I’m one of the diminishing breed that wakes to a rolled newspaper at my front door. Sadly, I often find food for DWT posts when I open it. This morning not one, but three pet peeves leapt to my eye, all from the same story. I won’t use real names. The article is about the … Read more
One of the fastest growing segments online is freelance writing. As companies and organizations move to the Internet, they discover the importance of producing quality content, and as a consequence they start looking for freelance writers. For people who like to write, this is quite an opportunity. The only problem is that getting started is … Read more
Reader Nancy was puzzled by a headline in her local paper: Colton code stirs ethics rhubarb.” … I have never seen rhubarb used this way. Any thoughts? NOTE: Colton is a town in California. It has a new ethics code for City Council members, one of whom has refused to sign it. My mother was … Read more
While looking up something else, I came across the slang word spondulicks, meaning “money.” It has a U.S. origin, but I don’t recall having ever noticed it before. It’s in the OED: spondulicks: n. slang. orig. U.S. [Of fanciful formation.]Â Money, cash. Also, a piece of money, a coin. 1857 in R. H. Thornton Amer. Gloss. … Read more
According to the Wikipedia entry for novelist Cris Mazza, the term “chick lit” was coined by Mazza and Jeffrey DeShell in an anthology of “postfeminist fiction” published in 1995: While originally meant to be ironic, the term was co-opted to define a very different sort of work. Bridget Jones’s Diary is seen as the definitive … Read more
I recently received a comment on one of my posts that said, “This is gay.” As the comment made no sense in the context, I was puzzled. For those fogies like me who hadn’t realized that the word gay has morphed again, here’s a timeline of its changing meanings as illustrated in the OED. gay: … Read more
An odd-looking contraction I’ve noticed recently is “there’re” for there are. Haiti Airport Baggage Handlers, There’re Just Too Many! There’re too many kids There’re Just A Few Days Left If There’re Seasons…(song title) Contractions are supposed to be easy to say. For example, they’re for they are is easy to utter, but adding another re … Read more
In a previous DWT post, Michael argues that there’s no such thing as a true synonym because a word’s connotation always colors its denotation. Commenting on the article, a reader refuted Michael’s argument with the words peculation and embezzlement: I have found one [an exception], and i dont know why it exists. Peculation; definition is … Read more
My post about the use of than as a preposition left a reader wondering about some of the grammatical terms used in the explanation: I’m…a bit unsure about the terms ‘demonstrative pronoun’, ‘conjunction’ and ‘preposition’ in this context. Could you please explain this a little more? The terms being asked about are from this statement: … Read more
Although I used The DaVinci Code as an example in my discussion of the mystery, suspense, and, thriller genres, Dan Brown’s novels might be more appropriately placed in the action/adventure category. The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (NC) includes Brown’s The Lost Symbol (2009) in its list of Action-Adventure reviews. This explanatory note … Read more
Commenting on my post about the spelling “thru” for through, a reader writes: And, I faintly remember that there are some 52 ways of spelling the syllable -shun. Can you please, in one of your articles, or series of them, [list] them? As far as I can remember there are only two words that end … Read more