Joe Wilson’s “he”
Disrespecting the president via pronouns
Dang
"It is the week of the dang."
"Tests," "tears"
Fun at the eye doctor
Irritating
"A man with a fake bomb hidden in a bag tried to board a flight at La Guardia Airport’s central terminal, crippling operations for hours and irritating vacationers": Is "irritating" the right word?
The quick brown fox . . .
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. On film.
Poems, "made of words"
William Carlos Williams: "Poems are not made of thoughts, beautiful thoughts. It's made of words, pigments, put on. Here, there, made, actually."
Webster's Third New International
The most controversial dictionary ever
Erin McKean talks
A lexicographer explains dictionaries
Voluptuous Full-figured
The New York Times revises a headline
Voluptuous headline
A New York Times headline
Word of the day
It's "maritorious."
Hardly convincing (adverb adjective)
Pullum on Strunk and White on adjectives and adverbs
Domestic comedy
Artesian? Artisinal? Artisan!
"[S]imply a controlled acute episode"
"I suspect that 'controlled acute episode' will join 'enhanced interrogation techniques' as historical shorthand for the George W. Bush administration's utter corruption of language, moral reasoning, and democratic principles."
Mixed metaphor of the day
"With so many pressing issues on his plate, Mr. Obama is engaged in an astonishing juggling act."
Pullum on Strunk and White
"Pullum's take on Strunk and White involves a significant degree of distortion and plain misreading."
"Iceburg Lettuce"
A real misspelling in a real store
R-word
03.31.09: end the r-word
"Professionally-ran"
Ugh.
Pencil crossword
Pencil-themed crossword puzzle
Orange Crate Art: Obama's I
My guess is that the "I" is a matter of long-standing habit, which also explains why I still say "stove" for "oven."
Homonym accident
"Prices to low too advertise"
What's a campus?
Origin of the word
At Peffer and Snagsby's
Stationery supplies in Dickens' Bleak House
Cliché gone wrong
Cutting a wide "swipe"
Mighty minimus
NY Times article on the pinkie
Another word of the year
"Overshare."
Clapathy
Nice word for the applause-weary
Ashbery Ashberies
"Ashbery" as a verb
"Uncle Barney Frank"
What's behind Sarah Palin's odd phrasing?