Funny how “more cross words” and “more crosswords” can seem to be the same but are actually so diferrent. In this article, clearly the words are good ones, not cross ones. But to get your attention, I broke the word…
Instinctive and Instinctual
While the words instinctive and instinctual share a common bond, they’re also subtly different when used accurately. That said, many writers do use them as they see fit, even if the word isn’t the right one, probably because so few…
The Impossible English Language!
Talk about showcasing how impossible the English language can be! Thanks to John Philpin for sharing this on one of our mutual BIZCATALYST360° sites in response to something I wrote in my column “All in All.” There are many much shorter versions…
Cross Words
Now, before you write and tell me that crosswords is usually written in solid form, trust me: I know that. But cross words is exactly what the right term is for these challenges in a recent puzzle in the Boston Globe Sunday magazine…
Time Magazine: A Wow Issue!
I just got a new subscription to Time magazine, something I hadn’t had in years. Thanks to a friend who gave me a couple of copies over late summer, I decided to get my own. So, this past week’s double edition…
Giving Thanks (thanktitude)
While thanktitude isn’t a real word, it fits the fill for me as it really means giving thanks. In the U.S., this weekend marks the beginning of our year-end holiday season (for most, anyway). It starts with Thanksgiving, and goes…
Vocabularies and Tough Words
In this era of mankind, we have extensive vocabularies with some tough words, no matter our language. Obviously early humans didn’t have words for things, at least not words they uttered out loud to exchange an idea with another human.…
Tagging Others on Social Media
Have you noticed how many writers here on LinkedIn and other platforms are tagging others, either at the beginning of their article or in it? I know the reason is often to alert their network to an article they’ve written…
Spellcheck and Grammar Check …
There are two online tools I am grateful for: spellcheck and grammar check. Since I cannot spell for beans, spellcheck is a life- and reputation-saver. Even though I’m an editor and a corporate trainer who teaches American grammar, which includes…
Indefinite Pronouns
Regarding indefinite pronouns, one of my connections (Ranjith Abraham) sent me this note: “I was reading an article and came across inconsistent usage of anybody, anyone, somebody, someone.” Would you please address the differences (if any) among them?” What Ranjith…
Please Stop Calling Us “Elderly”!
Please stop calling us elderly. We’re Boomers. We’re alive. We’re thriving. We’re not dead yet. We. Are. NOT. Elderly. Recently, I have become aware of newscasters talking about those in accidents / house fires / holdups being labeled “elderly.” At…
Limits of Language
Did you realize there are actually limits of language? Ann, a friend of mine, related this story to me recently: She was playing cards, and she remarked she needed a 7 or 2. Her partner threw her a 2. Ann…
OK, You Asked for it — a Lie / Lay Quiz!
This past Monday I published an American Grammar Checkup post on three difficult punctuation marks so many writers misuse, and I asked if there was anything else I could write about that would help my readers. David B. Grinberg said he’d love to…
Ease Up on the Jargonese, Please!
Years ago, one of my daughters got a job in an industry she wasn’t familiar with. After a couple of weeks of learning the ropes, she showed me her paper notebook (this was in the late ’90s, I think, before…
More Cross Words from a Cruciverbalist*
Yup, it’s back — the Wednesday Words compilation of words in crossword puzzles that I had to look up once I figured out the answers. There’s nothing quite so humbling as realizing that I can put the correct letters…
Wednesday Words & Woes: One Real (But Not Accepted) and Two Not Even Real
Questions arise constantly about words — which to use, which to never use, and why. In my Brush Up on Your American Grammar workshops, I refer to some words as not accepted or not standard, meaning they are in dictionaries…
One Word or Two?
English is a weird language. I can’t speak for any other one, but we often have words with the same letters in them, but sometimes the words are really two separate words and sometimes they’re just one solid word. As…
A Productivity Killer
Are you familiar with the term “productivity killer”? Funny. When we were kids, most of us heard and maybe said, “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” You remember that, right? Then we grew…
A for Effort!
Do you give yourself an A for effort for what you do right? Frequent readers of my blogs know that each Tuesday I publish a “Tuesday Tricksters” list of miserable words – known as homophones (words that sound the same,…
Yiddish for Everyone!
Yiddish for everyone! As I was researching some sites for fun stuff for Christmas and Hanukkah (also spelled Chanukah), I saw a list of Yiddish words and just had to use it. This is a list — I doubt it’s…
Contronyms
Thanks to Deb Helfrich for suggesting this post about contronyms! For all who think words don’t matter — that’s not YOU, right? — I offer some proof that they do using a few words taken from an article I recently…
Palter? Really? Yes, really.
Palter? Really? Yes, really. Lauren McDonald shared a post here on LI yesterday — the one seen below, which is very worth reading — and for a minute I thought the headline had a typo in it. The headline read…
Commonly Confused Words, #1
Hi everyone — it’s Wednesday, and it’s time for a quiz to make sure everyone reading this is comfortable with some of the most confusing words in English. I’m keeping the quiz short, so that you can concentrate on the…
Anagrams
Did you ever play anagrams when you were a kid? You know, rearranging letters in a word to make another one? They were lots of fun — for some of us, anyway — and they did teach an important lesson:…
Fun With Words!
A friend — Sherryl Perry — sent me this list three years ago, and I just found it again because I was updating my “Brush Up on Your Communication Skills” workbook, and I needed a couple of silly quotations at…
Fun With Jeopardy!
I love Jeopardy! I really, really LOVE this show! I don’t know if it’s shown anywhere except the U.S., but I hope it is. The premise of the show is that the contestants (and everyone watching) are given the answers,…
More “Cross” Words
Longtime readers of my posts know that I love words, and I love crossword puzzles. But I have to say, sometimes I wonder how or why a certain word got used in one of the puzzles. Sometimes I’ve never seen…
Wednesday Words & Woes: Words That DO Exist
It is way too hot to think heavy thoughts here in the northeast part of the U.S. We are sweltering under extremely high temps and humidity. So for today’s post, I pulled a page out of my American Grammar long…
More Words I Never Knew Existed!
Living in eastern Massachusetts, I (along with thousands of others) read The Boston Globe newspaper and its magazine section every Sunday. There is always at least one interesting–sometimes really tough–crossword puzzle to solve, and sometimes I don’t even know the…
Passed & Past
Today’s edition of Wednesday Words & Woes comes thanks to Paul Croubalian, who suggested the words, two of the tougher ones to learn because they’re true homophones. And as we all know, spellcheck will not help us here. The…
Assure, Ensure, Insure
******************* It’s funny how words can get confused in our minds, isn’t it? These three — almost homophones with similar meanings — are often misused. Let’s see if we can finally get a grip on them, OK? First, the words…
To, Too, Two
Sometimes I get lucky and a bunch of readers ask for help on the same homophones — you know, those pesky words that sound the same (or nearly so) but are spelled differently and have different meanings. Quite a few…
Pried and Pride
Yes, these words sound alike; they’re homophones, after all! But they mean two different things, and since I recently saw one of them in a post when the other one was meant, I figured we might as well take a…
Compose and Comprise
OK, folks — fasten your seat belts! It’s gonna be a bumpy ride here. I’m about to take away a favorite phrase you may be writing or saying, one you probably have never given any real thought to. You may…
Everyday and Every Day
Who is NOT familiar with this brand? Raise your hand . . . Hmmm. I don’t see many hands up, probably because for a long time, the Martha Stewart Everyday brand was ubiquitous. You couldn’t open a magazine or a…
Contranyms, Contronyms, Autoantonyms
Just when you thought it was safe to use the English language . . . I show you an entire classification of words with two meanings that are opposite to each other! While each word may have other meanings, especially…
Lead and Led
English is really tough language. I realize many others may be as well, but I only know this one (and good for all of you who manage more than one!). A while ago I published a post on the most…
Forward & Foreword
I’m amazed at how much I always learn when I write posts about the English language and its various words that are so easy to misuse. These two words were going to be in yesterday’s grouping, but there is too…
Coarse & Course
Of course we’re going to learn two more words today: It’s Wednesday! And these two are featured today because I saw one of them misused in a post recently and realized that again — someone depended on SPELLCHECK to do…
Breath, Breathe, Breadth
Good Wednesday morning! It’s the middle of the week, Hump Day, and also time for another edition of Words & Woes. I was reading another blog a few days ago — an excellent one — and the author used breath…
A Lot, Allot, Alot
As you’re reading this — before you see the picture below with the answers — look at the headline again. Do you know which of the three in the headline is not a real word? Hmmm? How did another Wednesday…
Quiz on Lie and Lay
OK, folks – are you ready for a truly tough quiz? The verbs to lie and to lay are probably the most confusing verbs in English, primarily because they borrow from each other. And too many speakers and writers do not know…
The Last Cross Words for 2015
As I’ve finally been getting my Boston Sunday Globe newspaper regularly (you’d think I live on Pluto for the troubles the Globe deliverers had in finding me once I moved to Buzzards Bay!), I’ve been enjoying the Sunday crossword puzzles…
A Four-Letter Word I Want You to Use!
I was at 4th Monday Networking yesterday, and a man used a four-letter word I wasn’t expecting. I was surprised – shocked, actually – and I told him so. We were discussing how his firm helps companies with customer satisfaction…
Are You Using These 5 “Words” That Don’t Exist?
Funny how things go around, isn’t it? If we see or hear something enough times — particularly if we see it on any of the social media sites — we believe it. We think it’s true. The right way to…
Oh! Oh! Oh!
Many readers know I love doing crossword puzzles, and I’m usually pretty good at them. I read extensively (always have), and I can guess a lot of words, especially with a few letters filled in. BUT. Sometimes I have to…
Are You “Shoulding” All Over Everyone?
Language is meant to help us humans communicate, but sometimes even with our best efforts, we end up with a result we never intended. Years ago, I took my car in to a local service station. My oil light was…
Weird Old Words from the OED
Well, it’s the first day of fall, leaves are starting to change their colors, and the temperatures (especially at night) are decidedly cooler. Time moves on, with or without our permission. So do many other things. Look around you. Is…
Vowels and Homographs / Heterographs
Are you familiar with the American TV program Wheel of Fortune? It’s a show that depends on a contestant’s ability to guess words with a very general definition but without any letters at all. Usually contestants start trying to find…
A Punny View of the American States
OK, talk about either having waaaaaay too much time on your hands or having a devious and truly clever way of seeing things . . . A friend posted an article on Facebook recently, and I laughed and laughed when…