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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
February 10, 2022     Shelton Mason County Journal
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February 10, 2022
 
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Page A-4 — Shelton—Mason County Journal Thursday, Feb. 10, Some wOrds about words y brain summons im- ages of people when I read or hear particu- lar words. Maybe this hap- pens to you too. The word “accommodate” conjures a millisecond im- age of Dan Shaw, former city editor for the Bellingham Herald, while he taught a journalism class I was in at Western Washington Univer— sity. He taught us how to re— member how to spell accom- modate: “Two C’s, two M’s.” The word “primer,” in reference to a short piece of explanatory writing, sum- mons Bettz Pitcher, a long- gone Olympian copy editor who corrected me after I pro— nounced “primer” as rhym- , ing with “climber.” It’s pro- nounced “prim” with an “~er” at the end. When someone misuses the word “irony,” I see come— dian George Carlin. He wrote the following in his book “Brain Droppings:” “Irony deals with oppo- sites; it has nothing to do with coincidence,” Carlin wrote. “If two baseball play- ers from the same hometown, on different teams, receive the same uniform number, it is not ironic. It is a coin- cidence. Irony is ‘a state of affairs that is the reverse of what was to be expected; a result opposite to and in LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Who’s entitled? Editor, the Journal, KlRK ERICSON THESE TIMES mockery of the appropriate , result.’ If a diabetic, on his way to buy insulin, is_killed by a runaway truck, he is the victim of an accident. If the truck was delivering sugar, he is the victim of an oddly poetic coincidence. But if the truck was delivering insulin, ah! Then he is the victim of an irony.” Here are some words I in— vented that should be added to the language: I Vacciliate, verb: Inject- ing people with misinforma- tion about vaccinations. I J iggeritis, nounszhis word refers to the moments we make whenvwe’re near- ing a person who is mirroring our attempts to avoid a colli- sion. Jiggeritis often happens ' in hallways, sidewalks and stairwells.’ I Malinteruptum, noun: This condition occurs when unhealthy, hungry, poor and in debt, you’re in a group and you’re interrupted by someone who makes the precise comment you intended to make. Here are some words that have recently joined our ' American vocabulary: I Fourth trimester, noun: V The three—month recovery period immediately following childbirth. I Mentionitis, noun: From Lexico.com: “A tendency to- ward repeatedly or habitu- ally mentioning something, especially the name of a person one is attracted to or infatuated with, regardless of its relevance to the topic of conversation.” I Infomania: From diction- ary.com: “An obsessive need to constantly check emails, social media, online news, etc.” Here are some irritating words and phrases I wish ir- ritated more people: I The team is in control of its destiny. Destiny is beyond any earthling’s control. You can’t control your destiny any more than you can control a well-fed cat. I Global pandemic: A pan— demic is an epidemic that has gone global. “Global pan- demic” is redundant. Maybe people say “global pandemic” because it makes COVID-19 sound twice as bad. I Set a new record: If you they are more easily manipulated. road wear and tear. set a record, the record is new. It’s redundant. I Spike: A spike, when referring to an increase, is a change that has a sharp rise and fall. However, you can’t ' say, for instance, that prices spiked this month because you don’t know what will happen next month. If prices go up and stay up, what you have is not a spike but a plateau (or mesa, depend- ing on where you’re from.) A spike is only clear by looking backward. I Iteration: It’s business- babble. Iteration is a word former Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld used a lot while pretending he knew how many US. troops it would take to invade and occupy Iraq. Turns out Rumsfeld didn’t iterate right. I Upskill: To give some- one, such as an employee, added skills through educa- tion and training. Upskill is the type of word people use so they can fit in with other people who use that word. I Reach out. Exactly what did you do? Did you send an email? Phone? Text? Holler? When I hear, “I reached out,” I assume the person didn’t try all that hard to contact someone. I Friction: I became aware of this word while I had a gig editing a project for Mastercard. See whether you can figure out what “friction” means from the following: “Unlike government-issued currencies, virtual or digital currencies are operated by de— centralized authorities, theo- retically reducing many fric— tions in current systems. Built on a growing platform of AI interfaces, the merchant Point of Interaction (POI) is moving beyond frictionless to a world that is both invisible and autonomous. Far beyond frictionless, commerce be- comes more intelligent and payments fade to the back- ground.” Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. I Surfacing, as a verb: While working for the Mc- Clatchy—owned newspapers in Olympia and Tacoma, I got an email in late 2018 from , some dipwad in corporate headquarters in Sacramento that encouraged me to re- \ ' spond to a survey designed to gauge employee morale. Our goal, the email read, is to “es- tablish benchmark metrics across key areas —— employee morale, satisfaction and en- gagement. Surface skilled leaders who engage their teams in a positive way.” In a related development, M6- Clatchy declared bankruptcy in I I Email Kirk Ericson at kirk@masoncounty.com protesting violations of individual rights as “valid and necessary forms of expres- V. Irene Stadel sion.”Now that many in our culture Jan. letter in the Journal titled “entitlements” made me think of other “entitlements.”I would rather my tax money (federaland state) go to help families with child care, college, medi- cal bills and family leave, Social Se- curity and Medicare. I’d rather help small businesses with my tax dollars than have my money going for “entitle— ments” (subsidies, tax breaks) for oil, gas and coal companies, and for Ama— zon, Tesla, Boeing, Walmart, Nissan, Archer-Daniels-Midland and the list goes onc as well as paying farmers not to grow. Weknow that people who are well— educated, healthy, well—fed and finan- cially secure are happier, more produc- tive and creative, as well as less likely to commit crimes. 0n the other side of that, we know > when people are under-educated, Wlonmonéountn lbw-ital USPS 492-800 POSTMAST ER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason County Journal, R0. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584. Published weekly by the Shelton-Mason County Journal at W. Cata St, Shelton, Washington. Mailing address: PO. Box 430. Shelton, WA 98584 Telephone: 360-426-4412 Website: www.masoncounty.com , , Periodicals postage paid in Shelton, Washington. Donna Holliday ' Shelton Yay, road repair Editor, the Journal, huge thank you after hearing that the Shelton mayor and city council will have West Railroad Avenue repaired come spring. My car hollered and jumped with joy after hearing this. I travel that street three times per week and back again after attending fun times at the Mason County Senior Center. To think mycar is still in one piece amazes me. The road has been in dire need since I moved here in Auto insurance companies might have been involved in lawsuits from their cus— tomers if their vehicles were damaged L from these junky roads. If the truckers did it, then make them pay for The Shelton—Mason County Joure nal is a member of the Wash— for Mason County addresses and 1 $75 per year ($55 for six months) outside of Mason County. Owned and published by Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc. Publisher: John Lester Advertising: V Gordon Weeks, Reporter Matt 'Baide. Reporter Kirk Boxleitner, Reporter Kirk Ericson, Columnist/ Proofreader Shelton, 'Free’ resources ’ Editor, the Journal, I disagree with most of M r. Fergu- son’s letter of Jan. 20, but greatly admire his heartfelt attempt at a balanced tone without insults and slurs — a much— appreciated change of pace from many Journal centributors. I’d urge those who — like Ferguson — view our society as under an assault created by the “perni— cious momentum” of other folks feeling entitled to “ ee” resources that “begin ' in the pockets of others” to also consider other possibilities. , It is indeed incumbent on all of us to seek explanations for the “underlying anger” behind the violent and destructive turn that our climate of protest has taken. Ferguson and I both view ’ Front office: ‘ ‘ington Newspaper Publishers Association. Theresa Murray, Ad Representative ' ’ Delivery: SUBSCRIPTION RATES: ,v Newsroom:- Jon Garza $62 per year ($43 for six months) Justin Johnson, Editor David Olson Niel Challstrom Composing room: Dave Pierik, Office Administrator Karen Hranac, Customer Service enjoy the right to be free to create their own “facts” and feel strongly that noth— ing in their own pockets arrivedfrom the 1 pockets of others, maybe it is time to shift. some of our focus as citizens of the same American enterprise to helping improve the climate for freedom’s sisters justice and equality. ' My fimdamental difference with Fer- -' guson is that ongoing deficiencies in outcomes for these values spawns lack of hope and opportunity rather than “an ac- culturation of entitlement. ” Generational inertia of our society’s ongoing failure to strive for justice and equality for all our- fellows continues to grow while many chalk up those millions with empty pock- ets to feeling entitled for what is in ours. David Ellis Union see LETTERS, page A-5 r t Creative Director: Lloyd Mullen All regular editorial, advertising and legal deadlines are 5 pm. the Monday prior to publication. ’ To submit a letter to the editor, | email editor@masoncounty.com. Kim Fowler, Adyertising Design Linda Frizzell, Advertising Design