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What '60s band was named for a punctuation character, and what was their biggest hit? Very groovy, long-sleeved, 100% cotton, navy blue ProofreadNOW designer shirts to the first five people who write in with the complete answer! (Send to contests@ProofreadNOW.com)
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Where the Money Is.
You will see no Brinks trucks in funeral processions. So don't worry too much about money these days, 'cause you can't take it with you (unless you're going to the store). Times being what they are, see if you can afford not to know these words and their definitions.
1. almshouse: (a) a shop that sells secondhand articles and especially clothes and is often run for charitable purposes; (b) a box (as in a church) for alms for the poor; (c) poorhouse; (d) a lodging house at which meals are provided.
2. bridge loan: (a) a short-term loan used to finance an enterprise, investment, or government pending the receipt of other funds; (b) a loan payable at the discretion of the borrower or on demand of the lender; (c) the charge levied by a central bank for advances and rediscounts; (d) what it takes to cross the Brooklyn Bridge these days.
3. imprest: (a) monetarily affected especially forcibly or deeply; (b) a loan or advance of money; (c) to assign as a share or suitable amount (as of time or money); (d) lacking sufficient money.
4. quango: (a) a partly autonomous regulatory agency organized outside the civil service but financed and appointed by the government; (b) (British) a four-pound note; (c) financial insolvency; (d) designation on an income tax return of a small amount of money to be applied to a special fund (as for financing political campaigns).
5. boodle: (a) a national bank that operates to establish monetary and fiscal policy and to control the money supply and interest rate; (b) a relatively small or insignificant amount of money; (c) bribe money; (d) money in hand.
6. Eurocurrency: (a) shortened to euro; (b) formerly the British pound, the German mark, and the Polish kielbasa; (c) the exchange rate between the dollar and the euro; (d) moneys (as of the United States and Japan) held outside their countries of origin and used in the money markets of Europe.
7. handsel: (a) a first installment; earnest money; (b) having very little or no money usually habitually; (c) to use (as securities) for collateral; (d) (capitalized) Gredsel's brother, the head of the German national bank.
8. fiat money: (a) foreign currency or current short-term credit instruments payable in such currency; (b) money (as paper currency) not convertible into coin or specie of equivalent value; (c) a money of account based on the currency units of members of the European Union from 1979 up to the introduction of the euro in 1999; (d) an auto loan.
9. derivative: (a) an insurance agreement pledging surety for financial loss caused to another by the act or default of a third person or by some contingency over which the third person may have no control; (b) any of the equal interests or rights into which the entire stock of a corporation is divided and ownership of which is regularly evidenced by one or more certificates; (c) a contract or agreement providing for the payment of an annuity; (d) a contract or security that derives its value from that of an underlying asset (as another security) or from the value of a rate (as of interest or currency exchange) or index of asset value (as a stock index).
10. bailout: (a) a rescue from financial distress; (b) a really bad idea; (c) a way to sink the U.S. Treasury, with no end in sight; (d) all the above.
If reprint costs are eating away at your cash reserves, or if mistakes in your annual report are driving your share prices down into the cellar, ProofreadNOW has the perfect bailout plan to rescue your next document from the throes of textual bankruptcy. We examine the spelling, punctuation, and clarity of your ad, proposal, Web page, brochure, business plan, or anything else in print. We've got a fleet of excellent editors and a treasury of knowledge that will make your personal stock soar once again.
Answers: 1:c 2:a 3:b 4:a 5:c 6:d 7:a 8:b 9:d 10:d (imho) Rate Yourself: Bankrupt.
3 to 5 correct: Struggling.
6 to 7 correct: Bailing out.
8 to 9 correct: Climbing.
All 10 correct: All-time high value!
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| Weekly Grammar Tip |
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Which Words Are Correct? (expanded)
Today's list got out with two late inserts in the test section, but without the corresponding answers. [The editors were working on paying jobs, we assume.] We do not want any arguments at the dinner table, so here is the complete list. Sorry for the confusion!
- The turkey got his just desserts/deserts for eating up our supply of seeds!
- Don't like creamed peas with your mashed potatoes? Grin and bare/bear it just the same.
- All awaited the arrival of Grandmother and Grandfather with baited/bated breath.
- His eloquent toast to the Pilgrims struck a responsive chord/cord in his guests' minds.
- Standish disembarked with a full complement/compliment of settlers.
- Praying/Preying mantises are good for your garden, because they eat lots of aphids.
- Their leader wasn't fazed/phased by the uprising of ill will.
- Extreme weather tested the Pilgrims' medal/meddle/metal/mettle.
- The settlers paid rapt/rapped/wrapped attention to Squanto's directions for growing corn.
- After all, a friend in need is a friend in deed/indeed.
- The smoke in the distance peaked/peeked/piqued their interest.
- The Mayflower got underway/under way in 1620.
- Use a clean compress to stanch/staunch the flow of blood.
- Their faith was a matter of principal/principle.
- Once given free reign/rein over their own destinies, their economy flourished.
- You better toe/tow the line or you're back on the boat to England!
- The soup kitchen just off Capitol/Capital Hill has a great Thanksgiving feast for homeless people.
- Squanto had been taken to Europe, but was now back in his old stamping/stomping grounds.
- Stop! Or I'll sic/sick my attack turkey on you!
- William Bradford and his shipmates pored/poured over the Mayflower Compact for days before signing it.
- He flaunted/flouted every rule in the book and every piece of good advice.
- The ship floundered/foundered in the storm, and the entire crew was lost.
- Chief Massasoit spoke pidgin/pigeon English at best, and relied on Squanto to translate for him.
- Global warming will (or won't) wreck/wreak havoc on the American economy.
Answers:
- deserts; only one s in the middle...you get what you deserve, and rarely does that include cake and ice cream
- bear; carry the load
- bated
- chord; but vocal cord, electrical cord, spinal cord
- complement; because it's complete
- praying; because of how their front legs fold
- fazed
- mettle; quality of temperament or disposition
- rapt; wholly absorbed (from rapere to seize)
- indeed
- piqued
- under way; use the one word underway only as an adjective before a noun
- stanch; to check or stop the flowing of
- principle; the principal is your pal
- rein; let go of the reins and let the horse wander
- toe; "put your toes up to the line"
- capitol; mnemonic: the o in dome; but: Reno is the capital of Nevada.
- stomping; or stamping, take your pick; stamping is the more classic use
- sic; alteration of seek
- pored; to gaze intently
- flouted; actually, from playing the flute; M-W says confusion with flaunt is not necessarily substandard, though
- foundered; founder means to sink; flounder means to thrash about wildly
- pidgin; derives from business in Chinese
- wreak; funny thing, though...wreak's alternate pronunciation is identical to that of wreck
Source: Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary.
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| Word of the Week |
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conflate
Pronunciation: kon-FLATE
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Latin conflatus, past participle of conflare to blow together, fuse, from com- + flare to blow
Date: 1610
Definition: to bring together; fuse
Example: "Now, nobody is going to be able definitely to establish what happens for every million dollars a state spends on a national service program. Too many questions have to be conflated to permit a reasonable prediction."
- William F. Buckley, in Gratitude, p. 129, Random House, 1990.
Definition source: Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary.
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Copyright 2008 by ProofreadNOW.com, Inc., 447 Boston Street, Topsfield, MA 01983 USA. Published weekly (we try) by the editors at ProofreadNOW.com, Inc. and sent to customers of record and to opt-in guests. Many readers find it is best to read a portion, put it aside, then come back and read more.
Please rate this GrammarTip (10=high, 0=low):
10 - Like having all your picks win the bowl games.
8 - Like having half the day off after New Year's Day.
6 - Like finding a parking space at the mall.
4 - Like finding a parking space near the mall--across the street.
2 - Like working all day the day after New Year's Day.
0 - Like staying home and forgetting the office was open all day the day after New Year's Day...until they tracked you down.
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