Category Archives: language

Tsunami is a Thrilling Prospect?

Posted on July 15, 2009 by languageandgrammar

Anytime I hear Quicksilver President and CEO Bob McNight say “A tsunami in surfing is a thrilling prospect, but the tsunami in business is terrifying” in an advertisement, I am shocked that something so stupid and insensitive is used as … Continue reading →

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Comfort-Coated Goodness

Posted on July 9, 2009 by languageandgrammar

I doubt that many people who started on the career path of marketing ever dreamed of the day when they would need to promote a laxative, and it’s not exactly the type of product that’s easy to market. We know … Continue reading →

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Rarely Is Hardly Ever

Posted on July 6, 2009 by languageandgrammar

The rarely ever grammar goof is really just a hybrid of rarely and hardly ever, which both mean the same thing; thus, together, they create a type of redundancy. Use either rarely OR hardly ever, not rarely ever. I rarely … Continue reading →

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More Language Pet Peeves

Posted on July 5, 2009 by languageandgrammar

I always like to say that everyone has at least one pet peeve, and based on the number of comments that we’ve received on the Your Pet Peeves page, I’m obviously right! We’ve decided to occasionally highlight some of your … Continue reading →

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Hot as a Firecracker for the Fourth of July

Posted on July 3, 2009 by languageandgrammar

Language and meteorology are intertwined, of course, since communicating the forecast accurately is just about as important as getting the forecast accurate in the first place, and cliches in meteorology are as ineffective (and annoying) as they are in any … Continue reading →

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Is it Disorganized or Unorganized? What a Mess!

Posted on July 1, 2009 by languageandgrammar

A reader wrote to us to say that she’s heard, on several occasions, people in the media use the word unorganized when they should have used disorganized. If something  (or someONE) is a mess, thus creating a difficult situation, then … Continue reading →

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Yellowbook It

Posted on June 25, 2009 by languageandgrammar

I recently wrote a post about the expanding usage of google it (Googled It on Youtube), but now Yellowbook is actively trying to turn the name of its company into a verb by suggesting that people should yellowbook it when … Continue reading →

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Googled It on Youtube

Posted on June 22, 2009 by languageandgrammar

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. I actually heard someone say “I googled it on Youtube.” Google, of course, is a search engine, not a verb. If it were a verb, it would most likely mean to search for something on … Continue reading →

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Tornadoes Versus Reports of Tornadoes

Posted on June 20, 2009 by languageandgrammar

While you’ll most likely hear both the number of tornadoes and the number of reports of tornadoes in the media this weekend, these terms are not synonymous. Rather than go into that explanation here, I’ll refer you to the literally, … Continue reading →

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Thoughtful Sports Figure?

Posted on June 10, 2009 by languageandgrammar

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 →

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