"Your one-stop source for improper ideology and freedom seeds."
If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought – George Orwell
Two or three years ago, someone called into a National Public Radio talk show and first uttered the phrase “I’ll take my answer off the air,” meaning that he or she would hang up and listen to the answer on the radio. Which, of course, is taking one’s answer on the air. But the phrase sounded […]
You know, if someone ever sends me a literate chain letter, I’ll probably fall for it. Friends, Could you go out and buy a postcard and sendit to my grand nephew. His 6th grade classes is mapping out the postcards they receive as part of a geography class. His address is: Seamus Fields C/O […]
This morning I added several new reference links to my browser’s favorites list. When I’m writing (yes, even writing for friends via this humble blog), I look things up, including things I’m pretty sure I know. Like the title to this entry. Is “on” supposed to be capitalized? No. I thought not; now I’m sure. I drew the […]
. . . but here’s what bothers me when Rush & GWB use phrases like “the Democrat Party” or “the Democrat candidate.” My friend Sue, an intelligent, cultured, well-traveled woman, doesn’t like the word “Jew.” She knows the word in and of itself is benign and neutral, like “Jewish” or “Christian,” but she doesn’t like […]
. . . but have you seen this commercial yet? Jesus. I remember how shocked Donna and I were when we saw our first Ultra Brite commercial . . . remember the toothpaste that gave your mouth “sex appeal”? That was in the late 60s or early 70s, back when you couldn’t say the word […]
Some time ago, on my other blog, I expounded on “internet” versus “Internet.” This is what I said: Yeah, I know we’re supposed to capitalize “internet.” Some people even capitalize “web.” I won’t do it. Is internet capitalized because it’s relatively new? What about telegraph, telephone, and television? Did they capitalize those words when they were […]
These days I’m running the gauntlet of writers and publishers. Does running the gauntlet make you cringe? God, it does me. But not the writers and publishers of One Bullet Away and Cobra II: the Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq. In the first, which I recently finished, the writer runs the gauntlet four […]
As in: the preverbal nail in the coffin. Other examples, picked up here and there: Living in Georgia is the eternal pit of the preverbal Hell The preverbal hell on earth End up in the preverbal dog house I’m tempted to classify “preverbal” for “proverbial” as an eggcorn, but on second thought it’s more of […]