Paul Yeager's weather book
Paul Yeager's language book
Category Archives: writing
Word of the Year–Unfriend
The Oxford English dictionary recently announced its new word of the year for 2009, unfriend. This was no doubt made popular by Facebook, where the act of “friending” and “unfriending” happens all the time. I have wondered about the need of … Continue reading
Grammar and Language Geek Heaven
If you love language and grammar, then the page 100 Fun & Informative Blog Posts Every Grammar Geek Should Bookmark will be like opening 100 little birthday presents. I’m certainly not saying that because we’re numbers 41, 42, and 59–although … Continue reading
Quickly Growing Derogatory Terms
I’m guessing that the late George Carlin might have done a better job with the headline than “Quickly Growing Derogatory Terms,” but now that you can say pretty much anything on television, his headline of “Seven Things You Can’t Say … Continue reading
Posted in language, writing
Tagged derogatory terms, langauge, swearing on television, use of "bitch" on television, use of "douche" on television
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Fake AP Stylebook
Fellow grammar and language geeks might enjoy a twitter page called the Fake AP Stylebook, where humorous (well, at least supposedly humorous) contributions are given to a Fake AP Stylebook. Some of the content is genuinely funny, such as: The … Continue reading
Hitherto and Tautologies
I recently wrote an article about an art exhibit for a local newspaper. Having been both an editor and a copy editor for many years (and those of you who are editors, copy editors, and proofreaders know what I’m talking … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, language, writing
Tagged English, grammar errors, hitherto, language, tautology, writing
4 Comments
Guestimate
This is just a rough guestimate, but I believe that I’ve heard “guestimate” said five times in the past two weeks. If you ask me, that’s six times too many–if you count the time I just said it. I’m not … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, language, writing
Tagged grammar, guestimate, guestimation, ineffective language, language, writing
6 Comments
Adverse Versus Averse
Averse, related to the word aversion, means opposed and should be applied only to people because it is a feeling. It comes after a form of the verb to be and has the word to after it. He was averse … Continue reading
I’m Glad My Parents Aren’t Alive to See This…
The entire languageandgrammar.com staff went to dinner recently and were taken aback by an excessively loud conversation going on nearby (It was so loud that it was impossible not to hear), most notably when a woman around 60 said to … Continue reading
Posted in language, writing
Tagged glad my parents aren't alive to see this, ineffective speech, language, writing
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From Does Not Mean Off
The word from is not synonymous with the word off or the words off of. This is something that I hear fairly often. For example, I got these nematodes off the guy in the lab next door or I got … Continue reading
350 And Counting…
It’s hard to believe (at least it’s hard for me to believe) that we now have 350 (approximately) separate language and grammar posts on languageandgrammar. com, but since we do, it seems like a good time to highlight two of … Continue reading
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