What Americans call a cold draft, the British call a cold draught. Noah Webster deserves most of the responsibility for changing the British spelling. Regardless of how they’re spelled, both words rhyme with “daft,” not “drought.” This is part of a...
Mary, from Royal Oaks, Michigan, says she once confused a friend by offering to relieve her of snow shoveling duties with the question, “Can I spell you?” This usage of spell, which refers to substituting for a period of time, has been deemed...
Is the expression right on! just an outdated relic of hippie talk, or is it making a comeback? The Journal of American Folklore traces it back to at least 1911, but it gained traction among African-Americans and hippies in the ’60s and ’70s, and now...
If someone’s a piece of work, they’re a real pain in the rear. Merriam-Webster defines a piece of work as “a complicated, difficult, or eccentric person.” The expression appears to derive from Hamlet: “What a piece of work is a man!” This is part of...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a puzzle called “I Don’t Think So, M-W.” The name is a nod to Merriam-Webster’s word of the day email, which often uses puzzling example sentences, like this one: “Lying in my tent that night, I could hear the campfire...
Should we use try and or try to? Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage says it’s grammatically permissible to “try and go to the store,” or to ask someone to “try and speak up.” However, a fan of formality ought to stick with try to. Still...
