Good Stuff from Joan Eisenstodt

I was going to title this with the wonderful Gershwin song, "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" until I realized that some may not get the reference.  (You know "You say either and I say either ..  you say tomato and I say tomahto" .... or maybe not. Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ3fjQa5Hls to hear it and see Fred and Ginger do a great number while singing it.)

Language can be helpful or an interference if we speak different languages, even if we speak relatively the same language but have learned different words for different objects.  "Podium" and "Lectern" are two examples. 

In our industry, as meetings are planned, those two words are used interchangeably and have been for years.  Some of us are purists who insist on calling them by the correct terms.  I cringe every time I'm at an airport and they call someone to the "podium"  - and under my breath I say, "lectern"!

The APEX (Accepted Practices Exchange) of the Convention Industry Council has worked very hard over a number of years to compile a reference guide for industry terminology.  Kudos to Patti Shock, professor at UNLV (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) who began this portion of the APEX initiative.  It is an exhaustive work. 

Go to http://www.conventionindustry.org/apex/accepted.htm and click on the glossary to read a bit - and then explore the other initiatives and how maybe we can begin to speak in similar terms and use similar documents to communicate so we don't have to guess what things should be.

As a (long) side note: these thoughts were triggered by a great piece from http://meetingscollaborative.com/www.wordsmith.com today.  It's copied below for you to also enjoy.

 

>>A language is the soul of its people. This is nowhere illustrated more profoundly than in the Yiddish language, the language of Jews of eastern and central Europe and their descendants. A tongue full of wit and charm, Yiddish embodies deep appreciation of human behavior in all its colorful manifestations. The word Yiddish comes from German Judisch meaning Jewish. But it is not the same as Hebrew, even though it is written in Hebrew script.

Here's what Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer had to say about the language in his 1978 Nobel Prize acceptance speech:

  "Yiddish language - a language of exile, without a land, without    frontiers, not supported by any government, a language which possesses    no words for weapons, ammunition, military exercises, war tactics ...
   There is a quiet humor in Yiddish and a gratitude for every day of life,    every crumb of success, each encounter of love. The Yiddish mentality is    not haughty. It does not take victory for granted. It does not demand    and command but it muddles through, sneaks by, smuggles itself amidst    the powers of destruction, knowing somewhere that God's plan for    Creation is still at the very beginning ...
   In a figurative way, Yiddish is the wise and humble language of us all,  the idiom of frightened and hopeful Humanity."

Many of the everyday English language words such as bagel, klutz, and kibitz are terms from Yiddish. This week we'll look at a few other Yiddishisms that have enriched the English language.

schnorrer (SHNOR-uhr) noun

   One who habitually takes advantage of others' generosity,    often through an air of entitlement.

[From Yiddish, from German schnurren (to purr, hum, or whir), from the sound of a beggar's musical instrument.]

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=schnorr

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

  "Wilberforce opens his dining room to every schnorrer who appears at
   the door."
   Jan Stuart; Fighting a Good Fight; Newsday (New York); Feb 23, 2007.<<