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Reader Bludgeons 'High Dungeon' May. 01, 2019
Q: I was watching a news program, and one of the guests said someone "was in high dungeon" instead o... Read More
Blooper Patrol Laps Up Lapses Apr. 24, 2019
The ever-vigilant Word Guy Blooper Patrol has been working overtime to apprehend examples of erroneo... Read More
Origins Breathe Life Into Words Apr. 17, 2019
Studying the origins of words can seem like an esoteric enterprise, relegated to nerdy scholars poki... Read More
Being Letter-Perfect Casts Its Spell Apr. 10, 2019
Duz speling evan mattar enymore? After all, you knew what I meant, right? Companies deliberately mis... Read More
Baseball Banter Is Easy-Going ... Going, Gone! Apr. 03, 2019
Batter up and banter up! The new baseball season is in full swing, and the playful palaver of the pl... Read More
'Glide Path' Lands Smoothly on Political Runway Mar. 27, 2019
On "PBS NewsHour" last month, South Bend, Indiana, mayor and likely presidential candidate Pete Butt... Read More
'Predominately' Makes Purists 'Ant'sy Mar. 20, 2019
Q: Why do some people use the adverb "predominately" instead of "predominantly"? Is this an accepted... Read More
Origin of 'Gory' Misses Bull's-Eye Mar. 13, 2019
"The running of the bulls got off to a gory start." That was the first sentence in a CBS News report... Read More
Those Roman Plurals Are Roamin' Mar. 06, 2019
Q. I've noticed that some publications are using "millenniums" in place of "millennia," e.g., "The m... Read More
Today's Politics? Don't Get Me Started! Feb. 20, 2019
During the recent partial government shutdown, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi repeatedly called Presiden... Read More
A Fortuitous Encounter With Al Michaels Feb. 06, 2019
During a recent NFL playoff game, veteran NBC sportscaster Al Michaels reported that an official's p... Read More
Don't Be Judgy about 'Backflash' Jan. 23, 2019
Some random dispatches from the Word Front, including one from the War Front: Flashback to "Backflas... Read More
What 'Caws'es Us To Say 'Crowbar'? Jan. 16, 2019
Q. What's the origin of "crowbar"? — Al Cohen, Newington, Connecticut A. A crow, a robin and a... Read More
This 'Calling Card' Hasn't Expired Jan. 09, 2019
When a TV weather forecaster described a November blast of cold air as "winter's calling card," I wo... Read More
Words That Go Bump in the Night Dec. 26, 2018
As a young graduate student, I once took a flight to Minneapolis that left LaGuardia Airport in New ... Read More
New Books on Language Bring Holiday Cheer Nov. 21, 2018
There's no place like tome for the holidays. These new books will delight the word-lovers on your sh... Read More
These Tools Have Fascinating 'Handles' Nov. 07, 2018
During college, I spent an entire summer with a lute in my hands. No, I wasn't strumming medieval ma... Read More
Eagles and Rams and Bears ... Oh, My! Oct. 03, 2018
NFL owners aren't generally known for supporting liberal legislation, but the investors who founded ... Read More
Should We Be Fraught Over 'Fraught'? Sep. 12, 2018
When a political issue or policy becomes dominant and pervasive, we often develop a shorthand term f... Read More
For Whom the 'Tell' Tolls Jun. 18, 2014
While grading a student's paper the other day, I came across this sentence: "The cost of the U.S. In... Read More
