Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

I guess I could have said that the blog is designed to open the Department of Pet Peeves, one of five departments I run with a free hand to manage as I see fit.

Because, of course, I am a management guru.

That said, I retained the alternative blog headline above rather than just opening the Department of Pet Peeves. 

In retirement, one of my favorite pursuits is to continue writing, so it is important to point out my idiosyncrasies.  Writing is something I did in all my professional jobs, so it is relatively easy to continue.

Usually, I write just for myself because I get a lot of satisfaction in the process of putting words on paper, albeit on my laptop, which is always close by.

If few others read what I write, no matter.  I am not trying to influence them, though with friends, I do enjoy talking about subjects like golf, politics, and religion as I write about those subjects.

As I have noted before, I like words better than numbers, charts, graphs, or even photos.

So it was that a story in the New York Times captured my attention as it appeared under this headline:  “The art of the verb.”

Here is one key paragraph:

“…I’m fascinated by the tremendous power of verbs — language’s little fireballs — to shape how we understand the world.  Verbs rule communication.  Many linguists go so far as to see sentences as extensions of verbs with other accouterments.”

I agree.

Without perfect achievement, I always have thought about trying to use “active verbs.”  Sometimes it doesn’t work, but, if you try, you’ll find they often make writing better – “language’s little fireballs.”

So this is one of my pet peeves — when writers don’t take time to use active verbs.

On to other of my idiosyncrasies – or pet peeves:

• Don’t use the phrase “centering around.”  It is not possible.  You can “center on,” not “center around.”

• Don’t mispronounce etc. – it is not “ec-cetera.”  It is “et-cetera.”

• Try to avoid using too many abbreviations.  Why?  Just my choice.  For example, this means that I spell out the titles Senator and Representative, not Sen. and Rep.  It also means I spell out the title Governor, not Gov.  Same with months of the year.

• Special capital letter rule:  It’s easy for many people to use too many capital letters in what they write.  But let me cite an example where I think a capital letter is appropriate and inappropriate:  The word “Administration” when it applies to the federal government as in, for example, the Bush Administration.  That was and is appropriate.  However, when it comes to Donald Trump, I decline to apply a capital letter to the Trump administration because there is no way Trump administers anything as he flies by the seat of his pants.

• Spell out %:  I always spell out the symbol %, as in 10 per cent, not 10%.  Why?  Just a personal preference, much like abbreviations.

• Try to avoid words that end in the letters “ize.”  Such as the word prioritize.  Say this instead – “decide what is most important.”  Or, another example.  One of my former business partners often used the word “catalyze.”  I have no idea what it meant.

• Don’t use nouns as verbs.  A couple examples.  The word “helm” often is used these as in “he helmed the ship.”  No.  The ship has a helm.  It is a noun.  Or, the word, “golf.”  As in “he golfed his ball.”  No, he hit his ball.  Golf is a noun.

• In sentences you write, make sure the noun agrees with the pronoun.  When a sentence like “the committee” did “their” work appears, it is called a pronoun agreement error.  That’s because a singular word – “committee” – is used with a plural pronoun – “their.”  Don’t do it.  It may sound okay, but it is wrong.  The pronoun should be “its,” as in the “committee did its work.”

• The words “between” and “among.”  They need to be used correctly.  Yesterday, a Wall Street Journal headline writer said this:  “Why U.S. Allies Are Caught Between War, Trade and Trump.”  Impossible.  You cannot be caught between three things.  The word should have been “among.”

Now, if anyone reads this, aren’t you glad you know that all this matters to me.