Contractions have been used in English since Elizabethan times, but conventions about their correct use go in and out of favor. Writing in 1899 in the monthly magazine Correct English, author and publisher Josephine Turck Baker advised that using proper contractions is fine as long as you consider the context. This is part of a complete episode.
What makes a great first line of a book? How do the best authors put together an initial sentence that draws you in and makes you want to read more? We’re talking about the openings of such novels as George Orwell’s 1984...
To slip someone a mickey means to doctor a drink and give it to an unwitting recipient. The phrase goes back to Mickey Finn of the Lone Star Saloon in Chicago, who in the late 19th century was notorious for drugging certain customers and relieving...
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