word usage | word usage
Sep.24.2008
How did "Skirr" become obsolete?
Collins dictionary asks public to rescue endangered words
By Iain Hollingshead
Old words die hard at Collins dictionary. As we reported this morning, the introduction of 2,000 new words into the new edition has put some of the older ones under threat....
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Sep.23.2008
The reason is threefold: 419 hits The reasons are threefold: 597 hits
I've mostly heard people use that plural one. But today I came across the "the reason is threefold" (Yes, it's another thrilling day of copy editing).
Dictionaries don't address this issue directly. But, the way I...
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Aug.22.2008
atrocious vs. atrocity
Here are some sample hits from a search for the word atrocious.
The atrocious sequel to Are We There Yet?
We've been keeping tabs on the Associated Press's atrocious campaigncoverage this year.
$100 million private-equity buyout boosts (are) atrocious
Do you remember the...
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Aug.13.2008
Someone asked me yesterday whether 'as' can be used to mean 'because.'
Yup. It can.
Webster's New World College Dictionary, American Heritage's fourth edition, and Dictionary.com all list because as one of (many) definitions of as. Also good to know ...
As, when used to mean because, is a...
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Aug.12.2008
As someone who’s made a career (sort of) out of tilting against grammar snobs, it’s hard for me to admit the darker side of my true nature. Yet when I’m honest, there’s no denying it: I have a meanie streak. And it goes way back -- all the way to middle school.
In those pre-Blackberry days, girls...
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Jul.23.2008
As regular patrons of my website know, I am currently on leave. My wife read my rough draft of The Eighth Day. She's the first person to read it in its entirety other than myself. She dutifully said she loved it, of course. A couple times, I caught her breaking out in goose flesh, which I believed...
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Jul.14.2008
This post was inspired by a woman who writes for one of the publications I copy edit. She’s a good writer. I like her writing. So it is with some hesitation that confess that I want to grab her by the shoulders and shake her until a certain word falls out of her head.
You see, right in the middle...
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Jul.01.2008
It was the late 1990s and I wanted a cheeseburger. Settling instead on a reasonable facsimile thereof, I walked into my local McDonald’s. The place was swamped – like David Hasselhoff-sighting swamped – and my prospects for scoring a meal before low blood sugar levels laid me flat on the dirty,...
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