The Final Wrambling of 2023
By Chuck Wiser, I write the words to share what my eyes see and my heart feels
In the days preceding the weekly (or weakly) writing of my Wramblings, typically on Thursday of each week, I keep my topics list of items to wramble about. Some weeks I have more topics than I can squeeze in and some weeks I only have a few. Sometimes I have a main topic that dominates the space available for my article, sometimes I don’t. As of yesterday morning, my list was quite short and I didn’t have a main theme in mind.
I have been visiting the Physical Therapy department at Jones Memorial Hospital (JMH) for a few weeks trying to get “the kinks” out of my neck. Yesterday on the way home from my session the word “exercise” came into my head and for some reason I was tumbling the letters around trying to remember the correct spelling given the choices of exercise, exercize, excercize, and excercise. Through that thought process the word “exorcise” also entered the picture. Later, in the evening, as I pondered what I was going to write about for today’s Wrambling, I started doing a little research on the etymology (word history) of words with those suffixes.
Before I go any further, I want to give you a heads up. The “word game” is going to read like an English class lesson. For those wishing to drop out of being schooled I will put that topic off for a few paragraphs and clean up my “to do” writing list before continuing with that topic. I will give a visual alarm warning prior to the schooling English session so those who tire of my Grammar Groans, can drop out. Until then…
We here in the Southwestern area of New York State must be geographically or (geopolitically) blessed to carry a higher tax burden than the rest of the state as we pay a higher price and thus our greater gas sales tax contribution to the state. The average price of unleaded gas, covering the entire state as of the beginning of the week, was $3.37/gal. for the most common fuel, that being unleaded regular. Here in Allegany County, it is the highest, with highs throughout the county over $3.60 and closer to $3.70 in some places.
Notice our darkest red coloring on the visual? That’s us, the highest, average wise, in the state. I haven’t personally seen any under $3.65 except at one “gas sale” special day pricing. Even at the Reservation in Cuba on Sunday, their gas sale day, it was $3.44, above the state average, but barely.
I have been watching the construction of a new parking area in the lot next to the old “Harkness to Akman to Sale” evolution of medical offices. Apparently, it is completed, all paved and curbed and looking “purty.” I’m assuming that this is public parking or overflow parking from (JMH).
I am curious about the extent or depth of pre-construction planning, as the exit driveway is almost directly opposite the exit from (JMH). Cars opposite each other trying to exit at the same time, was a little touchy as I exited (JMH) the other day. I wonder if the architect’s/owner’s design took that into consideration as the plans were developed and approvals for construction were received. I assume the plans had to be approved by some civil authority or entity prior to construction.
I continue to be thankful for the staff at David A. Howe Library. I recently passed those complimentary comments on, via Facebook, as they were featured in a post. Someone must be on staff 24-7 as I received a courtesy notice in my email with a date stamp of 2:28 AM. I should point out literally, as sarcasm and irony aren’t always recognizable, that I was just kidding about the 24-7, as I know the notices are sent out via an automated batch distribution.
WARNING: I’m reverting to my second paragraph, and I guess you do need two to have a “pair-a-graph” and giving a CMA Notice. Some of the following content is cut and pasted from Wikipedia. My spelling checks and search for the appropriate suffixes ending with ice, ize, etc. took me to Wikipedia where, by the way, I was inundated with pop-up ads lamenting the need for financial support to keep Wikipedia financially viable.
What we refer to as the English language is used in a good percentage of the world. Its common use evolved from many sources but those most notably common to us would have come from the Latin, French and Greek languages, which pre-dated our existence as an English speaking country. The most common recent English language variations, come from the British strain given our roots and our proximity to Canada.
The suffixes ice, ize end many words. Which are correct can sometimes be puzzling. The American English and British English word meanings and spellings were standardized and chronicled when; A “British standard” began to emerge following the 1755 publication of Samuel Johnson‘s A Dictionary of the English Language, and an “American standard” started following the work of Noah Webster and, in particular, his An American Dictionary of the English Language, first published in 1828. Many words have two variations of spelling and in the British form, most are accepted dually, while in the American English is a little more strict. In other words, in Great Britain, it is correct to use either suffix form, making either example of exercise or exercize acceptable.
Examples of word spelling options would include such words ending in “or,”or “our” in words such as “savior/saviour,” or “behavior/behaviour” and those ending in “er” or “re” such as in “fiber/fibre”, or “theater/theatre.” Technically all the similar versions have the same phonetic sound.
From a worldwide English speaking perspective, for the most part the spelling systems of most Commonwealth countries and Ireland closely resemble the British system. In Canada, the spelling system can be said to follow both British and American forms, and Canadians are somewhat more tolerant of foreign spellings when compared with other English-speaking nationalities. Australian spelling mostly follows British spelling norms but has strayed slightly, with some American spellings incorporated as standard.
New Zealand spelling is almost identical to British spelling. Medical terminology tends to have root words or suffixes leaning toward the Latin influence on their history. I often wish that Latin, as a language option, had been available to me in my public schooling history. Enough Grammar!
Another person with whom I had a connection, and who is quite familiar in the Wellsville area, passed away recently. This space isn’t normally the venue for obituaries but sometimes there is a person in my life who is no longer with us, but who deserves a mention. In my former pre-retirement life, I was an active participant in two “professional societies,” namely the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). I rose, or was coerced, into a leadership role in both of those societies and by virtue of that, was intimately involved with local Industry leadership personnel from both of those organizations listed above. One such individual, David “Dave” Shemeld made an indelible mark on me during the time that we were closely in contact, as various events were planned, and meetings and outings were organized. My first exposure to Dave left me somewhat un-impressed with his demeanor and personality. However, after working more closely with him over a relatively short period of time my opinion changed and my respect for him ballooned exponentially. At the time our relationship expanded, Dave was a Vice President of Engineering.
Dave’s talents and engineering knowledge, including that of the executive offices he held, was evidenced by his history of moving about in leadership positions with many of the various branches of the company known as Dresser Rand, having started his career there when it was known as Dresser Clark (as evolved from the former Clark Brothers Co.)
The following excerpts and personal information are taken from the obituary published by the Virgil L. Howard Funeral Home in Shinglehouse, PA. I take “poetic license” in editing and condensing some of this information.
Dave’s positions and offices started by working in “contract engineering,” serving the Olean and Buffalo plants; Manager of Engineering in the Nippon Clark Machinery offices in Tokyo, Japan; Manager Contact Systems and controls Engineering back in Olean; Vice President Engineering, then Vice President Product Management. Dave was then transferred to Dresser Roots, Connersville, Ind. in 1989 as the manager of engineering. He became the Managing Director/Holmes operations in Huddersfield, England for the years 1991 to 1994. After this period, he returned to Connersville as the Director of Centrifugal Business Units. Dave returned to Olean in 1999 as the Director of Engineering Operations for the Olean and Wellsville locations of Dresser Rand. Dave retired from Dresser Rand after 42 years of service.
This being my last Wrambling of 2023 I would like to thank the owner/editor Andrew Harris, for affording me the privilege of sharing my thoughts, cares, and concerns with all of you. My lifelong dream of being a writer is now realized and I cherish every moment of it.
I wish you, the readers, a very Happy New Year as 2024 is just around the corner. If you wish to offer your comments, cares, corrections or concerns feel free to reach out to me at: IM.Wiserdad@Gmail.com
