If you pronounce short-lived with a long i, you’re saying it correctly– at least by the standards of the 1600’s. Today it’s far more commonly pronounced with a short i, though both pronunciations are acceptable. This is part of a complete episode...
Chai tea is not redundant—just tasty. But that doesn’t stop people from debating the question. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Chai Tea Redundancy” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Christina, and I’m calling from...
Although a few sticklers cling to the traditional pronunciation of short-lived with a long i, the vast majority of Americans now pronounce short-lived with a short i. Long live the latter, we say. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Denise in Webster, New Hampshire, asks about jonesing for, now ordinary slang for craving something badly. It comes from the speech of people using heroin, where jones was already current by 1962 and may go back to the 1950s. The word has done what...
David, a lawyer from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, subscribes to the Lexis Legal News Brief, and wonders about the connection between lex meaning “law,” and the lex which refers to “words.” While lexis refers to the total stock of words in a language...
One hundred years ago, American journalist and satirist Ambrose Bierce published a curmudgeonly book of writing advice called Write It Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults.