John in Cincinnati, Ohio, says that if something seems unsurprising to him, he’ll say sarcastically Color me surprised. John is sincerely surprised to learn that the color me X construction, where X is any adjective, goes back to a 1962 bestseller...
When is it appropriate to use the word late to describe someone who has died? Late, in this sense, is short for lately deceased. There’s no hard and fast time frame, although it’s been suggested that anywhere from five to 30 years is about right...
