I can’t seem to get enough of dialect studies. I’m always curious about whether the words and pronunciations I use are mainstream, regional, or just plain weird. Naturally when I came across a study I hadn’t seen before, I jumped right in. The Cambridge Online Survey of World Englishes does include the usual pop vs. … Continue reading The granddaddy of dialect surveys
Several of my newsletters this morning included a story about commonly mispronounced words, and one of the words addressed was omicron. Oh good, I thought, somebody is finally going to educate all those reporters who keep stumbling over a word that seems to appear 1,000 times a day. (Not to mention President Biden, who kept … Continue reading Pronounce ‘omicron’
I try mightily to maintain my composure when the English language goes off the rails, but having spent my working years as an editor makes it difficult. Being “old and set in my ways” makes it even harder. English is a constantly evolving language — which is both admirable and distressing, depending on the situation … Continue reading Return of the Grammar Grinch
I heard it again this morning: NASA pronounced “nassau.” NASA is not pronounced “nassau.” Nassau (NASS-aw) is a city, the capital of the Bahamas. NASA (NASS-uh) is an acronym for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. And that was enough to pry loose this list I’ve compiled over the last six months or so, compliments of … Continue reading Media mishaps: Grammar grinch gripes again
Earlier this year I looked for the 2020 Banished Words list from Lake Superior State University and somehow managed to miss it until now. This is the 45th annual list published by the university and, as always, includes the words most frequently suggested during the year by the general public. For more about the list, … Continue reading Finally, the banished words for 2020
As most of my regular readers already know, I’m a retired editor. And as you might have guessed, I have followed — with considerable consternation — the discussions and explanations regarding the use of they as a singular pronoun. I am well aware that is has been used as a singular pronoun for hundreds of … Continue reading They is just sayin’
