english usage

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Latest blogosphere posts tagged “english usage”

 

• Mistresses and other women

  
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  Q: I’m surprised that the term “mistress” is still used in the New York Times, as in this recent example : “Jimmy Goldsmith was an inveterate keeper of mistresses.” It’s a very antiquated notion. Care to weigh in? A: You’re right that the word “mistress” shows up a lot in the Times. A search of ...
  4 days ago

• Wooder, wooder, everywhere?

  
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  Q: I’ve noticed that the word “water” is pronounced wooder in Central Jersey, but not in South Jersey or North Jersey. Are you familiar with this pronunciation? Is it heard elsewhere? A: In areas of New Jersey and Pennsylvania that are part of the Delaware Valley region—particularly in Philadelphia—the ...
  5 days ago

• Bilingual education

  
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  Q: My Danish stepmother is completely bilingual, with one exception: she uses the phrase “not that I know to” instead of “not that I know of” when speaking English. It would be interesting to understand where this usage comes from. A: There’s a verbal phrase in Danish, kende til , that means to “know ...
  6 days ago

• A capital offense?

  
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  Q: I’m a New Yorker working in China. I recently began studying Mandarin via the CCTV.com video series “Growing up with Chinese.” Now, I’m a bit confused about something. Shouldn’t the “up” in the title be capitalized? A: The capitalizing of words in titles is a matter of style, not grammar or ...
  1 week ago

• The rhubarb phenomenon

  
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  Q: Is there a term for the phenomenon of a word sounding completely nonsensical when you say it over and over again? That happens for me with the word “only.” I’d be interested if you folks have had the same experience. A: Yes, we too have had this experience. After we repeatedly think, speak, or look at a ...
  1 week ago

• A classical education

  
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  Q: My question for you has to do with my son, Thales, who’s named after the ancient Greek philosopher. Is the plural possessive of his name Thales’ (like Achilles’ ) or Thales’s (like James’s )? Also, do you pronounce it with two syllables or three. A: This is a complicated question, since Thales is ...
  1 week ago

• Eeeeeeeek!

  
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  Q: While editing narratives, I encounter words that use extra letters to show that a character stretches out the word, as in “Waaaiiit!” I’ve suggested a hyphenated alternative, but “W-a-i-t!” looks bad to me in print. Another recurring problem is spelling a stretched-out sound like “VVRRROOOOOM.” Is ...
  1 week ago

• Since Pluto was a pup

  
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  Q: Somehow, 175 older blog posts appeared on my Grammarphobia feed – which gave me a chance to do some review.  The Jan. 25, 2013, post about the expression “since Christ left Chicago” reminded me of “since Pluto was a pup.” A great phrase. A: The phrase “since Pluto was a pup” is a variation of an ...
  1 week ago

• Like the back of one’s hand

  
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  Q: From a Canadian television commercial: “The monks of Oka, Quebec, knew how to make cheese like the back of their hand.” What do you think? It doesn’t sound right to me. A: We agree that the Canadian commercial is oddly phrased. It’s odd for several reasons. First, the expression “like the back of ...
  2 weeks ago

• In a jiffy

  
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  Q: I was packing my latest manuscript in a Jiffy bag when I thought of a question for my go-to word guys. What is a jiffy? A: It’s an instant or a moment, which doesn’t describe the amount of time we’ve taken to get to your question. Sorry, but our in-box has been overflowing lately. The Oxford English ...
  2 weeks ago

• A “media” event

  
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  Q: My college professor took points off of my term paper because I used “media” as a singular noun in the phrase “the impact media has on society.” He insists that “media” is plural. I disagree and I hope you can help me with my predicament. A: Your professor hasn’t kept up with current usage. The ...
  2 weeks ago

• This just in from Amazon–”Margaret Langstaff, A customer just told us your review helped them shop for DEPRAVED AND INSULTING ENGLISH”

  
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  Hahahaha… glad to be of help. “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”  … even an inch to Bescumblers, Pizzles et al. When life has become alothen, this is a good alternative to allochezia. And an anodyne for Present Shock. There is a precedent, there are millions of precedents, but of ...
  2 weeks ago

• “Other” wise

  
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  Q: A colleague and I are arguing over this quote: “An 88-year-old man was killed and three others injured.” I say “others,” as a pronoun, must refer to 88-year-old men in this construction. My colleague says it effectively means three other people. The injured were not all 88-year-old men. Which of us is ...
  2 weeks ago

• The tip of my fingers?

  
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  Q: I remember hearing the country song “The Tip of My Fingers” when I was a young’un in Upstate South Carolina 50 years ago. I’m old enough to know by now, but shouldn’t that be “Tips”? Thank y’all very much. A: As we’ve written before on the blog , song writers are allowed a lot of leeway in ...
  2 weeks ago

• A loaded question

  
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  Q: I recently came across this quote from the Mormon lawman Porter Rockwell: “I never shot at anybody, if I shoot they get shot! He’s still alive, ain’t he?” That got me to thinking. You shoot an arrow, not the bow, but you shoot a gun, not the bullet. A friend of mine says he shoots targets. I’m ...
  3 weeks ago

• Theories of relativity

  
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  Q: Is a group of people a ”which” or a “who”? Here’s the sentence I have in mind:  “It has only been studied in chronic alcoholics, which [or who ] have reduced rates of muscle protein synthesis.” Please help! A: In modern English the relative pronoun “which” isn’t generally used in reference ...
  3 weeks ago

• Earth angles

  
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  Q: I love your blog, but I just want to point out an easily fixed typo in your posting about why English is a Germanic language. In the seventh paragraph of your answer, you refer to “the earth’s population.” The word “Earth” requires capitalization. A: We’re glad you like the blog, but this isn’t a ...
  3 weeks ago

• A matter of course

  
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  Q: In texting me, my daughter used the phrase “of course” (spelling it “of coarse,” naturally), which got me to thinking. How is it that we use “course” to refer to something in a positive manner (as in “of course”) as well as to a path, a route, or a plan—from a “concourse” to an “obstacle ...
  3 weeks ago

• Program notes

  
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  Q: Why do fund raisers on public radio ask for help with the “programming,” rather than the “programs”? I’ve always thought of broadcast programming as the act of scheduling or arranging programs. What are your thoughts? A: We checked a half-dozen British and American dictionaries about the use of the ...
  4 weeks ago

• Is “go viral” going viral?

  
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  Q: Why are so many things going viral? Pictures of cute puppies or kittens or kids may be widely seen on YouTube, but “viral”? An ugly image, and it’s wildly overused. Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. And now you can move on to your next complainer. A: The verbal phrase “go viral” may be going ...
  4 weeks ago

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