Boo-Boos

I have accumulated a list of funny little things I saw that needed fixing, and none of them merits a whole diatribe, so I’ll just address these little issues with five mini-tips all rolled into one big one.

Boo-Boo #1:

We were able to run the casing easily because the wellbore did not have a sever dog leg.

I am so glad that poor dog did not have his leg cut off! I’m sure the author meant “severe” not “sever,” which means to cut off. And dogleg is a single word, not two words.

Corrected Example #1:

We were able to run the casing easily because the wellbore did not have a severe dogleg.

Boo-Boo #2:

The 8.5″ section will be dilled over the weekend.

I presume you are going to use some kind of brine with that dill herb to treat the well and pickle it, eh? My Grandma J. used to make some amazing Polish dill pickles. Ah, but I digress. I’m sure the author meant “drilled,” not “dilled.” Spell Checker didn’t catch it.

Boo-Boo #3:

The company plans to reveres the flow in the pipeline.

To revere means to have deep respect or admiration for something, and I’m sure an oil company respects the oil. Surely, though, the author meant “reverse” here, meaning change direction.

Boo-Boo #4:

The current plan will be focused on infill drilling.

Here we have a verb tense problem. The current plan exists in the present, and it has a current focus. The infill drilling will be done in the future, but the future tense verb “will be” pertains to the current plan and should match its subject; hence, we should use a present tense.

Corrected Example #4 (a two-fer):

The current plan is focused on infill drilling.

The current plan focuses on infill drilling.

Boo-Boo #5 is also a two-fer:

RTP to production

RTI to injection

RTP means “Return to Production,” so “RTP to Production” means “Return to Production to Production,” which, of course, is repetitively redundant.

Likewise, RTI means “Return to Injection,” so you do not need to add “to injection” after it. It’s always best to spell out such acronyms or initialisms the first time they are used. Then, whenever you use them after that, just say in your mind what it stands for and see if that sounds right in the sentence.

What is a boo-boo, you ask?

A boo-boo is a blunder or silly mistake. It is also a small scratch or cut.

Example:

Mommy put a bandage on the little girl’s finger, then kissed the boo-boo to make it better.

Boo-Boo was also the name of Yogi Bear’s little sidekick in the Saturday morning TV cartoons. Boo-Boo tried to keep Yogi out of trouble, which he often got into despite being “smarter than the average bear.”

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Profound Quote of the Day:

“Russia, France, Germany and China – they revere their writers.

America is still a frontier country that almost shudders at the idea of creative expression.”

- James A. Michener, American novelist, 1907-1997

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Well Known vs. Well-Known

Postpositive Adjectives

Educated people like to kick around the expression “well known” to make people who don’t know about something feel inadequate in their presence. The trouble is, sometimes that expression is hyphenated, and sometimes it’s not.

Examples:

It’s a well-known fact that a barrel of oil is 42 gallons.

The fact that a barrel of oil is 42 gallons is well known.

So what’s the difference? In the second example the adjective is postpositive, which you’ve probably never heard of, so that will be the topic of today’s Tip.

You see, in English, adjectives normally come before the noun they modify. Except when they don’t, in which case they are “postpositive.”

Postpositive Examples:

Mission impossible

Proof positive

Members present

Reasons unfathomable

Time immemorial

Seats available

According to The Virtual Linguist:

“Postpositive adjectives are common in superlative constructions: the smallest quantity imaginable, the lowest price possible. They are also obligatory after indefinite pronouns: something good, no one interesting, somewhere exciting.” http://virtuallinguist.typepad.com/the_virtual_linguist/2010/02/postpositive-adjectives.html

Getting back to well-known, here is the Rule of Thumb:

If two words are being combined into an adjective that is placed in the usual position before the noun modified, then hyphenate the two words.

If those same two words are in a postpositive position, i.e., after the noun modified, then they are not hyphenated.

Examples:

We are considering in-situ combustion. (normal adjective position before noun, hyphenated)

We are considering combustion in situ. (postpositive, not hyphenated)

Well-made soap has no lye left over. (normal)

If there is no lye left over, the soap is well made. (postpositive)

Benjamin Franklin was a well-read man. (normal)

Benjamin Franklin was a man renowned for being well read. (postpositive)

That was a well-written report. (normal)

That report was well written. (postpositive)

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Profound Quote of the Day:

“A well-written life is almost as rare as a well-spent one.”

- Thomas Carlyle, Scottish philosopher, 1795-1881

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J-Functions

I saw a reference to a J-Leverett function, which I changed to Leverett J-function.

A little history lesson:

You see, in 1941 Mr. M.C. Leverett of Humble Oil and Refining Co. (the H in Humble is silent) coined the term J-function because the plot of his dimensionless water saturation equation describing capillary pressure had the curved shape of a J.
This Leverett is the same guy who came up with the Buckley-Leverett equation the very next year (1942) with his pal and workmate S.E. Buckley. (No, I wasn’t around back then; I had to look it up.)

Trivia Question:

Whatever became of Humble Oil and Refining Co.?

Anyway, there is a Rule of Thumb for words like J-function:

The single letter is capitalized, followed by a hyphen, then the word.

Examples:

X-ray

Y-axis

J-function

V-door

What is a V-door? It is an opening or ramp used to drag joints of drillpipe to the rig floor. On older derricks, the shape of the opening was a V, hence the name.

One of the hazing rituals for newbies is to tell them to go ask somebody on the rig for the key to the V-door. Don’t do it; there is no such thing. It’s like sending somebody to find a left-handed screwdriver.

Answer to Trivia Question:

It is now ExxonMobil.

Maybe vs. May Be

Hooray, I got a question from the Peanut Gallery!

Richard from Canberra, Australia, asks via iThing:

“I think your Technical Writing blog is an excellent, fascinating and helpful resource.

I was wondering, could you look at “maybe” and “may be” for me?”

Sure thing, Richard.

Both expressions indicate a possibility or probability, but they differ.

Maybe is an adverb that means “perhaps.”

If you can substitute “perhaps” and it makes sense, then use the single word “maybe.”

Example:

Maybe I’ll get a chance to go to OTC next year.

Perhaps I’ll get a chance to go to OTC next year.

“May be” is a verb with a modal auxiliary, and this expression is generally interchangeable with “might be.”

Example:

“You may be right, I may be crazy, HEY, but it just might be a lunatic you’re looking for.”

(from the Billy Joel song “You May Be Right”)
To sum it up:

If you can substitute “perhaps,” use “maybe” (one word).

If you can substitute “might be,” use “may be” (two words).

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Funny Typo of the Day:

The Wellness Team at work sent out a memo today about carotid artery screening.

Among those listed as good candidates for such screening were those with “irregular heartbreak.”

Apparently that is much worse for your arteries than consistent, regular heartbreak.

So take heart, ye brokenhearted!
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Profound Quote of the Day:

“I’d rather be a Could-Be if I cannot be an Are;

because a Could-Be is a Maybe who is reaching for a star.

I’d rather be a Has-Been than a Might-Have-Been, by far;

for a Might-Have-Been has never been, but a Has was once an Are.

- Milton Berle, American comedian, 1908-2002

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Fixer-Upper

Today we will feature a sentence that needs to be fixed. This is called a fixer-upper, and yes, that word is hyphenated, according to Merriam-Webster (which is also hyphenated, not a first and last name).

Fixer-Upper Opportunity:

The same is true for other well locations situated nearby Spindletop.

The first thing that hit me is the use of “nearby” instead of “near.”

Nearby means “close at hand.” It is an adjective or adverb.

Near means “close to,” and it is a preposition, which means it takes an object.

Now, let’s look at the sentence and see if “close at hand” fits better than “close to” before Spindletop. If you leave the word “Spindletop” in there, then “close to” fits better; whereas if you leave the word “Spindletop” out, then “close at hand” fits better. Thus, there are two ways we can fix the latter part of the sentence:

1)      …situated near Spindletop.

2)      …situated nearby.

The second thing that hit me is that “well locations situated” seemed repetitively redundant.

Having chosen Option #1 above, there are several ways we can fix this part of the sentence:

1)      …other wells situated near Spindletop.

2)      …other well locations near Spindletop.

3)      …other wells located near Spindletop.

4)      …other wells near Spindletop.

Being a fan of brevity, I would edit our fixer-upper to one of the following:

1)      The same is true for other wells near Spindletop.

2)      The same is true for other nearby wells.
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Funny Quote of the Day:

“To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first, and call whatever you hit the target.”

- Ashleigh Brilliant, British author and cartoonist, b. 1933, now US citizen living in California

Compressor Jargon

There are several terms pertaining to compressors that engineers like to either hyphenate or put as two separate words, but the preferred terms are single words:

Uprate, uprated

Stonewall

Backpressure

Carryover

Restaging

How shall we remember this? Well, let’s compress the two halves of the term together.

Another bad habit these same compressor experts like to practice has to do with the various stages.

Bad Examples:

1st stage

Second-stage

These terms are neither abbreviated with superscripts nor hyphenated.

Corrected Examples:

First stage

Second stage

The same rule applies to dates: nix on the superscripts.

Bad Example:

May 1st, 2012

Corrected Example:

May 1, 2012
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Ponderous Quote of the Day:

“It is more rewarding to watch money change the world than watch it accumulate.”

- Gloria Steinem, American feminist, b. 1934

Customary vs. Customarily

Customary is an adjective that means commonly practiced or found, usual, based on tradition rather than law.
Customarily is an adverb that means usually or commonly or traditionally.
Adjectives modify nouns, whereas adverbs modify verbs or adjectives.

Adjective Example:

The customary coffee and donuts were served before the training class started.

Here the adjective “customary” modifies the compound noun “coffee and donuts.”

Adverb Example:

Coffee and donuts are customarily served before training classes begin.

Here the adverb “customarily” modifies the present passive verb “are served.”

So, if you can substitute “usual,” use the adjective “customary,” and if you can substitute “usually,” use the adverb “customarily.” The –ly suffix is the dead giveaway about most adverbs, which “adhere to the verb.”
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Customary Quote of the Day:

“History warns us that it is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions.”

- Thomas Huxley, English biologist and agnostic, 1822-1895

Stable vs. Stabile

These two adjectives have similar meanings, with a subtle difference.

Stable (STAY-bull) = steady in position or balance; not easily disrupted; sane or rational

Stabile (STAY-Bile) = immobile, stationary; resistant to chemical change, unchangeable

Stable Examples:

That rickety old ladder doesn’t look very stable.

She had a very stable household as a child.

Stabile Example:

For use in steamfloods, tubulars must have coatings that are stabile in salt water up to 500°F.

Both of these words can also be used as nouns.

Stable = a barn where animals are housed and fed, usually with stalls or compartments.

Stabile = a 3D stationary sculpture

Examples:

If we buy another horse, we’re going to have to build another stable.

I wound the baby’s mobile too tight and broke the spring, so now it is a stabile.
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Totally Embarrassing Typo of the Day:

Drivers for a freight company were showing up at the oilfield job site wearing sandals and no safety glasses.

The supervisor sent out an email complaining that the “driver did not have a hard hat on,” except he left the word “hat” out!!

YIKES!

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Poetic Quote of the Day:

“I trust in nature for the stable laws of beauty and utility.

Spring shall plant and autumn garner to the end of time.”

- Robert Browning, English poet, 1812-1889

Subtle Differences

Today I would like to present two cases where the choice of words was just slightly different than what the author really meant.

Bad Example #1:

Thus, the simulator’s predictability would be improved.

Now, the author was not talking about the repeatability or precision of the simulator or how predictably it would behave. The author really meant that the simulator would have a greater ability to make predictions farther out into the future. So let’s say that.

Simulator’s predictability = the quality of the simulator being predictable, i.e., given the same input, you get the same output every time

Simulator’s prediction ability = the capability of the simulator to make accurate predictions of future parameters

Corrected Example #1:

Thus, the simulator’s prediction ability would be improved.

Bad Example #2:

Thus, the problem has been theoretically solved.

Here, the author wanted to stress that the solution was based on bona fide scientific theory, not just empirical correlations.

Has been theoretically solved = maybe it has been solved; we have the theory that it might actually be solved

Has been solved theoretically = has definitely been solved using an ideal set of facts or principles based on accepted scientific theory

Corrected Example #2:

Thus, the problem has been solved theoretically.

The English language is full of such subtleties, and much care is needed to avoid giving the wrong impression when the wording is just a little bit off the mark.

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Funny Typo of the Day:

Mad log (instead of mud log) = angry squiggles and lots of special characters (*#%@#!*&!) made by The Mad Logger

BWAH-HA-Ha-ha-ha!!!
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Famous Predictability Quote:

“I have always believed that it’s important to show a new look periodically. Predictability can lead to failure.”

- T. Boone Pickens. American businessman, b. 1928

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No Commas Here

If you are using just a month and a year, you do not need a comma between them.

Bad Example:

April, 2012

Corrected Example:

April 2012

If you include a specific date after the month, then you do need a comma.

Example:

April 12, 2012

Here are a few other times you do not need a comma:

We need a new pump for Zone A injector QR-236.

That project was assigned to petroleum engineer Jack O’Reilly.

Trivia Question:

What is the shortest sentence in the English language?

(See answer below.)

Here is the Funny Typo of the Day:

FEED for this project will be done by an engineering contractor such as FLOUR.

FLOUR is the white wheat powder you use to bake bread and cakes.

FLUOR is the engineering contractor name, like the chemical name fluorine = F on the periodic chart of the elements.

Answer to Trivia Question:

Go!

Thanks to Peanut Gallery member Ted Lax in Oman for sending this in to celebrate National Grammar Day last month.
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Famous Go Quote:

“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.”

- Confucius, Chinese philosopher, 551-479 BC