Short Saturday: The Word Factory
We’ve been talking about dictionaries—I always enjoy talking about the dictionary—and now a friend’s sent me this article from the New York Times: “A Journey Into the Merriam-Webster Word Factory.” Oh,...
View Article#WordUse Series: Lexicon Love
It’s not very often I’m stumped by which word to use—and frankly I kinda enjoy it when I am—but I came across a sentence in a manuscript the other day and had a little lexicological tizzy. Here’s what...
View Article#WordUse Series: These Are a Few of My Favorite Words
There are words and then there are … favorite words. Like, you know, cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels, these are a few of my favorite— You have favorite words, don’t you? I do. Again, I...
View Article#WordUse Series: Blame It On the Bossa Nova … er, the Brits
I am more sensitive than most to how many differences there are in the way native English speakers from different regions or countries wield the language. Some years ago in a lengthy conversation with...
View Article#WordUse Series: I’m Over It! (These Words Have Got to Go)
I love slang as much as the next person. As a frame of reference, slang instantly conveys humor, sarcasm, or solidarity. Just think about the meaning occupy has taken on recently, and the myriad ways...
View Article#WordUse Series: It’s Patrick’s Day. Paddy, Not Patty. Please.
The day the Irishman was born, his mother watched the St. Patrick’s Day parade from her room in the Rotunda Hospital overlooking O’Connell Street and the Parnell monument. I’d love to be in Dublin for...
View ArticleWho Are You Calling an April Fool?
A friend of mine wrote: I’ve never been able to decide for certain whether it’s “April Fool’s Day” (i.e., a day belonging to a fool or fools) or “April Fools Day” (i.e., a day celebrating all the fools...
View Article#WordUse Series: The Eyes (Don’t) Have It
Kids, we need to talk. You’ve just got to stop with the locking eyes. They locked eyes. Their eyes locked. It’s cliché, it’s overdone, it’s so stinkin’ melodramatic it makes me want to throw a fit in...
View Article#WordUse Series: Vocabulary Words: Epistolary
Gosh, I love a good word. I love one as much now as I did when I was nine and learned the meaning of the word intercourse. (It means the connection or dealings between persons or groups, or an...
View Article#WordUse Series: What Do You Think About Raised vs. Reared?
A friend of mine asked this question a few weeks ago when one of her beta readers was looking over a manuscript she and I had worked on a lot and felt we had nailed. The respected friend suggested, “It...
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