Greetings! In this week's archive edition (more about that in a moment) we discuss "bring" vs. "take," Facebook groups for grammar lovers, and singing the lyrics of "Amazing Grace" over the melody of...
Howdy! In this week’s episode of “A Way with Words,” we have a whole culch pile of conversation about Yankee dimes, hanging crepe, educational rubrics, and whether the language you speak influences how you think. Here ’tis: We also discussed...
Scott in Kokomo, Indiana, noticed his daughter’s school using rubric for a grading grid. The word goes back to a Latin word for “red,” and to red ochre used in manuscripts for headings and directions that needed to stand out. In Christian texts...
A hazy, hot, and humid hello! In this week’s archive episode, we take on headlines that make you do a double take, such as “Child’s Stool Great for Use in Garden” and “Milk Drinkers Turn To Powder.” We discuss a few of these bloopers, and why...
slip queen n.— «At the same time, state officials are about to launch an educational outreach program aimed at marine boat owners. Nonnative tunicates sometimes attach themselves to hulls. Particularly vulnerable are so-called “slip queens,” or...
bitch barbie n.— «One 14-year-old described how, when walking in school alone, he would worry that he had a lopsided walk and try to rectify it. Others felt that they were being monitored by the ultra-cool pupils the academics refer to as “bitch...