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Paul Yeager's language book
Author Archives: languageandgrammar
If I Could Put Time in A Bottle…
Time capsules have been part of the high school curriculum for generations, with good reason. Children of today can have the enjoyment of picking out a few symbols of their time to bury for future generations to discover, and those … Continue reading
Posted in off topic
Tagged McDonald's, mountain dew, off-top, time capsule. Sports Illustrated
2 Comments
Thoughtful Sports Figure?
We usually give examples of poor communication in the blog, but I recently heard a quote from an unusually candid and thoughtful sports figure. Since sports personalities usually answer in nothing but cliches, I thought the exception was worth noting. … Continue reading
Posted in language, sports, words to live by
Tagged Dan Bylsma, honest communication, language, NHL, Pittsburgh Penguins, sports, words to live by
4 Comments
Post-Consumer Material
We’ve all read something that was so full of convoluted words and confusing sentence structures that we knew it had to be written by someone very smart; it was clearly over our heads. What was REALLY happening is that we … Continue reading
Posted in language, writing
Tagged inflated language, language, post-consumer material, recylced, writing
3 Comments
Passive Versus Patient
As I mentioned in the first Words to Live By post, Desperation Versus Determination, positive language leads to a more positive life. I also believe that any negative word (and associated emotion, belief, or action) has a positive side that … Continue reading
You Said It…
I’m sure that our regular readers have noticed that we’ve occasionally taken to making posts out of your pet peeves, so that’s what we’ll do again today. We agree with most of them. We’ve written about some of them (links … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, language, writing
Tagged grammar, grammar mistakes, language, language pet peeves, writing
1 Comment
Why Just Unfaithful? Be FUNfaithful!
Here’s one for all of the descriptivists out there. Since many of them who write to us insist that as long as people use an arrangement of letters, that means it’s a legitimate word, I thought it might actually be … Continue reading
Posted in humor, language
Tagged funfaithful, grammar, humor, language, staycation, unfaithful, writing
2 Comments
Language of Forecasting
I’ve trained many young weather forecasters in my time, and I’ve always said that even the most accurate forecast is of no use if it’s not communicated well. On my weather blog (cloudyandcool.com), I’ve taken a look how well the … Continue reading
Posted in language, weather
Tagged language, long-range forecast, summer 2009 weather forecast, weather
Comments Off on Language of Forecasting
It’s Memorial Day
On the radio last night, I heard a talk-show host say I hope there’s lots of laughter at YOUR house this holiday weekend. Lots of laughter? Was she kidding? Does she know that it’s MEMORIAL DAY? It’s a solemn holiday, … Continue reading
Posted in off topic
Tagged Holiday, Memorial Day, stupid people, summer holidays
Comments Off on It’s Memorial Day
Language of Freedom
This is the Memorial Day weekend, of course, and it is a solemn occasion (Enjoy the Funeral), not just the unofficial beginning of summer, the time when every gallon of paint in the country is on sale, and the first … Continue reading
Mantuary
The good news is that I might have been too harsh on one of the terms that I’ve made reference to in the past–man cave. Sure, it’s annoying, trendy, and sexist with a seventh-grade maturity level, but at least it’s … Continue reading
Everything Language and Grammar 