Not An Umlaut

Not An Umlaut Not An Umlaut Not An Umlaut By Maeve Maddox A reader has posed a question about a mark he noticed in The New Yorker: In a recent copy of The New Yorker the word reà «lection appeared with an umlaut over the second e. I had not seen the umlaut used that way before.    Is the umlaut making a comeback?   Should it also be used in similar situations such as realignment, or reengineer or deescalate?   Or is the hyphen more appropriate?   Or nothing? Or is The New Yorker just being, well NewYorkerish? I’ll answer the last question first: Yes, The New Yorker is being â€Å"NewYorkerish.† The use of the two-dot diacritical mark in words like reà «lect is a notable feature of the magazine’s house style. Other publications are prone to ridicule this use. As for the question â€Å"Is the umlaut making a comeback?† I’ll have to contradict the reader’s use of the word umlaut in reference to the two dots in the word reà «lection. An umlaut is a diacritical mark characteristic of German. It indicates pronunciation. For example, the u in the German words à ¼ber, â€Å"over,† and unter, â€Å"under,† are not pronounced the same. The umlaut in à ¼ber alerts the reader to a vowel sound that differs from the unrounded sound in unter. The word umlaut combines German um, â€Å"about,† and laut, â€Å"sound.† Used with English words, the two-dot diacritical mark has a different name and a different function. In English, it’s called a diaeresis, and its usual function is to alert the reader to the fact that two vowels written side by side are not to be pronounced together as a diphthong, but separately, as distinct vowels. The source of the word diaeresis is a Greek verb meaning â€Å"to divide.† A diaeresis tells us to divide two vowels. Note: The first spelling in both the OED and Merriam-Webster is diaeresis; the spelling dieresis is given â€Å"also† status. Charles Elster (The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations) prefers the spelling dieresis, because it eliminates the conglomeration of vowel letters and because his preferred pronunciation is [dy-ER-uh-sis]. He offers the secondary pronunciation [dy-AIR-uh-sis, which is the first pronunciation given in the OED. Speakers acquainted with literature, art, music, and astronomy encounter the diaeresis in such classical names as the following: Danaà « Laà «rtes Pasiphaà « Aà ¯da Laocoà ¶n Boà ¶tes Two common words that some speakers still write with a diaeresis are Noà «l and daà ¯s, and the diaeresis occurs in the name of the writer Anaà ¯s Nin. The diaeresis is also seen in English above vowels that occur at the end of certain proper names. This use indicates that the final vowel, usually e, is not silent. For example: Brontà « [BRON-tee], Zoà « [ZO-ee], Chloà «, [KLO-ee], Bettà « [BET-ee]. On the assumption that readers â€Å"know† how to pronounce these names, people write them without the diaeresis. However, in these days of superficial English teaching, one mustn’t assume. I’ve heard adults pronounce the name Zoe to rhyme with toe. I’ve heard a young teacher pronounce the surname of writing sisters Charlotte, Emily, and Anne as a one-syllable word. The New Yorker’s use of the diaresesis to separate standard prefixes in words like reà «lection is silly. That’s what hyphens are for. The use of the diaeresis to clarify the pronunciation of words like daà ¯s, Noà «l, Brontà «, and Zoà «, on the other hand, is well worth a comeback. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:70 Idioms with HeartAmong vs. AmongstParataxis and Hypotaxis

Aggression essays

Aggression essays Jimmy Wylie Nurture plays a much larger role in the development of aggression in ones personality then that of nature. Green (http://mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/chap7/) defines aggression in terms of four basic elements: 1) delivery of a harmful stimulus or stimuli (i.e. an insult, kick, ect.) to another person, 2) an intent to harm another person, 3) a belief that an action will be effective, and 4) a target who is motivated to avoid being harmed. Human aggression seems to universally effects humans as a species. However there are some societies, like that of the United States who are much more affected by both internal and international aggression. Psychology Today (http://mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/chap7/) asked, If you could secretly push a button and thereby eliminate any persons with no repercussions to yourself, would you press that button? 69% of American males and 56% of American females said they would. There are many theories which argue that aggression is a natural aspect but there is just t oo much evidence that argues aggression as being a product of socialization. Most of the arguments siding that aggression is a natural behaviour are just theories and ideas with little or no fact in them. These arguments tend to blame aggression on insanity and mental illnesses. On the other hand, these theorists state that acts of aggression are done from observing others and seeing their successes and the benefits aggression brings. This is easily shown though family life and is extremely evident in the media. Some others argue that aggression can be a way of trying to gain attention. At a very young age influences with aggression can deeply affect the way ones personality develops. As stated earlier the theories arguing that aggression is a natural part of a humans personality use mental dysfunctions in an attempt to prove this. For example; Charles Whitman killed his wife and...

Final Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Final Project - Essay Example It is clear that the risk factors associated with the Coca Cola Company are either external, or internal. External factors related to Coca Cola mostly depend on the decisions made by other beverage companies, but internal factors arise from the poor strategies, as well as actions, that Coca Cola company implements. Some of these factors include market rates, government regulations, credit, liquidity and cash flows (Adams, 2005). Market rate is the leading financial risk with regards to Coca Cola. The market changes depending on customer interests, demand, supply and new technology, as well. When these factors reduce, it becomes intricate for Coca Cola Company to acquire loans or credit. This might affect them financially. Government regulation is yet another vital financial risk for the Coca Cola Company. It is, however, an external risk. Governments frequently change existing tariffs, and this put new financial regulations in place. Some modifications are beneficial, but it might ta ke a while before companies adapt to the changes. In addition, this creates a financial risk to Coca Cola (Adams, 2005). Techniques that Coca Cola has incorporated to overcome these factors include improving technology, imposing techniques of attracting customers and increasing their supplies (Adams, 2005). The two-year pro-forma financial statement that this paper looked into suggests that the world is totally dollarized (Academic & Students Affairs, 2012). According to the statement, the world is turning into a free market economy with low inflation. The world is mainly anchored on the service industry, heavily weighted on commerce and tourism (Academic & Students Affairs, 2012). According to the pro-forma statement, the world today is founded mainly on a well-developed service sector, which accounts for roughly 80% of the worlds businesses. According to the statement, the output of products, in an

Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 1

Human Resource Management - Essay Example This essay discusses that the development of effective HR policies has been a critical issue for organizations in different industries. In fact, a well-planned HR policy can significantly help towards the standardization and the development of organizational performance, either in the short or the long term. However, the value of HR, as an organizational sector, is often underestimated. This problem has been made clear in the case of Home Care Housing. The organization has managed to achieve a rapid growth; however, due to the lack of an integrate HR plan, the firm’s managers have failed to respond to the needs of workers in regard especially to the level of payment and the hours of work. Moreover, the low communication within the organization has set obstacles in the identification of appropriate solutions for improving employee satisfaction and employee performance. Since its establishment, about 12 years ago, Home Care Housing has managed to achieve a significant level of g rowth. The success of the organization is reflected in the radical expansion of its activities; when entering the market, the organization managed just two housing developments. Today, Home Care Housing manages 20 units and employs about 600 people. The development of the organization has been mostly related to its support from volunteers and the community. However, the current status of its HR framework can be characterized as rather disappointing. A series of problems appear daily across the organization, a fact indicating the emergent need for the development of an effective HR plan. ... This fact is reflected in the lack of an integrated HR plan. As a result, the terms and conditions of employment are not consistent. More specifically, the compensation of each employee is not standard. Rather variations can be identified in salaries, both in terms of the amount paid as also of the date of the payment. In most units of the organization significant delays are reported in the payment of salary; only workers in the maintenance sector of the organization are paid on time. Also, the hours of work of employees are not based on certain rules; instead, workers are likely to work from 37 to 42 hours per week. A same problem exists in regard to the number of days available as holidays. The period of holidays for workers in the firm’s units varies from 20 to 27 days, with no clear criteria or rules on which the days granted to each worker for holidays are estimated. A significant problem seems also to exist in regard to the level of rewarding; the problem is clearer in t he case of managers who are fairly rewarded, meaning that there is no balance between the performance of managers and their rewards. The lack of an effective plan for arranging the payment, the holidays and the hours of work of employees has led to severe problems across the organization; the problem seems to be severe especially for the employees working in the firm’s Head Office. These employees face difficulties in covering the expenses of their travel for working; they also face difficulties in responding to the schedule of work which is not standardized. Those employees who have transferred from the organization’s units to its Head Office have reported that the working arrangements in the Head

Managers learn better through experience. Theory has nothing to offer Essay - 2

Managers learn better through experience. Theory has nothing to offer - Essay Example Since management as a separate discipline was established, managers have been taught in a classroom setting where most of their learning has been theoretical. Theoretical learning for managers has been ineffective due to several reasons. One of the reasons is that theoretical learning does not take into account the diversity the types of organizations that managers are required to manage (Papamarcos, 2005, p327). In the field of management, there is a wide range of organizations with different needs in terms of management styles. This perspective is not captured in theoretical management training, which has the effect of making managers apply the same techniques in management therefore leading to failure of the organizations to meet their objectives. For instance, the expertise that is required from a manager that manages technology professionals will be different from the expertise that is needed by a manager in a political organization. This is because a manager in a political orga nization will be required to have conflict handling techniques, which may not be, require of his counterpart in a technology firm since there are minimal conflicts. Leaning through theories involves using the thoughts of other people to run organizations (Mazutis & Slawinski, 2008, p444). This weakness of using theory in managers’ training is the therefore in the pattern of the managers thinking or his way of doing things which may antagonise the theory that he is supposed to use. In turn, this will mean that the manager will not give the optimal productivity that he is capable of since he has been limited by the theory. In addition, using theory limits the managers to be innovative in new and more effective ways of managing the organization that will improve its performance; this is as a result of the manager being required to follow what the theory says. For instance, a manager may have been taught that the best way to manage the employees in an organization is by being ens uring his or her commands are followed, however, the employees may perform better if they are given a democratic space to air their views on ways which they think would help to increase the productivity of the organization. Training managers theoretically may entail using theories that were applicable in the past but which may not be effective currently (Vince, 2011, p340). The global organizational environment has been changing everyday due to advances in technology and changes in global business patterns such as globalization. Due to these dynamics in the organizational environment, the processes of running the organizations have been changing making it hard to use previous techniques to run organizations in the current environment. For instance, previously any meetings that the manager had with his or her juniors involved physical presence, which meant managers, had to travel a lot especially in the organizations that had several branches. However, with the coming of teleconferen cing, the manager is able to attend meetings with other employees in different locations without being physically present. Due to the challenges that leaning through theory presents to the managers, it has been widely acknowledged that leaning through experience would work best to ensure the knowledge that

Penetration Pricing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Penetration Pricing - Essay Example This pricing strategy makes the customers to come in large numbers to buy the products due to its lower price in the market making the firm to make high sales. Penetration pricing when applied properly can be of great help to the firm since it will increase in the market share and the sales volume. Experience curve pricing Experience curve pricing is a type of marketing strategy that is used to estimate future average cost of products or services. This type of pricing is based on the experience of the firm on how it estimates its price of product and services within a given period of time (Tellis 146). When conducting this type of pricing strategy the firm must use statistical techniques similar to those used in past pricing. Image pricing Image pricing is a marketing strategy that is used by firms when they have two products in the market that are exactly and have the same features but the prices are different. A firm makes sure that it will supply the market with product and gives it a new shape, name and consequently the price differs only by changing the image of the product. The idea behind this marketing strategy is to target the potential buyers who go for high price products since the customer thinks that the higher the price the better the quality. Examples of brands that emulate penetration pricing are consumable products like sugar, maize floor, cooking oil among others. Examples of products that adopt experience curve pricing are valuable products made up of gold and silver among other minerals while image pricing is used in pricing car models, clothes and furniture. Analysis of pricing strategies Penetration pricing if conducted properly, will achieve market dominance and this must be conducted for a long time in order to secure a good number of customers. If a firm is able to lower the prices for long time, it will create a barrier in the market making hard for new entrants in the market and lastly it will reduce competition since new entrants mus t wait until the firm increases the prices of products and services. Image pricing achieves dominance only to the upper class customers since they have to look at the quality of the products. The lower class customers will be exploited when the product is only one in the market. Lastly experience curve pricing will have no impact to the customer since the product may have the same price if the firm trend continues. The firm will achieve market dominance if the product will not increase the price of products and service thus enjoying an increase in sales. Impact of pricing strategy to the customers The pricing strategies aims at reducing competition in the market and this is achieved by lowering the prices of products and services which results to increase in the number of customers. The brand is not altered in any manner and the customer will benefit from the low prices thus making a firm to increase sales volume. For the image pricing, competition is reduced and new entrants will h ave to wait until the products are out of the market, but the customer will be exploited. Experience curve pricing aim at reducing high competition that will work; the customers will enjoy the pricing strategy since the product will be charged at low price. The brand will be of high quality and thus the firm will achieve market dominance. Conclusions of pricing strategies Some marketing strategies will exploit the customers while others will

Roy Adaptation Model applied to Leadership and Management and Nursing Research Paper

Roy Adaptation Model applied to Leadership and Management and Nursing Education - Research Paper Example Theories have always been of prime importance in the field of nursing. They are the set of actions or activities, whose foundation is on the policies, guidelines, procedures, plan, or method that an individual follows. These specialized theories and doctrine have come under several classifications and groupings that professionals carry out and perform in various parts of the earth. There had been many theories associated to nursing and health care that has the primary focus on looking after the ill, unwell, ailing, with poor health conditions, injured and old-aged people (Meleis, 2007). NURSING THEORY Philosophical perception has molded the Nursing theory, which is the understanding of a phenomenon or an event that assists the nursing convention or process through the conglomeration of knowledge, thus, assimilating many researches and experiments when identifying the nursing convention. ... One of the most well-known and popular personalities that the world has recognized, for the uncountable services that she had provided to numerous people, known as Florence Nightingale has emerged and originated the concept of contemporary nursing theory in the middle of 1800s. Prior to the existence of the nursing theory, the nurses acted liked puppets in the hands of doctors, as the foremost and principal job of any nurse was to follow only the doctor’s prescription and guidance for taking care of the patient. Florence Nightingale placed the cornerstone with her approach that not only gave a broad and a new form and path to the nursing occupation, but also made it noticeable and apparent in the field of medical science. She developed a sense of consciousness amongst the nurses with her incredible work that this profession does not merely mean to take care of the patients upon doctor’s prescription, as it is not at all an acceptable approach for patient care. Rather, t hey should comprehensively assess the patients need and make them satisfy, comfortable and healthy with their behaviors and actions through the execution of appropriate patient care (Marriner-Tomey & Alligood, 2006). The nursing theories come under development so that the nurses have a standardized set of actions as it administers a structure and a guideline for them. The theories are in continuous support to the practices of the nursing models that have emerged as several divisions of nursing have came into existence, thus, the patients’ needs became utmost important and provision of the proper care for the patients is the basis for each nursing model (Alligood & Marriner-Tomey, 2006). The types of nursing theories include â€Å"grand nursing