{"id":28,"date":"2015-05-22T00:14:48","date_gmt":"2015-05-22T00:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.behavioralobservations.com\/?p=28"},"modified":"2015-05-22T15:49:50","modified_gmt":"2015-05-22T15:49:50","slug":"eats-shoots-leaves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/behavioralobservations.com\/be_obs\/eats-shoots-leaves","title":{"rendered":"Eats, Shoots & Leaves"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an earnest yet vain effort to improve my writing skills, I started reading a book about punctuation called,\u201dEats, Shoots & Leaves,\u201d<\/a> by Lynne Truss. Ms. Truss is a self-described punctuation stickler, and within the first few pages, she describes some of her grammatical pet-peeves. On page 5, she also shares this one:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026when we hear words such as, \u201cphenomena,\u201d \u201cmedia,\u201d, or cherubim,\u201d (\u201cThe media says it it was quite a phenomena looking at those cherubims.\u201d), some of us cannot suppress actual screams.\u201d<\/p>\n

This reminds me of a section from Johnston & Pennypacker\u2019s, \u201cStrategies and Tactics for Behavioral Research,\u201d<\/a> where they discuss the use and misuse of the word data (I have the 2nd edition, so I don\u2019t know if this was retained in the 3rd edition, or the upcoming 4th. Maybe Jim Johnston can comment on this?). As the authors rightly point out, the word data is a plural noun, yet in our culture, it is often used in the singular (e.g., the data says this, that or the other\u2026). While this is a pet peeve of mine, and while I use the word in the plural, I have reluctantly accepted the common usage of data as a singular noun with others. The only people I generally bother to educate\/correct are aspiring BCBA\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Another potentially confusing area of language that is specific to our discipline involves how we discuss reinforcement. I am referring to the colloquial phrasing that often goes something like, \u201cI reinforced Johnny when he raised his hand.\u201d Of course, the more technically precise way of describing this contingency would be to say, \u201cI reinforced hand-raising,\u201d with the larger point being that we reinforce responses, but not individuals. Like Ms. Truss, I do my best to suppress screaming under these circumstances, but as with the data example, I rarely point this out to people in order to prevent from exemplifying the \u201cUgly Behaviorist,\u201d stereotype.<\/p>\n

If you are cursed with similar hang-ups, feel free to share them in the comments. Likewise, if you\u2019ve developed an effective coping strategy, let us know about that as well!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an earnest yet vain effort to improve my writing skills, I started reading a book about punctuation called,\u201dEats, Shoots & Leaves,\u201d by Lynne Truss. Ms. Truss is a self-described punctuation stickler, and within the first few pages, she describes some of her grammatical pet-peeves. On page 5, she also shares this one: \u201c\u2026when we… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-podcasts","page-entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEats, Shoots & Leaves - The Behavioral Observations Podcast<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/behavioralobservations.com\/be_obs\/eats-shoots-leaves\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eats, Shoots & Leaves - The Behavioral Observations Podcast\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In an earnest yet vain effort to improve my writing skills, I started reading a book about punctuation called,\u201dEats, Shoots & Leaves,\u201d by Lynne Truss. 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