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Everything from soup to nuts
I've been encountering a lot of ranges lately. Not the kind you cook with or the kind where the deer and the antelope play -- I mean a range used in writing. This is a device used often but not, in my...
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NEW BOLG POST
Because we were driving 70 mph on the highway toward Omaha for a family wedding this past weekend, I was not able to snap a photo of the largest typo I've ever seen. So let me describe it for you. A...
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To whom it may concern
If you're a tweeter, as I am (but just barely), then you've seen the Twitter banner page. If you're an anal-retentive grammar nerd, as I definitely am, then you've been bothered by said banner page.Who...
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Crispety? How cutesy!
Well, looky here. Not only have the language mavens in Nestle's creative department added two new terms -- crispety and crunchety -- to the English lexicon, but they've also attempted to translate...
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Copy editors are nauseous
So why are all copy editors feeling sick to their stomach? They're not; that's not what I'm saying.If copy editors are nauseous, that means they cause nausea, something with which I'm sure most writers...
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Read my FabuBlog!
Along the lines of crispety, crunchety-type advertising nonsense, I give you one of my biggest peeves: taking two words and combining them to make a new, supposedly "WOW" marketing word. Now, this...
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Rock 'n' roll rules
(I Can't Get No) SatisfactionLay, Lady, LayCan't Hardly WaitYou Ain't Goin' NowhereYou Better, You BetMe and Julio Down by the SchoolyardWhat's wrong with these song titles? They're grammatically...
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Don't fear the hyphen
So we got a dog recently. And along with dog comes the obligatory trip to Petco, the animal equivalent to the Baby SuperStore: a warehouse full of everything for the new dog owner. Many dollars later,...
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Can we have a word? (Or better, TWO words?)
I'm not much into the smushing of two words together to make one. I suppose there are good semantic reasons for doing so -- sometimes. And -- say it with me now -- language is always changing.But. Do...
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"Unstopable" nonsense
As Joe Jackson would say, "You can read it in the Sunday paper ..." Yes, I'm dating myself by both quoting Joe Jackson and admitting that I still read the newspaper, but look at the fodder I get.The...
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We will not be replaced, AP ...
The offer below arrived in my inbox yesterday. I almost stopped reading at the headline.Anytime I see something about automated editing of any kind (including spelling and grammar checkers), I bristle....
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Happy holidays from the Jones'? Jone's? Joneses?
I realize I'm a little late in having this be a timely post, but I was reminded several times during the season that the plural form of family names is still a sticking point for most people (even if...
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Party at the Conklins'!
No, we're not really having a party. Not anytime soon, anyway. But I got your attention, right?I promised a post on using both the plural and the possessive with surnames. And you've waited with bated...
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Back-to-back gripes
My father-in-law, a copy curmudgeon of a higher order than I, and a sports fan of a higher or-- ... wait, I need only say "a sports fan" because I'm not a sports fan of any order -- requested that I...
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Want to be smarter than Mensa? Read on ...
Living with a highly gifted child can be exhausting. Especially for someone like me, who is not gifted in any way -- except maybe at putting away large amounts of dark chocolate. (And by "putting away"...
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When being right isn't enough
Have you ever had someone yell at you for doing something wrong, when in fact that person was the one in the wrong? Is there anything more maddening?For example: Years ago, my husband was driving down...
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I appreciate your reading my blog -- yes, "your"
I recently joined an online group for writers and editors. As I was reading the group rules, I came across this sentence:"Your post should allow discussion and debate among members without them needing...
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Lonely onlys
Only is a word that often appears in the wrong place -- so often that this condition should have its own name. You've read about (and, I hope, avoid) misplaced modifiers. What about misplaced...
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Copy editor, Anne Kelley Conklin, has a new post
Hot on the heels of my last post, Lonely Onlys, here is another example of a misplaced "only" along with an example of another peeve of mine: The American Psychiatric Association defines addiction to...
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Be good. Write well.
What's wrong with this picture? Nothing, really. In fact, I rather like the idea of fudge-covered caramel popcorn. And the boots? Well, maybe when I was 20 years younger. Nah. Even back then, I...
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