English Language Mattters - Follow Your Interests

Language Log posted a news story on their blog

Reference to humans with this and that

When is it rude to use this or that to refer to a person? A friend of mine, frustrated by someone who was moving too slow, m... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 7^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Terribly Write posted a news story on their blog

Yup, it’s still there

Yup, the dinosaur is still discovered in China. It hasn’t been undiscovered. Thanks for the update, “The Sideshow... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 7^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Language Log posted a news story on their blog

Evaluative words for wines and songs

There are two basic reasons for the increased interest in "text analytics" and "sentiment analysis": In the first place, ther... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 7^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Grammarphobia posted a news story on their blog

Good luck with that!

Q: Do you have any idea when people began wishing other people “good luck” in a backhanded way that suggests the outcome isn’... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 7^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Language Hat posted a news story on their blog

LARROVITCH AND OTHER HOAXES.

Scott Laming's AbeBooks page Jokes, Hoaxes & Other Literary Frauds has a brief description of a few famous literary hoaxes (T... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 7^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Terribly Write posted a news story on their blog

That’s close, but wrong

Spelling phonetically can produce some bizarre results, like this video title from Yahoo! Shine: Melay? Really? If you&#8217... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 7^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Apostrophe Abuse posted a news story on their blog

The Plural of Lentil is Not…

Snapped this image of yesterday’s front page headline from the “Daily Evergreen,” Washington State Universi... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 6^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

The Afternoon Nap Society posted a news story on their blog

RLS

twitch twitch twitch twitch twitch twitch twitch twitch twitch twitch twitch twitch restless legs syndrome ... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 6^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Fritinancy posted a news story on their blog

Hey, Mister!

For your frittering pleasure: a Flickr set of “weird advertising characters” that’s a nostalgiafest, a kitschapalooza, and a ... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 6^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Terribly Write posted a news story on their blog

There was only one David Niven

Don’t put your trust in Yahoo! Movies. Sometimes the writers get a little confused. There was only one David Niven: E... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 6^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Grammarphobia posted a news story on their blog

Does Mitt Romney’s hair breathe?

Q: Note the new phrase “hare’s breath” in this Slate article. Someone might correct it soon (this is a Washington Post ... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 6^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

The Afternoon Nap Society posted a news story on their blog

Predator vs. Prey

There is a saying among empowered patients: "I may have _____, but _____ doesn't have me." It is our attitude that defines th... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 6^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Grammar Girl posted a music track on their blog

Sentence Fragments

Will they make editors reject your fiction? Similar stories ...

♫ gg 316 34b

· Similar music

Grammar

April 6^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Terribly Write posted a news story on their blog

It’s no secret

Just which secret service agent was with Mrs. Kennedy when her husband was shot? Let’s hope it was someone with the Sec... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 5^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

anonymous 1 person likes this

A day ago

Motivated Grammar posted a news story on their blog

Can descriptivism and prescriptivism coexist?

The terms descriptivism and prescriptivism get thrown around a lot, and it seems most everyone says one of the words with a s... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 5^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Terribly Write posted a news story on their blog

A heads-up display of incompetence

Heads up! Let me give you a heads-up about the writers for the Yahoo! front page: They’re not all that competent when ... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 5^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

anonymous 1 person likes this

A day ago

Language Log posted a news story on their blog

The Literalville paradox

D-AW, "Literally Metaphorically", Poetry & Contingency 4/5/2012: Wikipedia tells me that [Rush] Limbaugh lives in West Palm B... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 5^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

APA Style posted a news story on their blog

Lifetime Experience in a Pocket: How I Subdued the Information Explosion

by Janet Sonne, PhD Would it surprise you to learn that the phrases “information explosion” and “informati... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 5^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Fritinancy posted a news story on their blog

Tagline of the Week

“He got the grill … but I kept the oven!” Thanks to Nancy Davis Kho of Midlife Mixtape for snapping and tweeting thi... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 5^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Terribly Write posted a news story on their blog

Having a little trouble with reality?

Honey, if you’re having a little trouble distinguishing an actor from his role, you might consider switching meds. That... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 5^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Sentence first posted a news story on their blog

“Who to follow” is grammatically fine

As far as I’m concerned, whom is a word that was invented to make everyone sound like a butler. (Calvin Trillin) Who am... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 5^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Michael's English Usage posted a news story on their blog

BRIGHT WORDS

LIGHTENING/LIGHTNING This should be easy, but I bet I catch a few. Explain the differences between the words “lightning” and ... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 5^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Grammarphobia posted a news story on their blog

Feebee minded

Q: Regarding your recent post about abbreviations, I think there’s a trend to morph initialisms into acronyms. What com... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 5^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

About.com: English as 2nd Language posted a news story on their blog

Putting English Together

Understanding the parts of speech will help you construct sentences using these common sentence patterns in English. Move fro... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 5^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

The Truth About Grammar posted a news story on their blog

Not Bellissimo

From The Apprentice (UK). You can have a great product with good a good price and still lose for want of that missing ell. Sp... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 5^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

A Walk in the WoRds posted a news story on their blog

Words that blow your legs off

We've had discussions here lately about whether certain bits of sound coming out of Rick Santorum's mouth are to be taken as ... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 5^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Terribly Write posted a news story on their blog

Olympic-size error

Aw, geez. Doesn’t anyone working at Yahoo! Shine proofread? Uh, no. Filed under: Misspellings Tagged: editing, misspel... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 5^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

The Afternoon Nap Society posted a news story on their blog

Why I Write... About Health

I write because writing is the most efficient and effective way to reach into my soul, grab the slimy bits, pull them out, an... Similar stories ...

Health Grammar

April 5^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Throw Grammar from the Train posted a news story on their blog

Data points

A few language tidbits from the past week’s peregrinations:1. H.W. Fowler demonstrates that he’s OK with using the pronoun th... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 5^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Language Hat posted a news story on their blog

RISKY ETYMOLOGY.

At the end of last year I posted about Patrick the etymologist's blog odamaki; he went silent for a while, but now he's back ... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 5^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Terribly Write posted a news story on their blog

That’s no way to treat the first lady

This is the most insulting headline I’ve ever read on the Yahoo! front page: What kind of statement is that to make ab... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 4^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Terribly Write posted a news story on their blog

Would that be like a soldier?

There was a time when my son would put on a camouflage uniform, modeled after the US Army’s desert camo, because he wan... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 4^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Language Log posted a news story on their blog

Context

Aayesha Siddiqui, "How Western Psychology Needs To Rethink Depression", WBUR 4/2/2012, quoting Jerome Kagan in an interview w... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 4^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Terribly Write posted a news story on their blog

Are we raising anti-intellectuals?

Are we raising grammatically challenged ignoramuses, who fear the labels of “intelligent” and “educated&#82... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 4^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Fritinancy posted a news story on their blog

The Ravages of Fitness

Spotted in the window of GNC: Buff, ripped, and … ravaged? Serious question: Does “ravage” have a positive meaning ... Similar stories ...

Fitness Grammar

April 4^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Terribly Write posted a news story on their blog

Getting your keister kicked

The spelling-challenged writer for the Yahoo! front page should get his or her keister kicked for this blunder: Filed under:... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 4^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Sentence first posted a news story on their blog

Notes on standard English and “bad grammar”

The particular English dialect that began to be adopted as standard more than half a millennium ago came from the UK, mostly ... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 4^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Michael's English Usage posted a news story on their blog

MID-WEEK WORD PLAY

DEW/DO/DOO/DUE Define the four words, “dew”, “do”, “doo” and “due”. What part of speech is each word? Which word can be more ... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 4^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Terribly Write posted a news story on their blog

It’s a new Gingrich

Mitt Romney likely finds it easy to defeat Newt Gingrich for the Republican presidential nomination. I wonder how he feels ab... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 4^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Grammarphobia posted a news story on their blog

Give it up for the emcee!

Q: “Give it up,” MC-speak when asking for applause, hasn’t sat well with me—until now. I recently came upon a similar wording... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 4^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Wordorigins.org posted a news story on their blog

1964 Words

The Oxford English Dictionary has 363 words with first citations from 1964. In that year, mack daddies consorted with skanks ... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 4^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Language Log posted a news story on their blog

Stream of consciousness blather

Lately I've been trying to explain to my friends who don't know Chinese what fèihuà 废话 means. Basically it is composed of t... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 4^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

The Afternoon Nap Society posted a news story on their blog

Faster Than A Speeding Bullet

I once asked my mother what job she would do if she could do any job in the world. "Be a concierge," she said. I blinke... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 4^th 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Terribly Write posted a news story on their blog

How the writer picked up the wrong idiom

English must be a very hard language to master. I really couldn’t say definitively, because I’ve been speaking it... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 3^rd 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Terribly Write posted a news story on their blog

March Madness hits the newsroom

I think James Murdoch just stepped down as chairman of British Kentucky Broadcasting. At least that’s what I read on Ya... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 3^rd 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Terribly Write posted a news story on their blog

This deserves a thumbs-down

Just because Mr. Santorum is holding up one thumb, don’t think he’s giving a thumb up. The digital signal is a th... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 3^rd 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Fritinancy posted a news story on their blog

Name in the News: Oikos

Seven people were killed and three injured yesterday when a man opened fire in a classroom at Oikos University, a small Chris... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 3^rd 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Michael's English Usage posted a news story on their blog

PERPLEXING “P” WORDS

PROPHECY/PROPHESY Explain the difference in meaning and pronunciation of the words “prophecy” and “prophesy”. What part of sp... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 3^rd 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Terribly Write posted a news story on their blog

Do you know what company you work for?

How difficult can it be to spell the name of the company you work for? Pretty difficult if the company name includes a punctu... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 3^rd 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Grammarphobia posted a news story on their blog

Late for the funeral

Q: Mma Precious Ramotswe, the protagonist of Alexander McCall Smith’s detective series, says the mother of her foster childre... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 3^rd 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

About.com: English as 2nd Language posted a tip on their blog

Video: Learn How to Write a Resume for English Learners

We're adding some great videos for English learning here on the site. The latest is a video on how to write a resume es... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 3^rd 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Apostrophe Abuse posted a news story on their blog

Tree’s, shrubs and bushes

Saw this at the Aldi grocery store in Roseville, MN. No tree’s, bushes or shrubs! Well… I guess they get points f... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 3^rd 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

The Afternoon Nap Society posted a news story on their blog

The Itty Bitty Pity Party

"I just had grits for dinner and my coffee pot has broken, how do you think I feel?" - T.B. Sometimes we lose. Not... Similar stories ...

Grammar

April 3^rd 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Books for Psycholinguistics Arena posted a news story

Edited by Roelien Bastiaanse, and Cynthia K. Thompson. Agrammatic aphasia (agrammatism), resulting from brain damage to regions of the brain involved in language processing, affects grammatical aspects of language. Therefore, research examining lang

Grammar

April 3^rd 2012 · Like · Save · Comment · Share · Flag

Mighty Red Pen posted a news story on their blog

A suspicious typo

Sometimes a typo is just a typo. But sometimes, as in the case of this little tidbit sent by local correspondent Amy, it is a... Similar stories ...

Grammar