Author Archives: languageandgrammar

We Harvest Tomatoes; We Kill Animals

Posted on March 6, 2010 by languageandgrammar

I recently heard a radio news interview discussing bear hunting season in Pennsylvania, and the announcer stated that “x number of bear are expected to be harvested.” Harvested?Are you kidding me? We harvest tomatoes; we kill bears. I am not … Continue reading →

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A Chicken in Every Pot, and Weather Whys in Every Bathroom

Posted on February 27, 2010 by languageandgrammar

As regular readers of the blog are undoubtedly aware by now, my weather book, Weather Whys: Facts, Myths, and Oddities, will be in book stores in just a couple of days (March 2, to be exact). One of the advance-sale … Continue reading →

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More Annoying Work Phrases

Posted on February 19, 2010 by languageandgrammar

Work is such an outstanding source of annoying phrases that the topic warranted its own chapter in my book (Literally, The Best Language Book Ever) and, perhaps more impressive, generates 2.7 million results for a yahoo search. An article on CNN highlighted the … Continue reading →

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Useless Phrases

Posted on February 13, 2010 by languageandgrammar

I just realized something. Writing articles and blog entries about annoying words and phrases has become so popular that they (lists of annoying words and phrases) could fill a book–not the annoying words or phrases, but the lists themselves! One … Continue reading →

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Language Game

Posted on February 8, 2010 by languageandgrammar

Can you name the most commonly used words in English? Clicking on the link above will take you to a sporcle.com page that contains a word game that tests your knowledge of common English words. Good luck. –Paul

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What a Waste

Posted on February 4, 2010 by languageandgrammar

While reading an Internet article on politics, I reluctantly ventured into the comments section. Have you ever noticed that many of the commenters can’t spell? This time, it was waist versus waste. The comment writer advised others not to waist … Continue reading →

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More Connected Than Ever Before

Posted on February 1, 2010 by languageandgrammar

We love to say that “we’re so connected” or that “we’re more connected than ever before,” but are we really more connected or simply more distracted? I think the answer is clear. Conferences Attendees, who’ve paid for the privilege of attending … Continue reading →

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Annoying New Word–Intexticated

Posted on January 27, 2010 by languageandgrammar

New products and new technologies often need new words to describe them, but new technology can also be used as an excuse to create a new word when one is not needed. Intexticated is one such example, which, incredibly, was considered … Continue reading →

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The Future is Still Not Now

Posted on January 24, 2010 by languageandgrammar

I’ve written about this problem before, but it’s so pervasive that it bears repeating. While watching the NFL pre-game show in the morning, the question was posed Who wins the game tonight? I’ve also heard on other game days Who … Continue reading →

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Bad Economy–Bad New Words

Posted on January 20, 2010 by languageandgrammar

Whenever I see newly created words, I often think of Sherry’s recently invented word, funfaithful, because her contrived word is at least as good as these new economy words, which were discussed recently on the Oxford University Press USA blog: Funemployed … Continue reading →

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