Lifestyles
De Guatemala a Guatepeor – he and she used as object pronouns
Most of us are familiar with the unfortunate but now common error evident in phrases such as “between…
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Excuse my Finnish!
When Clark Gable’s character delivered the line “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn” to Scarlett O’Hara…
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Words with multiple meanings
We are normally comfortable with the fact that a word, at any given time, may have multiple meanings.…
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That which troubles us…
From time to time readers contact me with grammar questions. Today’s column is dedicated to answering some of…
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Me, myself and I, oh my
Several of us refer to it as “administrator speech” and it is, unfortunately, becoming a little too common.…
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Needless repetition or necessary distinction?
I was having dinner with colleagues from my department recently when the topic of redundancy in language came up.…
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Vegetable word histories
Several vegetables common to our gardens come from the Latin word for cabbage “caulis.” Through a series of…
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Myths that make monsters — Part IV
This is the fourth part in a series that challenges four fallacies or myths in our culture’s general…
Church & Community
Myths that make monsters — Part III
This column is the third part in a series that challenges four fallacies or myths in our culture’s…
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Myths that make monsters — Part II
In a previous column, I started a discussion of myths that students often have about how language really…
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Myths that make monsters — Part I
A few years ago, I experienced something completely unexpected in a college classroom that continues to trouble me. I…
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A bouquet of flower and plant word histories
Many of the flowers commonly found in our gardens have word histories worthy of note. For example, the…
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I hate it when you say that!
Recently, my friend Linda and I were talking about language, specifically about language that gets on our nerves.…
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Is language change decay?
In order to be accurate, any description of language must always acknowledge two fundamental principles that are always…
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Where words come from
One of the most fascinating aspects of language and something that interests almost everybody is how new words…
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The aks vs. ask controversy
As I explained in an earlier column, there are two principles that are always at work in language.…
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Between you and me: A grammatical misfortune in the making
These days, it is not uncommon for someone to be corrected for saying “That’s between you and me”…
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Do women really talk more than men?
In her book “Language Myths,” Janet Holmes notes that many languages in the world have sayings or proverbs…
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More on Appalachian English
When it comes to Appalachian English, myths and stereotypes abound. It is not uncommon for people outside the…
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Appalachian English in Virginia, Part 1
Dialectal differences capture our attention, especially those differences or points at which communication breaks down between two people…
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Losing -ed
It’s happening all around us and we don’t even seem to be aware of it. In fact, every…
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It’s really crappie!
Crap-pie (krap-e) n., pl. –pies. Either of two edible North American freshwater fishes, Pomoxis nigromaculatus, the black crappie,…
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Pairs of words that cause problems
It is with more and more frequency for us to see confusion between pairs of words some of…
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The pesky apostrophe
Today’s column is dedicated to a grammar error which causes a great deal of irritation for those who…
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Sayings from different languages
Learning a different language is difficult and time consuming (although ultimately worth it) because different languages divide up…