The Captain’s Log

Sundry

The adjective sundry means a small quantity of or an assortment of. Sundry ultimately derives from the Anglo-Saxon adjective syndrig, which meant separate, special, or characteristic. Syndrig derives from the adverb sundor, which meant separately, privately, or differently. Sundor is also the source of sunder and asunder.

Consider This Sentence

The following sentence occurs in The Washington Post on Apple News. “Masked men set houses, vehicles and a city bus ablaze in Belfast on Tuesday night, torching neighborhoods across the city after a graphic video of an alleged knife attack by a Sudanese asylum seeker went viral, igniting the latest anti-immigration violence to convulse the United Kingdom.”

Too much blather for a summary sentence. Let us reduce the gas. Missing serial comma after vehicles. Let us eliminate the last redundant item and eliminate the need for the comma.

My rewrite: “Across Belfast Tuesday night, masked men set fire to houses and vehicles in reaction to a viral video in which a Sudanese asylum seeker stabbed a man in the street.”

Consider This Sentence

The following sentence occurs in The Canadian Press on Apple News. “Canada and Ireland have agreed to work together on key issues like artificial intelligence, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology and food security, Prime Minister Mark Carney said in Dublin Saturday.”

Clearly, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology are intended to from an entity that does not include food security. Let us gently insert the missing serial comma between the two entities. Those who do not use the serial comma will never truly be able to love or to be loved.

Let us forcefully rip-out like and jam-in such as. Like introduces items that are similar to something while such as introduces specific examples of something. So declares the Great and Terrible Capitano Cucamungero.

Let us energetically push the attribution and sentence modifiers to the start of the sentence because they surprise us at the end especially when they are preceded by a comma. Journal style guides be damned.

My rewrite: “In Dublin on Saturday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said that Canada and Ireland have agreed to work together on key issues such as artificial intelligence, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, and food security.”

Enclave Versus Exclave

Enclave

The noun enclave names a territory surrounded by an alien entity. Three nations are enclaves: Lesotho, San Marino, and Vatican City. Lesotho is enclaved by South Africa. San Marino and Vatican City are enclaved by Italy. Enclave is French and ultimately derives from the Late Latin verb inclavare, which means to fix with nails, to lock-in, or to lame. inclavare derives from clavis, which means key.

Exclave

The noun exclave names a territory that is part of an entity that is separated from the territory by an alien entity. If the territory is surrounded by one alien entity, the territory is both an enclave and an exclave. Kaliningrad is an exclave of Russia. Alaska is an exclave of the USA. Exclave is a 19th century adaptation of enclave. The ex prefix derives from the Latin ex, which means outside of.