"What's in a Word?
Ah, it's summertime for sure friends. The temperature these days will attest to it. Why it's called the 'dog-days-of-summer', I don't know. My dog stays inside in the air conditioning, 'n just looks at me like "I 'm not goin' out there!"
In school, I used to hate those #2-only pencil scan-tron tests where you had to darken in the circle completely. I'd go home seeing spots, and with a blister on my 'flippin-the-bird' finger. I HATED those things! And, now all these years later, they are using them again on job applications. I think I've found a close second in stress and headaches. It's called 'writing'. Well, it's not the writing that gives me nightmares, it's the EDITING of it that causes my stomach to twist and my eyes to cross.
Being a long time writer of all kinds of songs, poems, short stories, articles like this one, and a book or two, I'm used to the careful dedication to detail it takes to get a piece out there. Ok, ok, I know. Sometimes even with "Drivin' Sideways" a few typo's slip thru, but hey! I'm only human, and I may need my bi-focals turned into tri-focals sure enough, but the editing makes me crazy. All the punctuation, syntax, tenses past, present, future and current, along with the 'phrase-ology' and slang of our generation, it all gives me one of those headaches from the old Excedrin commercials where the little guy with the sledge-hammer is beating away at the poor guy's head. Only with editing, the head belongs to me. With all the ways we have of saying and meaning and implying things, it's no wonder the whole world is in disagreement on major and minor issues. Who the heck knows exactly WHAT the other person is trying to say? And being from Detroit and 'up-on' the the street talk and lingo, what the heck is 'Eubonics' anyway?
I've been moving right along with the final editing of a our co-autored book, and it's given me pause to think. Now, if I could only stop long enough TO think. It's bad enough trying to say what you mean, and then mean what you write, and keep it all in context. But, it can get really confusing when someone of another language does their best to write in a foreign one. (Bless your heart, and you know I love you S.P.!) Something in the translation just gets lost, or least, it gets buried in the hows and whys and who did what to whom, and when they did it and why, and for what reason, and for how long, and to what end result! See what I mean!? It's really hard sometimes to get someone else's interpretation right. It's not their fault, just the person editing, for not getting or seeking clarification from the source writer. But, that's fine, and it's ok. Meanings put on paper, usually have a single thought in there somewhere. And English they say, is one of...if not THE hardest of all languages to understand and speak. 'Right-on!' 'Word!' 'S'up!' 'Yo-dude!' 'T'ain't nuthin' but a thang!' Well, you can see why.
England and America, where english is home-base, has always been a melting pot of people, cultures and languages. It's what makes our two countries great. The diversity of differnce itself. Ok, so that's all fine and good, but if you are trying to edit something for someone other than yourself, you almost need an interpreter, even if it IS in English. We say 'HELLO'. We say 'S'UP!' We say 'Hey Baby!', 'Yo Dude' and 'Word!' And they all mean EXACTLY THE SAME THING!Never mind the way it's written, or in what context. In this case 'grammar' ain't the little 'ole lady that birthed 'yo mama. It's no wonder wars start over things somebody or someone said, or what someone THOUGHT they said. Maybe deaf folks know something we don't know. They use sign language and take the interpretation verbatim. The hand signs mean what they mean, nothing else. They aren't open to question about what exactly they mean. It's different when we write.
I'm reminded of hearing from a teacher back in school explaining how the Quakers speak. "Throw ME down the stairs! My Hat!" was the Quaker way of saying "Throw my hat down the stairs to me!" My co-author, born and bred both in and as German as Schnittzel, reminded me that "Take it easy" is interpreted in Germany as to mean "Stay moist!" Or "Keep it moist!" And we continue here to confound things by saying things like "How's it hangin'?" How's what hangin'? And "What's the word, bird?" What word? And what bird are they talking about?! Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump said "Stupid is, as stupid does". Does what? And the recent hit by the Pussycat Dolls confounds things even more. Instead of saying 'Stick-with-you', they mixed some minor Eubonic's with slang, and came up with "Stickwitchu". That's why editors make such good money. The work itself is relatively easy, it's just trying to figure out exactly what the writer meant in the 1st place that's difficult.
So, here I sit as of late, editing and pasting in and out, quotes and sayings and parts that are either relevant or irrelevant to the story. If they've been worded right, or are in the right context, where "Take it easy' can mean, 'Keep it moist!', I haven't a clue. But, that won't stop me from forging ahead with periods where there should be commas, 'whens' where there is supposed to be 'whys', and 'you know's' where the reader DOESN'T know. If anyone who just reads, and has never editied thinks it's easy to do, then they are greatly mistaken. It's about as easy as tryin' to catch squirrel. I know, because my dog trys and fails everytime. But, our last dog Max, after tryin' and tryin' for almost 10 years to catch one...the day he finally caught one, it surprised them both. Him AND the squirrel!
Editing is like that. I can chase down the right words over and over again, and still not get it. And, even if I DO catch the meaning correctly, once the reader has it in their hands, they may STILL not know what to do with it. It's like writing lyrics to my songs. I don't always know what I was writing about until sometimes months, even years later. With my 'adventures-in-editing', I'm just hoping I get it right the first, second, third, fourth or TENTH time. Still, all-in-all, with all the headches I'm getting with trying to edit and correct the printed word? Once I'm all done...I'm gonna learn SIGN LANGUAGE!
Keep your foot to the floor and your hands on the wheel...when your'e "Drivin' Sideways!" Peace 'n Love all...
***We mourn the sudden loss of our friends drummer John Noxakis and Warrior Ministries Pastor Jack Yaeger. R.I.P.

*Special Thanks: The Late Pastor Jack Yaeger/Warrior Ministries, Team Detroit, The Hurricane Shelter, La Grizzy, Sonja Paris, Larry Patterson and Treasure Island Gold, Ralph Teranna and Soulful Detroit.com, and "Lucky" the Wonder Dog