December 11, 2015 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

‘Use More Expressive Words!’ Teachers Bark, Beseech, Implore

To encourage lively writing, instructors put certain words to rest; no more ‘fun’

By 

JAMES R. HAGERTY

English teachers were once satisfied if they could prevent their pupils from splitting infinitives. Now some also want to stop them from using words like “good,” “bad,” “fun” and “said.”

“We call them dead words,” said (or declared) Leilen Shelton, a middle school teacher in Costa Mesa, Calif. She and many others strive to purge pupils’ compositions of words deemed vague or dull.

“There are so many more sophisticated, rich words to use,” said (or affirmed) Ms. Shelton, whose manual “Banish Boring Words” has sold nearly 80,000 copies since 2009.

Her pupils know better than to use a boring word like “said.” As Ms. Shelton put it, “ ‘Said’ doesn’t have any emotion. You might use barked. Maybe howled. Demanded. Cackled. I have a list.”

So does the Powell River Board of Education in British Columbia. Its website provides a list of 397 alternatives to the dreaded “said.” They include “emitted,” “beseeched,” “continued,” “sniveled,” and “spewed.”

The goal is livelier writing. The result can be confusion.

Megan Riley, a sixth-grader in Mt. Lebanon, Pa., recently joined her classmates in chanting the words that their English teacher has pronounced dead: “Good, bad, nice, a lot, OK, fun, thing and stuff.” Later, the students were told, they might hold a mock funeral to bury those words.

“I think it’s very sad they have passed,” Megan deadpanned. “I grew up with them.”

Some seventh-grade teachers at her middle school have much longer lists. One contains 40 humdrum words including “walk,” “run,” “happy,” “talk”, “go” and “see.”

A spokeswoman for the Mt. Lebanon school district clarified: “It is a lighthearted project where kids have to explore more expressive ways to say words such as ‘said,’ ‘good,’ or ‘bad.’ ”

Megan’s father, Jack, recently asked her to explain why the words were off limits.

“To make your writing sound—I don’t know—more sophisticated,” Megan posited.

Mr. Riley, an architect, was skeptical. “They’re perfectly fine words, and they have their place,” he proclaimed. “I suppose the emphasis should be on using them correctly.”

Students do their best to cope. One of Megan’s schoolmates, looking for a permissible way to say “big,” came up with “anti-microscopic.”

Bonnie Dougherty, another Mt. Lebanon parent, endorses the exercise. “It has forced my kids to search harder for more descriptive words,” she enthused.
 

Her son Josh, a ninth-grader, and daughter Josie, who is in sixth grade, agree. Josh considered the mock funeral a “silly little activity” but thinks his writing was improved by having dozens of terms “drilled into my head as words that you are 100% not allowed to use.” In sixth grade, a teacher docked him seven points for slipping in a few of them.

Now he automatically hunts for more picturesque language. “Rather than saying, ‘This soup was good,’ you can say something like, ‘The soup was delectable,’ which really enhances it,” Josh instructed. “It gives it sort of this extra push.”

One recent afternoon after school, Josie and Josh agreed to take a stab at editing famous authors, starting with the closing words of James Joyce’s “Ulysses”: “….yes I said yes I will Yes.”

Head down, her pigtails brushing the paper, Josie examined the phrase and then suggested a small amendment: “…yes I hollered yes I will Definitely.”

Josh decided to let “said” stand, given Joyce’s reputation. He did, however, insert the commas neglected by Joyce.

In “A Farewell to Arms,” Ernest Hemingway refers to cars “going very fast.” Josie revised that to “going at a superior speed.” Josh went with “lightning speeds.”

Second-guessing famous authors was tricky, Josh cautioned: “It’s almost as though they’re given a free pass” to flout the rules. Josie submitted that she wasn’t sure they should get that pass.

Her brother winced: “You’ve got to remember,” he lectured, “most of these guys are dead.”

The search for synonyms dates to ancient times, and Peter Mark Roget published his thesaurus in 1852. It is unclear, though, when or where the dead-words approach originated. Teachers say it has been percolating through lesson plans for more than a decade. Pinterest and other websites overflow with helpful lists, including “200 Ways to Say Went.” They include “wormed” and “peregrinated.”

The movement has even peregrinated into popular music. Four years ago, Garrett Hollowell of Fort Worth, Texas, named his punk rock band Dead Words, with a nod to a wall of them he recalled from ninth grade. “I try to stay away from using too many simple words,” explained Mr. Hollowell, 23 years old. His lyrics feature words rarely heard in punk rock, such as “desensitized” and “narcissistic.”

Some teachers dislike the concept. “How in the world is a word dead that people use every day?” asked Shekema Holmes Silveri, a veteran English teacher in Atlanta who is developing a new charter school. Sometimes, Ms. Silveri asseverated, “ ‘she said’ is just the very best way to say that.”

Jennifer Walters, a fifth-grade teacher in State College, Pa., produced her own list a few years ago. Rather than writing that one thing is like another, she suggested, pupils might use “commensurate” or “agnate,” which means related through male descent or on the father’s side.

Since then, Ms. Walters has ditched the list. “Kids were just randomly selecting words, picking the ones they ‘thought sounded the coolest,’ and not thinking about their piece in particular,” she recounted in an email.

Robert C. March, a writing teacher at Atkins High School in Winston-Salem, N.C., stands by his list. He has banned “I,” “you,” “we,” “why” and “it,” among others. Mr. March makes clear on his Web page that he means business: “Any banned word, or contraction, that appears in a work submitted to me will count as -5 (minus five) points off the total grade.”

When students note that those words frequently have wormed their way into Great Literature, Mr. March has his answer ready: “When you get to the level of Charles Dickens, you can do with words whatever you want.”  -Wall Street Journal

Today in history:

On Dec. 11,

1936 – Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson.

1941 – Germany and Italy declared war on the United States; the U.S. responded in kind.

1943 – John Kerry was born.

1946- UNICEF  founded.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

An aircraft passes over houses at it lands at Heathrow Airport near London, Friday. Neil Hall/Reuters

The Arc de Triomphe roundabout painted with yellow by activists, Friday. The protest is one of many activist actions linked to the COP21, the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Greenpeace/AP

From left, the man known as AK47, the leader of an underground group of arto-political humorists called ‘Art Kieda’ returns artist Banksy’s sculpture ‘The Drinker’ more than ten years after stealing it in London, Friday. Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP

Market Closes for December 11^th, 2015

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

With respect to trading Sugar futures, if they give it away for free at restaurants you probably don’t want to be trading it.

                 -John L. Person, (Professional trader, author, speaker, Commodity Trader’s Almanac, national futures.com, 2/22/11, TradersExpo.

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Dani Burger

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian equities slumped, posting the worst weekly decline in more than three months as oil fell for a sixth day.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index dropped 1.7 percent to to 12,789.95 points at 4 p.m. in Toronto, it’s lowest level in two years. This gauge slid back below 13,000 after rebounding above the level earlier in the week.

     Energy-related companies dragged the benchmark down, falling 3.2 percent, reversing an earlier weekly gain. Oil had its biggest weekly decline in a year, amid speculation that OPEC’s decision to effectively scrap production targets will fuel the supply glut.

     As the Federal Reserve’s decision next week looms closer, shares in developing nations had their longest slump since June. Canadian equities have seen the third worst returns year to date of all developed nations, only faring better than Greece and Singapore.

     All 10 groups in the benchmark sank today. Health-care and telephone fell more than 2 percent. Materials posted the smallest decline.

     Among the worst performers, financials lost 1.6 percent after Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced that Canada would raise minimum down payments on some government-insured mortgages. That move is aimed at curbing the risk of a housing crash in Canadian cities where high prices leave families at risk of heavy debt loads. Mortgage-lenders Home Capital Group Inc. and Canadian Western Bank fell more than 3.2 percent to their lowest level since September. Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. dropped 3.9 percent.

     Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. sank 2 percent after the railroad controlled by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said it is open to making a competing bid for Norfolk Southern Corp. The company had been the target of a $27 billion takeover effort by Canadian Pacific Railway.

US

By Joseph Ciolli

     (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks capped their worst week since the August selloff as optimism over the economy’s strength gave way to anxiety over the Federal Reserve just as commodities and credit markets flashed signs of danger.

     The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 3.8 percent in the five days to end at a two-month low. Energy shares plunged as the cheapest crude oil since 2009 rekindled anxiety over deflation before the Fed’s Dec. 16 policy decision. Financial shares, the ostensible beneficiaries of any rate hike, tumbled 5.4 percent, as asset managers were routed after a high-yield mutual fund suspended redemptions.

     Optimism that the U.S. economy is strong enough to withstand higher rates transformed into anxiousness, as a commodity selloff clouded the prospects for a global recovery and rekindled deflation concerns. The benchmark U.S. equity gauge ended at its lowest level since October amid concern that a rout in high-yield credit markets will spread at the same time that money managers must cope with shifting monetary policy.

     “We have the continued decline in oil prices related to excess supply, and there’s market anxiety relating to the commodity complex due to the ongoing China unknown,” said Alan Gayle, senior strategist for Atlanta-based Ridgeworth Investments, which has about $42.5 billion in assets. “These factors have more than offset the relative strength of November economic data.”

     The S&P 500 slipped to 2,012.37 in the five days, erasing a gain for the year. The index saw its biggest loss since September on Friday, falling 1.9 percent and breaking below its 100-day moving average on a closing basis for the first time since Nov. 13.

     The prior Friday saw equity investors in a far different mood. The S&P 500 surged 2.1 percent on Dec. 4 for its biggest gain in three months after a government jobs report emboldened speculation the economy is strong enough to withstand higher rates.

     That optimism faded, with a measure of investor anxiety rising by the most since August. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index surged 65 percent, including a 26 percent spike on the last session that pushed the gauge to its highest level since Sept. 30.

     Volatility has returned to global financial markets just days before the Fed is anticipated to raise rates for the first time in more than a decade. With commodity prices at a 16-year low adding to concern that weakness in China’s economy will spread, investors are seeking havens. Adding to investor worry Friday was news that Third Avenue Management took the unusual step of freezing withdrawals from a credit mutual fund.

     The August swoon in equities that sent the S&P 500 into its first correction in four years was partly credited with forcing the Fed to delay raising rates. While traders are still pricing in a 72 percent chance that the central bank will act next week, that’s down from 78 percent on Dec. 7. The S&P 500 has fallen 4.6 percent since Nov. 3, when it reached its highest level since July.

     “We would need very severe market dislocations on the order of 8 to 10 percent, or something like that, to get the Fed to reconsider,” Julian Emanuel, executive director of U.S. equity and derivatives strategy at UBS Group AG in New York, said Friday on Bloomberg Television. “The other aspect of that is the messaging of not hiking could pressure the markets even further. There’s a lot more volatility and that’s something that investors need to be prepared for.”

     All 10 main groups in the S&P 500 fell at least 1.8 percent, as energy shares were the biggest decliners with a 6.5 percent loss. West Texas Intermediate had its worst week in a year amid estimates that OPEC’s decision to scrap production limits will keep the market oversupplied.

     Financial companies dropped the most since the period ending Aug. 21. Asset managers from T. Rowe Price Group Inc. to Legg Mason Inc. led losses, after Martin Whitman’s Third Avenue took the rare step of freezing withdrawals on Dec. 9.

     Junk bonds are poised for their first annual loss since 2008. With the Fed expected to raise borrowing costs next week, raw material prices have slumped and defaults by the commodity industry are forecast to accelerate. BlackRock’s iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF, the largest fund of its kind, fell to the lowest levels since 2009.

     To David Herro of Harris Associates LP, the selling of interest rate-sensitive stocks such as utilities is an overreaction. U.S. companies are more insulated from rate risk than investors realize, and are actually undervalued in some cases, he said.

     “It’s funny how so much red on the screen is due to fear of interest rates going up,” Herro, head of international stocks at Harris, said in an interview Friday with Bloomberg radio. “What’s going to happen? This has very little impact on how we value businesses. There’s a reason to be a little optimistic given prices and I don’t think value is collapsing. In fact, prices are deflated.”

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
 

Be magnificent!

Life is very real- life is not an abstraction –

our problems begin when we encounter it only through images.

Krishnamurti

As ever,
 

Carolann

Shoot for the moon.  Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.

                                                              -Les Brown, 1945-

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM

Portfolio Manager &

Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7