In a recent article, A Freelance Writer’s Basic Guide to SEO, we had several requests asking how SEO knowledge can be used in practice, when writing articles. Naturally, we are only too happy to oblige. The methods I am going to talk about in this article have not been learnt in online courses, nor have … Read more
Medium originates from the Latin meaning middle, midst or means and this sense has carried through its various meanings. The 16th century meaning of intervening substance gave rise to the 19th century meaning of enveloping substance, a term often used in scientific experiments. Since the 18th century, medium has also meant intermediate agency (which no … Read more
In preparing to write a review of No Country for Old Men, I glanced at some online discussions of the film to see what other people were saying. The grammarian in me overcame the movie critic as I found myself paying more attention to the mode of expression than the thoughts being expressed. In Dustin’s … Read more
It took us some time, but we are finally up with another test, the Spelling Test 1. Spelling mistakes represent a common problem on the Internet. Sometimes just one letter separates two words with completely different meanings. Other times we end up transposing a vowel, and the result is hardly noticeable by the eye. Regardless, … Read more
Flabbergast (flăb’É™r-găst’) means to overwhelm with wonder or surprise. If you are flabbergasted, you are astonished with something. I’m flabbergasted — never has my flabber been so gasted! (Frankie Howerd) You, too, can make turkey chops at home and flabbergast your guests, but first you have some obstacles to overcome. (NY Times)
The morning paper for me is always full of surprises that have nothing to do with the news. A recent eye-popper: Bill White, the mayor of Houston, cut a ribbon ahead of the public opening of the Beer Can House, a folk art monument that got its start when the late John Milkovisch began a … Read more
Onomatopoeia (on-O-mat-O-P-ya) is a word that’s hard to spell but easy to understand. Derived from the Greek words for name and making, onomatopoeia refers to the literary device of making words that imitate sounds. It’s a way to emphasize the sounds and it’s a technique we use often. In fact, many of us may not … Read more
Telecommute (verb): to work from home, communicating with a central workplace using equipment such as telephones, fax machines, and modems. Telecommute; the word sounds as though it opposes the freedom that a freelance writing life should bring, and is therefore in no way desirable. But in an age when technology and e-commerce is being embraced … Read more
Anyone who has ever taught knows The Look. It is the eye-rolling look students throw at one another when the behind-the-times teacher uses what she thinks is a perfectly ordinary word, unaware that the word has taken on a new meaning. I can remember the first time I got The Look. I’d read a poem … Read more
If you’re reading every word of this post, then you’re in the minority. More than ten years ago, usability expert Jakob Neilsen published a paper called How Users Read On The Web. He began the paper by saying: ‘They don’t.’ Butterfly Readers Instead web users flit about like butterflies in a garden, pausing at anything … Read more
A friend recently pointed me to a linguistic term that I hadn’t seen before: eggcorn (or egg corn). It seems that in certain dialects eggcorn is a homonym for acorn, as Mark Liberman reported on the Language Log in September 2003. It turns out that there are hundreds of these eggcorns in common use. But … Read more
Stigma (stÄg’mÉ™) is a scar or mark. Often times said mark has a negative connotation, as in a mark of disgrace and infamy. In ancient times, for instance, slaves and criminals used to get stigmas marked on their skins with burning iron. The plural of this noun can also be stigmata. Overweight children are stigmatized … Read more