Cloudy and Cool Paul Yeager–Huffington Post
Posted by languageandgrammar on December 8, 2011
By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever and Weather Whys: Facts, Myths, and Oddities
Lead and led are two completely different words with completely different meanings, but since the past tense of the verb form of lead is pronounced the same as the noun form of the word lead, confusion runs rampant!!
For more information, read my most recent AIS Writing Tip, Confusing Word Pair: Lead and Led.
Posted in grammar, language, writing | Tagged: confused word pairs, grammar, language, lead/led, lead/led confusion, writing | Leave a Comment »
Posted by languageandgrammar on November 16, 2011
By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever and Weather Whys: Facts, Myths, and Oddities
We all make mistakes, but when they’re public and funny, we’re talking about perfect blog material. The above image of the famous USS Starprise Entership is one of the many entries included in the English Fail Blog.
Not surprisingly, not all of the examples in the blog are tasteful, so they might not be appropriate for children or even adults who don’t like off-color humor.
Me? I think they’re funny.
Posted in grammar, humor, language | Tagged: english fail blog, grammar errors, humorous mistakes, language mistakes | Leave a Comment »
Posted by languageandgrammar on October 18, 2011
By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever and Weather Whys: Facts, Myths, and Oddities
What if someone who doesn’t like the way in which we make up new words for no reason or change the meaning of existing words as part of superficial trends finds a made-up word that accurately represents his dislike of that process?
Well, if that person is me, he writes a post about it!!
The new “word” is logomisia, and it means, according to the Urban Dictionary, “disgust for certain words or a particular word; a disgust for certain words or for a particular word.”
The word does not seem to appear in regular dictionaries or even in dictionary.com, which seems to embrace any new word or new usage of a word quickly.
Don’t feel bad. We all experience logomisia at some point–even the typical descriptivist who believes that common usage is all that’s needed to change language.
Embrace it, and go ahead–use the new “word.” You know you want to.
For the record, the new (and often useless) word is called a neologism, and the above image is a neologism from plasticbag.org.
Posted in grammar, language, writing | Tagged: grammar, language, logomisia, neologism, new words, writing | Leave a Comment »
Posted by languageandgrammar on September 19, 2011
By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever and Weather Whys: Facts, Myths, and Oddities
You know, sometimes I feel especially curmudgeonly (hey kids, get out of the yard!) when I complain about the way people communicate these days, with a short attention span, sloppy grammar, and punctuation influenced by typing on a mobile device the size of postage stamp. It’s all very impersonal and ineffective.
That’s why it makes me feel better when I see a college student who feels that real communication is becoming more shallow, especially when she does such a nice job of saying so.
Her name is Vera Greene, and she writes for Penn State’s Daily Collegian.
Image from Visual Photos
Posted in grammar, language | Tagged: daily collegian, grammar, language, personal communication, shallow communication, vera greene | Leave a Comment »
Posted by languageandgrammar on August 23, 2011
By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever
I’m of the opinion that one problem with using too many exclamation points is that it doesn’t work–the intended excitement is turned into melodrama. I wasn’t aware of this other potential problem: thievery.
According to the Centre Daily Times, thieves stole letters from a volunteer fire department sign, including four exclamation points. (Spring Mills is an exciting place, apparently.)
No exclamation mark
It’s no laughing matter, of course. How will they be expected to properly show the excitement that is Friday night bingo if they have no exclamation marks left?
Tell me. How?!!!!
Posted in grammar, humor, language | Tagged: grammar, humor, language, stolen exclamation marks, writing | 1 Comment »
Posted by languageandgrammar on July 20, 2011
By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever
This mistaken phrase for all intensive purposes falls into the category I like to call “Close but no cigarette.”
The correct phrase is for all intents and purposes, and it means, more or less, “for practical purposes.” A correct example would be: For all intents and purposes, the game was over in the fourth inning when the Yankees scored 10 runs.
The commonly used incorrect version of the phrase (for all intensive purposes) seems to indicate a sense of urgency, such as an intense situation. This is contrary to the original use of the phrase.
A Google search for the mistaken phrase results in 17 million-plus results. Granted, many of those are entries that point out that it’s incorrect; however, it is a general indication of the widespread use of the incorrect phrase.
For more information, see this Wise Geek entry: What does “All Intensive Purposes Mean?”
Posted in grammar, language, writing | Tagged: for all intensive purposes, for all intents and purposes, grammar, language, mistaken phrases, writing | Leave a Comment »
Posted by languageandgrammar on May 20, 2011
By Paul Yeager, author of Literally, the Best Language Book Ever
Using overly trendy language can lead to all sorts of problems, such as lengthy conversations and strained relationships. To make my point, here is a hypothetical conversation between a mom who thinks she’s hip and a friend who prefers to use normal language:
Mom: “I don’t know what to do. Now that Sarah is a tween, she’s getting more difficult to handle.”
Friend: “Sarah is 13 already? I thought she was 11. I thought her 10th birthday was just last year.”
Friend (agitated and concerned) continues: Geez. I’m getting old fast. Maybe it’s dementia. I’ve got to see a doctor.”
Mom: “No! She’s 11, not 13. Why do you think she’s 13?
Friend: “Because you just said she’s a teen!”
Mom: “I didn’t say that! Aren’t you listening?”
Friend: “Oh my God. It’s worse than I thought. Now, I’m hearing things. I could have sworn you said that Sarah is a teen. Maybe I can call Dr. Phil or Dr. Drew.”
Mom: “No, I said ‘tween,’ not ‘teen.”
Friend: “Dr. Oz. I like Dr. Oz. He can help me. Yeah, Dr. Oz.”
Friend (catching up to the conversation):”Tween?!?!? What the CENSORED does that mean?”
Mom: “There’s no need for that tone. A tween someone who’s not yet a teenager but isn’t exactly a child, either.”
Friend (laughing): “Oh, so you meant to say pre-teen, but you accidentally invented a new “word.” That’s funny.”
Mom: “I didn’t make it up. Everyone is saying it. It’s either tween or tweenager.”
Friend: “No–not everyone. That’s stupid. I call them ‘pre-teens’ like I always have–and so does everyone else I know.”
Mom: “Well, you don’t have to call me stupid. You’re the one who doesn’t know the new words.”
Friend: “It’s not a word. The only time I’ve ever heard tween was when someone was too lazy to say between.”
Don’t let this happen to you!
Posted in grammar, humor, language, writing | Tagged: grammar, humor, language, non-words, tween, writing | Leave a Comment »
Posted by languageandgrammar on April 29, 2011
Although I’ve written about impact before, it bears repeating, especially since more and more people seem to be getting addicted to its use as a verb that means to affect.
Impact is a noun that denotes forcible contact or a collision between objects, as in The impact was strong enough to be felt miles away, or a verb that denotes something physically pressing closely into something else.
I’m not sure where its use as a verb meaning affect started, but it’s a recent development, most likely initiated either a) in order to create false melodrama or b) by someone who has poor grammar skills. Impact sounds much more dramatic than the correct word affected, which is what is usually meant when impact is used.
Dictionary.com, which has never met a grammar mistake it has not only liked but embraced, says, “Although recent, the new uses are entirely standard and most likely to occur in formal speech and writing.” Entirely standard? Why?
In other words, they’re preemptively spouting their descriptivist dogma in an attempt to prove they’re right—–but on what grounds? It sounds like on the grounds that this grammar error has been repeated many times by many people and is perpetuated in part by these kinds of dictionaries.
Sherry
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Posted by languageandgrammar on April 17, 2011
As you know, we here at Everything Language and Grammar are all for making up words whenever it’s convenient because language changes, and since it does, we should all have the authority to change it ourselves.
All right, before you think we’ve gone all descriptivist on you, I’ll stop the sarcasm and give you today’s made-up word: stresscalation.
I guess it means escalation of stress, but some people are too busy and stressed to say all of that, so they’ve shortened it to one, easy-to-use non-word.
Posted in grammar, language, writing | Tagged: descriptism, grammar, language, stresscalation, wrting | Comments Off
