CS4!! Office, too.

I just got Adobe Creative Suite 4!  I'm very excited.  I've been missing Illustrator and Flash especially, although Photoshop will definitely be welcomed home as well.  The others (InDesign, Dreamweaver, and Fireworks) are cool, too.

I also got Office, which means my computer will soon be put to use as a Homework computer.  *Sigh* Oh well.

Literally.

The word literally is oft used improperly; This is a problem that literally eats me up inside.  That last sentence is a great example of what I mean.  What does literally really mean?  

literally: /lĭ'·tər·ə·lē/ (liter + -al + -ly.  liter <= littera = Latin for “letter of the alphabet" or "epistle”; -al = a suffix indicating an adjective meaning "of or pertaining to"; -ly = a suffix indicating an adverb based on an adjective).  Translated word-for-word, then, the definition would be:

   "In a manner of or pertaining to letters; by the letter."

Roughly synonymous phrases may include "to the T", "word-for-word", "by the book", "I kid you not", and "not metaphorically or exaggeratedly".

What I'm trying to say is, Please, please, please! stop using literally as an intensifier!  It's not one.  If you say that something "literally eats me up inside", there'd better be something actually consuming some part of the interior of your body!  If not, then you have misused literally.  Literally.

A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y. And W. And R? And L!?

Isn't it weird that words like fire and tile are sometimes (by that, I mean "in some dialects") disyllabic? I mean, some people—myself included—pronounce words like those (see "List 1" below) with two syllables.  Let me show you what I mean.  

Many dictionaries show that word fire is pronounced /fīr'/, but that's not how I say it; I usually say /fä'·yǝr/.  I think most people I know say it like that (with 2 syllables, I mean), which leads me to my point and question:  Where is the second syllable?  I had answered, "Perhaps on the E?", but I'd rebutted with, "The E is silent, though."  At this point I didn't—and don't—know where to go.  Given that the F and the I are part of the first syllable (and given that I do not mispronounce words) we are left with two possible explanations:

   1 – The silent E is allowed to take a syllable, even though it's silent.

   2 – The R carries the syllable.

The implications of the latter option?  In the word fire, R is a vowel!  

This whole journey is moot, however, when considering the Rs and Ls of the words in List 2.

 List 1 – Words whose -ile or -ire I pronounce disyllabically.
   fire
   hire
   mile
   pile
   sire
   tile
   tire
   wire

 List 2 – Words whose -ile or -ire I pronounce monosyllabically.
   dire
   file
   gentile
   ire
   mire
   rile
   vile

P.S.  What do you think of the homophones Isle, Aisle, and I'll (all either /īl'/ or /ä'·yǝl/)?

The Introduction.

New blog.  It may happen this time.  Or it won't.  Suspense is fun.

Speaking of things and stuff, the word of the day today is introduction /ĭn,·trə·dŭk'·shən/. Cool word, eh?  Intro- + duc + -tion.  Intro- <= inter = Latin for "into, within"; duc <= ducere = Latin for "to lead"; -tion = a suffix indicating the word's a noun formed from a verb (defined in dictionaries as "The act of..." or "The result of...").

So, quite literally, introduction = lead-in.