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Dear Readers,

Things have been very exciting at Word-wise since the last issue!

Last month's Challenge garnered more entries than any in the past. Read on to see the winning list in its entirety. Having seen your enthusiasm for word games, I will make a point of offering more of these competitive questions instead of all trivia in future Challenges.

The 2008 Short Writing Contest has also been attracting more attention lately, and I am very pleased to announce that the first winning entry has been selected. It will appear in the May 4, 2008, issue. If you have thought about entering, don't be discouraged: two more winner's slots remain for the 2008 contest. I look forward to seeing what gems are yet to arrive!

Finally, Word-wise subscribership has taken another leap forward in the past month. Since I've not done anything special to publicize, I suspect I have current readers to thank for that jump. Please know that I appreciate all the times you click to read, forward an issue to a friend, mention Word-wise on your own site, and participate with your entries. Word-wise would be nothing without its readers.

Happy writing!

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Word-wise Challenge

Challenge winners often choose anonymity, but in the case of last issue's Word Mining, nothing less than recognition will do. A big congratulations goes out to Linda Bosserman for her winning entry. Here's Linda's astonishing list of 156 words mined from cartographer:

Thank you again for your enthusiastic participation, Linda!

The next Challenge will appear in the June 8, 2008, issue.

Usage Tip

Common Misspellings

Where do you fall on the spectrum of spelling talent? For some reason, few people would answer that question neutrally. Spelling is one of those skills with which some folks have a natural affinity while others naturally struggle.

If you happen to fall into the second category, take heart. Even the best spellers typically have a list of words they find themselves constantly double-checking. Here are a few that are not only commonly misspelled but which are frequently misspelled the same way across many sources. That means we are exposed to the same misspelled version of the word often, leaving more of an impression on our memories and increasing the likelihood we'll misspell them again. Be on the lookout for these tricky words!

Simply memorizing the correct spellings of these and other spelling culprits may not work. Instead, try these self-check methods:

• Keep your own short list of common misspellings handy. Before beginning your general proofreading, do a check for these words first.
• Modify your word processing software's spell checker or automatic formatter to fix your version of the word with the correct one. If you'd rather not change these settings, try running a simple find-and-replace for each once you're done composing.
• Come up with a saying, process, or other mnemonic that will trigger your use of the correct spelling. For example, you may reason that the opposite of "out" is "in" (not "im"), therefore the opposite of "OUTput" must be "INput."

Business Beat

"Naming" a Barrier to Customer Relations

When I was in fourth grade, my reading teacher informed me that my name was wrong. The teacher insisted that it was impossible accoridng to English rules. "There simply cannot be a capital letter in the middle of a word," she asserted, and thus edited all of my work. After a while, I started writing it her way on her work but secretly continued with the form my parents taught me, AnnaLisa, outside her classroom.

I don't remember much else about this teacher. I can't recall a single reading assignment I completed under her tutelage. Even her name escapes me. But her presumptious and arrogant editing of my name sticks after all these years.

That iron-fisted teacher came to mind recently when an AP article by Sean ODriscoll titled Apostrophes in names stir lot o' trouble hit the media. Those of us whose names do not contain apostrophes, spaces, or hyphens may not be aware that some unsuspecting customers, when asked to enter their names into computerized forms, are forced to alter their names to do so. The problem stems from programming parameters that only allow Arabic letters.

Inflexible insistence may be effective in bullying a 9-year-old girl to change her name, but in the business world, it does not make for good customer relations. The van Camps, O'Learys, and al-Rashids of the world deserve that most basic right of accurate self-identity.

As savvy business people, the last thing we want to do is turn potential customers away before we've had the opportunity to introduce the benefits we can offer. Restrictions on how a name may be entered are barriers to effective customer relations.

Unfortunately, correcting the problem is no simple matter. Contrary to the "sloppy programming" reasoning given in ODriscoll's article, a programmer I know tells me constructing work-arounds to avoid this problem is a complex and time-consuming task that requires diligent testing and tweaking to perfect. But he also stressed that it is far from impossible for a skilled programmer.

Take a look at the name fields in the forms your company uses, including online contact forms, online order forms, and database forms. Try entering a few names that are unconventional. If this test results in an error message, consider having a talented programmer add coding that will allow exceptions. Don't expect this to be an inexpensive fix; expert custom programming doesn't come cheap. But if you follow through, you will demonstrate concern and sensitivity toward your customers, which in communicates your concern for the customers themselves. In a world full of poor customer service, this could be invaluable improvement.

Not-so-idle Musings

Credit or Debit?

I don't know when it happened, but the old familiar "Cash or check?" has gradually been replaced with "Debit or credit?"

At the grocery store the other day, I was nearly finished unloading my week's purchases on the conveyor. Without looking up from her frenzied scanning, the clerk droned by rote, "Credit or debit?"

"Neither," I said, at which shocking declaration the clerk looked me squarely in the face for the first time since the transaction had started several minutes before.

"Check," I explained, and waved the book. The clerk looked supremely put out before returning to her scanning.

Sure, the technologically boring check has its drawbacks. From the clerk's perspective, it's not as fast to process as a credit card. From a customer's perspective, a person has to keep records to avoid overdrawing. Checks require legible handwriting. They ofen demand a person carry photo ID. And if one sets out to shop not realizing one's husband wrote the last check the night before and didn't replace it with a fresh book, well, one is just out of luck.

In short, the check is less convenient than plastic. That's exactly why I like it.

If only these things were true of credit cards, too, I wouldn't be so loathe to use them. The potential for all that credit report-wrecking power wrapped up in a single piece of magnetic-coded plastic is scary. Even with its spend limits far higher than the average checking account would allow, rarely is a wielder of plastic asked to positively ID himself. And because a credit card doesn't feel like money, people are psychologically more willing to use it with reckless abandon.

Corporate credit cards are even scarier. Practically anyone can use one with little fear of being asked to prove authorization. An effort at passable forgery isn't even required as any name will do on many corporate accounts.

Hardly a day goes by that a sad case of identity theft or credit fraud doesn't appear in the news. We are no longer shocked to hear of the latest breach that has left thousands of social security or credit card numbers exposed. Yet we fail to take measures that will increase our safety, and we fail to demand that the stores we frequent do the same. We see it as a calculated risk in exchange for the ease of charging.

Of course, my old-fashioned insistence upon using checks instead of plastic when I can is no guaranteed insurance against fraud or theft. Perhaps the draw is psychological; I can maintain the impression of control as I write out, longhand, the amount I willingly cede. But I do believe the simple fact that someone else's credit is more easily available than mine offers some small measure of protection.

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