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Paul Yeager's language book
Tag Archives: language
Definition: Minority
I just want to get something straight since this sometimes seems to get confused: The word minority, as it applies to a population of people, means “a smaller party or group opposed to a majority, as in voting or other … Continue reading
Change Out the Football
I recently heard an esteemed celebrity football announcer say during one of the Sunday games that the referee was going to change out the football. Change out? What does it mean to change out? Is it more important to change … Continue reading
Posted in language
Tagged change it out, English, grammar errors, language
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Factoid Verus Fact
I’ve received some criticism related to my book (Literally, the Best Language Book Ever) for my tendency toward prescriptivism, and we’ve also had some negative comments on the blog for the same reason, but the “word” factoid probably explains the … Continue reading
The Opinionator on Language
One of the easiest ways to get a discussion going online is to ask people what words or phrases annoy them more than others, similar to what we’ve done on our Your Pet Peeves page. The Opinionator (Stanley Fish) at … Continue reading
Posted in grammar, language, writing
Tagged grammar, ineffective language, language, stanley fish, writing
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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
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
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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
Everything Language and Grammar 