one who thinks this is a lazy, ambiguous use of our language? Here’s another example.

You’ve just gassed up at the pump, walk into the convenience store/gas station, grab a snack from the little store they have, and line up behind a couple other customers, waiting to pay. Finally, it’s your turn. The clerk asks, “Are you all set?”

What the hell does that mean? Does it look like I’m all set? All set for what? All set meaning I don’t need any help? Or all set meaning I look like I need help?

Hey buddy, I’m holding a couple candy bars. I’ve just pumped $40 of gas from your pumps outside. I have a couple twenty dollar bills in one hand and two candy bars in the other. I’m all set to pay, but I’m not all set because I haven’t paid. So, am I all set? I don’t really know.

From what I’ve read, ‘all set’ may be an idiom which is used mostly in the northeast and eastern U.S. I do know I hear it all the time. I feel it’s lazy language, ambiguous at best. Say what you mean. How about ‘May I help you?’ or something similar?

Next Topic - ‘No Problem’

Let’s use the same restaurant scene as above, although it could apply to just about any retail scenario. Your meal is being served, but you notice that one of the silverware sets is missing. You ask your waitress for another set. You thank her when she brings it. “Sure,” she says, “No problem.”

What? No problem? Someone says it’s no problem for her/he to be doing his/her job? It implies it might have been an inconvenience for them, but we should be so thankful it wasn’t a problem for them. If it were a problem, they wouldn’t have done it?

Wouldn't it be better to say, “It’s a pleasure to serve you” or “You’re welcome” or something similar?

FEEL FREE TO COMMENT...

Homo Optimus Passes Meatgrinder Process

What? Well, I re-submitted the book after making the changes I referred to in the previous blog entry, i.e. making sure those two paragraphs were in the same 'Normal' style as the rest of the book. I later received an email from Smashwords that the book passed the 'autovetter' process. It still has to be manually examined and that may take a week or two, depending on the volume at the distributor.

Some E-Book Formatting Items You Don't Care About!

Formatting an e-book for publication, especially for premium distribution (e.g. Apple, B&N) requires a special, vanilla-type use of Microsoft Word, something I never really paid any attention to. I took a lot of time attending to this for the first book. It was new to me. You can't use tabs. You can't use odd or super large fonts. You can't hit the space bar to place your paragraph beginning. You can't hit the carriage return more than four times in a row. You can't number pages. Blah, blah.
But it's all good. It's because of the e-book readers. That's what they require. So, I thought I was all prepared when I started this book. I would just use the same format as my last book. Just delete the text and start with the new book. Yeah, right. I submitted it to Amazon on or about November 2 and the book's been up for a couple weeks now. However, I'm still having trouble with Smashwords. I discovered one little biddy tab and re-submitted. Error. I just went through the formatting again and discovered two paragraphs in Body text style hidden among the rest of Normal text style formatting. Yuck. So, I've fixed that and now resubmitted. It may be another two weeks before the book gets approved for premium distribution. Oh well.

The Apple E-Book Store Rates 'Flatline Virus' 4 Stars out of 5 (17 Reviews)

Here's a review....

'Future Words' to Look For in 'Homo Optimus'

These are some words you'll see in the book that are designed to describe something in the future, say 124 years from now. Some are words that currently exist, just not in everyone's everyday vocabulary.

the Hype-a slang word for (all the data on) the network of networks, formerly called the internet. It's short for Hyperfinite, meaning a very, very large number, approaching an infinite number, like the amount of data on it.

Aqualiens - extraterrestrial beings that live in water.

Data skins - the augmented reality related to a specific person, place or thing.

Astrobiologist - A scientist who makes use of physics, chemistry, astronomy, biology, molecular biology, ecology, planetary science, geography, and geology to investigate the possibility of life on other worlds.

Benthic - relating to the collection of organisms that live at the bottom of the sea

Cryophilic - relating to organisms that thrive in the cold

Augmented Reality - a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input. Thus, the technology is supposed to enhance the current perception of reality. Ever watch a football game where the scrimmage line is in blue and the first down line is in orange...and there's an arrow on the field denoting that it's first down and 10? That's augmented reality today.

the Legacy - kind of like a super-Facebook where everyone captures (video, audio, images, text, etc.) almost everything of significance in their lives on the web from birth to death.

Cephalopods - a member of the family of mollusks, e.g. squid, octopus.

'The Origin of Homo Optimus: Humans, Aliens and Superbrains' now published!

It's now on Amazon and Smashwords, the distributor/retailer for $2.99 in e-book format. Soon to be available in the Apple iStore (using the app or thru iTunes store), Barnes & Noble, Sony, etc.

So Bill, why did you write this one?

Let's go back to the first one. Why did I do that?
1. I had an idea for a zombie book and wanted to see if I could see it through.
2. Well, I did see it through. Then I thought, maybe I can get it published.
3. Then I discovered I could publish it on my own in electronic format.
4. Not only that, but I found I could publish for almost nothing and people actually bought it.
5. The process of developing an idea, researching it, writing a story with characters and a plot, then seeing it through to publication was exhilarating and a great creative outlet during the golf off-season, while my paintings were drying.
6. So, I wrote a second one and here we are.

The Origin of Homo Optimus: Humans, Aliens and Superbrains sent to Publication

I have submitted the e-book to Smashwords and Amazon for publication. I am awaiting approval. I knew the formatting and book cover image were accepted. It should now be 2-3 days before it shows up on the electronic bookshelves...

In addition to listing it on its own website, Smashwords distributes to the book to Apple (my largest seller), Sony, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Diesel, etc.

I submitted the book directly to Amazon (Kindle Publishing).

You can see the book's trailer on You Tube (click on the spot to the right under interesting links).