Until now, the only Thesaurus on my shelves was Roget’s, and it was gathering dust because I quit using it years ago. I found it more useful to look up a word in a regular dictionary and see what synonyms were offered. Not ideal, but it gave me more options than Roget’s. Now, however, I’ve … Read more
George Orwell didn’t have time to collect many royalties on his phenomenally successful novel 1984. The dystopic novel that has since influenced so many other writers and contributed words and even suffixes to our vocabulary, was published mid-1949. Orwell (birth name Eric Blair) died January 21, 1950. I wonder what he would have thought had … Read more
You won’t find it in Merriam-Webster (yet), but genericide has a legal meaning. The “death” specified as genericide is that of a trademark word that has become a common generic term. Some words that started out as brand names and “died” into a state of generic terms are: aspirin, bundt cake, cellophane, ditto, dry ice, … Read more
Sorry for the small delay. The first round was supposed to go live yesterday, but I had some technical problems on my side. From now on all other rounds will go live on Mondays though. Thanks for all the readers that sent their stories, too. The participation rate was excellent, with over 90 entries, which … Read more
The word acronym was coined in 1943 by Bell Laboratories to refer to new words like RADAR that had been created from the initials of the words in phrases. Distinctions can be made between initial letter constructions that can be pronounced as words (RADAR) and those which can be pronouced only as letters (FBI). Strictly … Read more
No writing tip on this post, be warned. If you are interested in learning Internet marketing and in creating your own online business, though, read on. My name is Daniel Scocco, and I am the owner of Daily Writing Tips (most of you probably know this by now… or so I hope!). Luckily for you … Read more
If you have completed the manuscript of a novel, you may want to consider entering the Second Annual Breakthrough Novel Award Contest sponsored by Amazon and Penguin. Last year’s Grand Prize winner, chosen from a field of 5,000 entries, received a publishing contract and $25,000: Fresh Kills by Bill Loehfelm. The contest rules contain plenty … Read more
It must be one of those “in your face” gestures of defiance. It can’t be that they don’t know better. I’m referring to the way so many bloggers create headlines that place a “most” in front of an adjective that already has the superlative -est suffix: The internet’s Most Rudest and Obnoxious people Mumbai, India … Read more
Every time I see a race called the Chile Pepper advertised in my local paper, I have the same reaction: Chile is the country and chili is the vegetable! Most dictionaries give the spelling chile as a “variant” of chili, but chili remains the most common American spelling. (The British spell chili with two ls: … Read more
Slang changes from one generation to the next, but one thing remains constant: personal names are a frequent source. Here are just a few personal names that have or have had slang meanings. Charlie/Charley – This name has lent itself to a variety of uses. To call a person “a right Charlie” is to call … Read more
Many readers contacted us asking for an extension on the deadline for the short story competition submissions. Considering we had the holidays in between, we agreed to. The new deadline is January 11, which is this upcoming Sunday. The first batch of stories will be published next Monday. The Rules The deadline for the submission … Read more
A reader asks: What is the correct way to write, “there are three two’s in the English language”. The short answer is: There are three twos in the English language. A more thorough answer requires a look at 1. the rule for forming the plural of letters, acronyms, symbols, and words regarded as words, and … Read more