I was talking with someone today about words. Language changes over time. So many words that were common when I was young are no longer used. So many new words are out there.
There are words that I have to stop and think about before using. These are some of the ones that can be confusing.
affect to change or make a difference to a result;
effect to bring about a result
born having started life
borne carried
desert a waterless, empty area; to abandon someone
dessert the sweet course of a meal
practice the use of an idea or method; the work or business of a doctor, dentist,
practise to do something repeatedly to gain skill; to do something regularly
From Oxford Dictionaries
In writing myself and reading others I have noticed that we can get these wrong. Affect and effect are particularly difficult. Usually, affect is a verb and effect is a noun, and they’re used when talking about the results or consequences of particular actions.
The difference between affect and effect is so slippery that people have started using “impact” as a verb instead. Don’t be one of them! Another trick is to remember that affect comes first alphabetically, and an action (to affect) has to occur before you can have a result (an effect) from FluentU.
So affect is something we do and effect is what happens after we do it.
From what I have seen no one gets practise and practice. Word Press thinks that the former is not a word. I had to add it to my dictionary.
There is a long list on the Oxford site. What words bug you?
Yesterday I wrote about”status quo.” Today I have been thinking about it from a different perspective. The culture that most of us live in likes to maintain itself just as it is. In the US the congress and senate do not want to make changes. I know they realize that they are in a wonderful place and certainly don’t want to change. How I would love to make laws that I don’t have to follow, raise my own pay, decide on my own retirement and have health insurance that is better than anyone else in the country. This is a very negative sort of “status quo.” It is unfortunate that there is probably no way to change any of this short of revolution and that is not an acceptable option.
All in all, just staying the way we “have always been” is not always the right path. Change can be positive even though hard. Change is inevitable. Helping to make it good starts with us. Every change has a chain reaction. Do something and let’s make it good.
I have been thinking about the words “status quo.” There are many people who struggle against change of any kind. They fight for things to remain the same. The problem is that things never stay the same no matter what.
Coping with change is one of the critical lessons we can learn. The ability to let go of our previous “normal” and move on to another has a lot to do with our state of mind. For those of us who battle anxiety change is a trigger word. It can send our whole world into a tailspin. Coping mechanisms for dealing with change are a must. I have a friend who says that when change happens that is negative we are entitled to fuss, fume, and cry about it…..for 24 hours. I have found this works. Just being able to rant for a while seems to get some of the frustration out and it helps me to move forward. I may be having a pity party alone or with someone…it doesn’t matter. It helps either way. There is a positive to venting. Let all those feelings out! Then move on.
I am not fond of new years resolutions. I probably never kept one that I planned. If I did I would be surprised. But…I have been thinking. Maybe there is something else that we should due to usher in the new year. How would it be if we spent time thinking about life in the past year or years. Are there things that we can divest ourselves of? Do we own things that are no longer used or don’t matter? Can welighten our load and let some things go?
There are times when I reflect on someone else’s life and wonder how they manage. There are so many tragic stories out there. I have wondered how I would react if asked to live life as a paraplegic…if I could not longer feel anything but my face. What would be my reaction to being trapped in my body with only a mind to make me feel alive? Would I cope or would I seek to end my life?
In my time as a nurse I have seen families struggle with decisions that can tax their moral ground. I have seen them divided over the answers and sometimes torn apart by it. Many times we would like for the doctors to tell us what to do but that is not their decision to make. Most of them will avoid giving an opinion which makes it harder.
Tonight was frustrating as people are still shooting off firecrackers. One of our Bassets is terrified of the noise. He is a rescue and we don’t know what happened to him before we got him. Since we also had this problem last night tonight he was frantic. I finally had to give him some benadryl.
worry-less-journey 