Isn’t a Casket a Coffin?
Last night I was skimming through Miss Thistlebottom’s Hobgoblins (Theodore M. Bernstein) when I came across a curious thing. Both William Cullen Bryant and James Gordon Bennett (the Younger) once warned against using “casket” in place of “coffin.” Funny, I thought the two words were more or less interchangeable, except one was perhaps a little [...]
Parrots Make Lousy Pets
Today’s post has absolutely nothing to do with writing or editing. I considered making up some excuse about not wanting you to think I am a one-dimensional person whose eyes are always glued to either a computer screen or grammar book. Truth is, I just wanted to share some things I learned over the weekend. [...]
A Long Road to Copyright
Today’s Washington Post features a front-page story about a serious backlog at the U.S. Copyright Office (“© 2009? Wishful Thinking, Perhaps, as Backlog Mounts”—may require registration, but worth it to read the story’s last two paragraphs). Seems they started using a new electronic system to speed things up, and instead things have gone somewhat kerflunkity. [...]
The Origins of OK
How many times a day do you say or write “OK”? Quite a few, right? Now, have you ever wondered where “OK” came from? Perhaps not, but since one of my main jobs is to tell you things you never knew you wanted to know, I am about to tell you some of the history [...]
Capitalizing on God
Certain things create tension between authors and editors. Comma placement can lead to arguments, and once in a while “lie” and “lay” will stir up trouble, but those situations are usually easy to resolve. One issue that can be a little bit tricky is the capitalization of “God.” It’s not easy convincing someone they are [...]
Dear Toyota
I was watching television one recent evening, trying not to read or edit anything at all, when suddenly my eyes were assaulted by a Toyota ad declaring astoundingly stupendous deals on “Corolla’s,” “Camry’s,” “Sienna’s,” etc. Oh, my eyes. To be fair, I must tell you I cannot remember whether this was an ad direct from [...]
Bartleby.com
Bartleby (www.bartleby.com) is an excellent resource for writers, students, researches, and other curious people. I use it most often to search for quotations, but the site’s content is wide-ranging. You can search through encyclopedias, a dictionary, usage and style guides, poetry collections, and much more. Best of all, the site is very easy to navigate. [...]
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