Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

A Strange Use of 'Said.' Kith and Kin. New Scrabble Words!

Episode Summary

903. A listener heard some jargon, and then got annoyed by "said" jargon, so we explored why. Plus, who the heck are your kith? And finally, we got excited about the first new Scrabble words since 2018.

Episode Notes

903. A listener heard some jargon, and then got annoyed by "said" jargon, so we explored why.  Plus, who the heck are your kith? And finally, we got excited about the first new Scrabble words since 2018.

| Transcript:  https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/a-strange-use-of-said/transcript

| Ragan Advanced AP Style Webinar

| Merriam-Webster Scrabble Website

The "said" segment was written by Susan K. Herman, a former editor, language analyst, and language instructor for the U.S. Government.

The "kith" segment was written by Samantha Enslen, who runs Dragonfly Editorial. You can find her at dragonflyeditorial.com or on Twitter as @DragonflyEdit.

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References for the "kith" segment:

Ammer, Christine. Kith and kin. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. 

Dent, Suzie. Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 19th edition. Chambers Harrap, 2013.

Oxford English Dictionary, online edition. Oxford University Press. http://bit.ly/1MExZUo (subscription required, accessed November 23, 2022).

Etymonline (accessed November 23, 2022). https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=kith

Episode Transcription

Grammar Girl here. I'm Mignon Fogarty, and you can think of me as your friendly guide to the English language. We talk about writing, history, rules, and other cool stuff. Today, we’ll talk about a quirky thing with the word “said,” who your “kith” are, and new Scrabble words you can start using immediately.

‘Said,’ but Not as in Speaking

by Susan K. Herman

A follower recently wrote: “Have you ever suddenly come across a certain usage and realized that it really bothers you and that you hate it? I just noticed one. It's the use of ‘said’ as an adjective, as in: ‘I have a tree in my backyard. Said tree is very tall.’ I think that what bothers me is that it sounds like pseudo-legalese or ‘cop-talk’ ([like] what you might see in a police report). It's also unnecessary (what other antecedent could I be referring to?). Have you ever addressed said usage?”

We addressed word aversion—when people have a visceral reaction to the sound, usage, or even sight of a word—in 2019. Word aversion is different from a “pet peeve,” in that it can evoke an emotional or even physical reaction. Check out Grammar Girl episode 733, “Why People Hate Words Like ‘Moist,’” for more on that.

But in the case of the follower’s question, there is more going on with the use of “said” as an adjective. They are correct that this usage is found mostly in business and legal writing. In this sense, it refers to something that was mentioned earlier. According to the site Grammarist, “it’s essentially a briefer replacement of words like ‘aforementioned’ and ‘aforesaid.’” While it’s usually a good idea to use simpler, shorter words, in this case, it may sound awkward to some people, like our follower. And, in most cases, “said” could be replaced with “it,” “the,” “this, “these,” or even removed, with no effect on the meaning. 

Take the example from the original question: “I have a tree in my backyard. Said tree is very tall.” You could simply say, “I have a tree in my backyard. It is very tall,” or just “I have a very tall tree in my backyard.” The meaning is the same. Here are a couple more examples:

“The suspect gave a confession. Said confession was not coerced.” vs.

“The suspect gave a confession. This confession was not coerced.” 

Or simply “The suspect gave an uncoerced confession.”

And one more example:

“Both parties have agreed to the contract. Said parties will sign the contract

tomorrow.” vs. “Both parties have agreed to the contract. They will sign the contract tomorrow.” Or better yet, “Both parties will sign the agreed-upon contract tomorrow.”

In these examples, “said” could be called an example of jargon, which Dictionary.com describes as “the language, especially the vocabulary, peculiar to a particular trade, profession, or group”—in this case, the legal or business professions. The problem with jargon is that, if you are not a member of the group that uses it, you may be confused or even annoyed. So, while jargon can be a useful tool for communicating within a certain profession or group, the rest of us may be lost or turned off.

The website plainlanguage.gov offers “Plain language guidelines,” meant to help writers communicate with their audiences more clearly. Ironically, the government is one of the worst offenders of using jargon (think “economically marginalized” vs. “unemployed”). But this resource does offer some good advice, noting that jargon is “ … a strange creature. We all complain about jargon, yet everyone writes it, and no one ever admits using it … Jargon can be the worst form of communication—and the best.” It’s all about your audience. If your goal is to inform and communicate effectively, you don’t need to try to impress them. 

Consider these examples:

“riverine avifauna”—Does anyone besides an ornithologist (that’s someone who studies birds) know what that means? How about just “river birds”?

“involuntarily undomiciled”—Sounds fancy, right? Most of us would understand “homeless” instead.

Of course, there are times when you need to use technical terms to correctly explain something. In those cases, if you're writing for a general or mixed audience, make sure you explain what the terms mean in language that “regular folks” can understand. But if you're writing for an exclusively technical audience, it's fine to use the efficient jargon that everyone in your group knows.

Back in 2012, I reposted a Macmillan Dictionary blog entry titled “Terminology or jargon: You’re empowered to decide ….” In the article, author Michael Rundell says that we should consider motivation. Is the author or speaker using jargon just because it’s trendy, to fit into a particular group, to convey importance, or to disguise unpleasant truths (think military jargon like “collateral damage” or “friendly fire”)? 

Yes, all those things happen, and perhaps they should be condemned. But Rundell cautions that maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to judge, either, pointing out that “many of the usual suspects– words that crop up regularly in people’s ‘hate lists’ – are hard to object to on rational grounds.” And sometimes people just don't like certain words. William Strunk of Strunk & White fame disliked the word "clever," for example, saying it was overused. Remember that language is living and constantly evolving.

“Circling back” to the original question (to use one of the most disliked jargony phrases found in business settings), there are many reasons a particular word or phrase might cause a negative reaction in a reader or listener. Jargon is one of them; it can make us feel confused or alienated. No one likes that. So, dear follower, you are not alone in expressing “said” annoyance.

That segment was written by Susan K. Herman, former editor, language analyst, and language instructor for the U.S. Government.

What Are Kith?

by Samantha Enslen

Here in the United States, it’s Thanksgiving, and that means turkey. That means mashed potatoes and gravy. 

You might have also heard it referred to as a special time to gather with “kith and kin.”

Your kin, of course, are your family. But who the heck are your kith? 

Well, they’re your friends!

“Kith” is derived from an Old English word that can be traced all the way back to 8th century, where it appeared in “Bede’s Ecclesiastical History.” This five-book treatise covers the history of England, religious and political, from the time of Julius Caesar to the time the book was completed. The word originally meant “knowledge,” and later came to mean your country, neighborhood, native land, or relationship.

“Kith” may have been popular back in Bede’s day, but today, those meanings are obsolete. Today, it means your friends, but you’ve probably never heard anyone say, “I’m going to meet some kith at Starbucks,” either.

It remains alive in our language in just one phrase—”kith and kin”—meaning friends and family, or friends and relations.

So, if you’re gathering this week with loved ones to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast, feel free to amuse them with this week’s tidbit. “Kith” comes from an Old English word meaning “knowledge of something” or “to be acquainted with something.” But today, in the phrase “kith and kin,” it means “friends.”

That segment was written by Samantha Enslen who runs Dragonfly Editorial. You can find her at dragonflyeditorial.com or on Twitter as @DragonflyEdit.

New Scrabble Words

by Mignon Fogarty

Next, I have good news for all of you who are playing Scrabble this weekend: Merriam-Webster has just added about 500 new words to the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary — the first additions since 2018.

Some of the new long words are “embiggen,” “torrenting,” “adulting,” and “hogsbane.” And long words with that especially juicy letter X include “ixnaying” and “fauxhawk.” Ixnaying, as in to put a stop to something. We are ixnaying the cranberry sauce this year, and fauxhawk as in a fake mohawk hair style.

Although those long words might help you get a bingo, you’re probably more likely to use the shorter words. New three-letter words include “bae” (B-A-E, a term of endearment, kind of like “baby”) and “aro” (A-R-O, an abbreviation for “aromantic”). And two new three-letter words with the letter X are “vax” and “dox.”

And here are a few more that stood out to me because they have high-value letters. The zucchini was very productive, giving us both “zuke” (Z-U-K-E, short for “zucchini”) and “zoodle” a name for zucchini noodles. Other new Z-words are “zoomer” for a member of GenZ, “zonkey” for a cross between a male zebra and a female donkey, and “zedonk” for a cross between a female zebra and a male donkey. New X-words include “grawlix,” the name for the symbols that represent swear words in comic books, and “folx,” F-O-L-X which is a variant spelling of “folks” (F-O-L-K-S) and is often used in the same way but to refer to members of traditionally marginalized groups. “Queso” is a new Q-word, “jedi” is a new J-word, and “convo” and “covid” are new V-words. 

And if you’re thinking how will I ever remember those? Or will my aunt Zelda accept Grammar Girl as a source? Or what are the other 480-or-so new words, you can look up words at Merriam-Webster’s Scrabble site: scrabble.merriam.com, and I’ll put that link in the show description. Happy gaming.

Finally, I have a familect story from Bill.

"Hi, Mignon. This is Bill from Mississippi. I have a familect. My son who was about four years old at the time. My boys are both grown now, but my son had a unique word he used when we were leaving a building, and one day I noticed he said ‘outrance.’ Well, in his logical mind, if we had an entrance there must be an outrance. So from then on, we started calling every exit an outrance. And it's just one of those funny little things that happened. Enjoy your show. Thank you."

Thank you, Bill. I laughed the minute you said "outrance." That's so cute, and it would make so much sense for it to be called an outrance. And it also reminded me of my favorite kind of joke, which is what I call the "implies the existence of" joke. As in the existence of Chicago style pizza implies the existence of AP style pizza. Well, the existence of an entrance implies the existence of an outrance.

Thanks again for the call. 

And that reminds me that my advanced AP style webinar with ragan.com is now available on demand, so you can watch it any time. If you have training money you have to spend before the end of the year, this could be the ticket. I talked about hyphens and dashes, pronouns, and just a whole bunch of recent additions and changes to the AP Stylebook. I'll put a link in the show description which you should be able to see on any podcast player. 

If you want to share the story of your familect, a family dialect or a word your family and only your family uses, call the voicemail line at 83-321-4-GIRL, and I might play it on the show.

Grammar Girl is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast. Thanks to my audio engineer Nathan Semes and my editor Adam Cecil, who collects cancellation ink stamps in a National Parks Passport. That sounds like so much fun. Our ad operations specialist is Morgan Christianson, our marketing and publicity assistant is Davina Tomlin, our digital operations specialist is Holly Hutchings, and our intern is Kamryn Lacy.

And I’m Mignon Fogarty, better known as Grammar Girl. That's all. Thanks for listening.

The remaining text did not appear in the audio but is included here for completeness.

Sources for the "kith" segment

Ammer, Christine. Kith and kin. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. 

Dent, Suzie. Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 19th edition. Chambers Harrap, 2013.

Oxford English Dictionary, online edition. Oxford University Press. http://bit.ly/1MExZUo (subscription required, accessed November 23, 2022).

Etymonline (accessed November 23, 2022). https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=kith