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Hacking Around With Backronyms Feb. 12, 2020
During my first year of teaching, I supervised about 50 boys in a recreational jogging program. It w... Read More
Mercury and Words Feb. 10, 2020
Words can indeed wound or comfort, motivate or thwart. Even the thick-skinned, even the ones who don... Read More
Some Metaphors Are Beyond Comparison Feb. 05, 2020
We swim in a sea of metaphors. Our everyday conversations teem with the minnows of comparison: We bi... Read More
Sitting in the Cat Word Seat Jan. 29, 2020
On an evening dark and dreary, I was pondering possible topics for my next column when my gray tabby... Read More
Dad Fires Up His 'Range' Rover Jan. 22, 2020
My 23-year-old daughter called me the other day to tell me that her landlord had provided a "new ove... Read More
Blooper Patrol Finds Cash in the Cellar Jan. 08, 2020
Members of the ever-vigilant Word Guy Blooper Patrol have sent me this latest collection of gaffes, ... Read More
Repartee in the Rathskeller? You Don't Say! Dec. 25, 2019
Here's your chance to test your mastery of frequently mispronounced words. I'll even throw in some l... Read More
Unleashing the Primal Word Guy Nov. 27, 2019
Anyone who regularly reads this column knows that I'm an easygoing guy who customarily accepts and e... Read More
Shoo, 'Of,' Don't Bother Me! Nov. 06, 2019
The seemingly harmless preposition "of" is the fly in the ointment of good writing. This pesky pest ... Read More
'Stupid Is As Stupid Does' Nov. 02, 2019
Dear Annie: My husband and I went to dinner with his sister and her husband, who live in another sta... Read More
Whistle(blow) While You Work Oct. 30, 2019
Pity the poor word "whistleblower." Like the intrepid human it denotes, this term has endured a long... Read More
Can You Make Sound Choices Between Sound-Alike Words? Oct. 23, 2019
Some usage distinctions are so tricky that even very intelligent people find them challenging. OK, s... Read More
Now, That's Double Talk! Oct. 09, 2019
The Department of Repetitive Redundancy, led by its leaders Pete and Re-Pete, who are a pair of twin... Read More
Lock, Stock and Peril Oct. 02, 2019
— Answering a Loaded Question: President Donald Trump's recent description of the U.S. militar... Read More
Reading Between the Lines Sep. 25, 2019
Bing Crosby once crooned in a classic song, "You've got to accentuate the positive/ Eliminate the ne... Read More
Solar Set Change Sep. 22, 2019
Today's intense square of Mercury and Saturn plays like an alarming discovery at the end of the act ... Read More
The Whole Truth Sep. 18, 2019
Recently, our company was privileged to conduct a two-day "Born To Win" Seminar for the NBA, and the... Read More
Should We Put 'Ahold' on Hold? Sep. 18, 2019
In reviewing a documentary about TV journalist Mike Wallace, critic Kenneth Turan noted that the fil... Read More
Grinding Out the Origin of 'Emolument' Sep. 11, 2019
President Donald Trump's recent suggestion that the G-7 hold its next meeting at his Doral golf reso... Read More
Two Words, Chanted Jul. 29, 2019
If we can't chant it, we don't want it. Doesn't rhyme. Doesn't have to. It's too long anyway. Like "... Read More
