I have a dog named Marko. He is a German shepherd and weighs over 75 pounds; people generally consider him to be a big scary-looking dog. The mailman would rather walk around the block than come all the way to our door with the mail if Marko is nearby. And you can forget about the […]
Shaving Off Excess Words Read More »
On September 19, 2010, Gene Weingarten published an article in The Washington Post titled “Goodbye Cruel Word: English, It’s Dead to Me.” Here are some excerpts. The end came quietly on Aug. 21 on the letters page of The Washington Post. A reader castigated the newspaper for having written that Sasha Obama was the “youngest”
Notes from the Demise of the English Language Read More »
I am distressed when I see otherwise educated people making silly mistakes. People judge your professionalism and intelligence by the way you use words, so please, use language correctly. For example, take the word drown. The past tense of drown is drowned. The process of becoming drowned is drowning. Ladies and gentlemen, I do not
“Helf! I’m Drownding” and Other Abominations Read More »
Last week’s post highlighted a few qualified absolutes such as “most unique” and some silly redundancies like “delete out”. Here are a few more for the record book: ATM Machine Trick question, folks. What does the “M” in ATM stand for? Whether or not vs. whether The word “whether” implies the “or not”; it’s unnecessary
More Redundancies: ATM Machine to Horrible Tragedy Read More »
Some phrases exude redundancy and illogic. I sometimes wonder if people think, “If one word is good, two is better – if I say it twice, people will be sure to understand me.” In refuting this view, I quote Thomas Jefferson, who said, “Never use two words when one will do.” Here is a partial
