Tag Archives: English

Take A Bite Out Of Words

I love words; written, spoken, any way they can be served up.  Life offers a veritable smorgasbord of words and I want to sample them all. I’ve mentioned before that I talk to myself. These are not always full-fledged conversations.  … Continue reading

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Oh, Yeah? So’s Your Old Man!

I like to think of myself as a sparkling conversationalist.  In fact, I get more brilliant the farther away I get from the actual conversation. When out to dinner with friends one evening, I noticed I was charged for a … Continue reading

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Using Old, Familiar Words That Nobody Has Ever Heard Before

If I told you that my life was “at sixes and sevens” right now, would you know what I was talking about?  You would if you lived in the year 1815.  That knowledge is surprisingly un-useful, however, when trying to … Continue reading

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How to Fake Cultural Literacy in a Snoop Dogg World

If you’re like me, you want everyone to think you’re smart.  You don’t want to take the time and trouble to really learn things, though; that’s way too much work. Smart people are always tossing around profound quotes from other … Continue reading

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The Letter

I whipped out a blog post the other day, and then hit Spell Check and Mental Editor as usual.  (The latter is the check-before-hitting-send/print/submit filter that I carry around in my brain.)  Thank goodness I did.  A reference to Lady … Continue reading

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When Synonyms Are Not Synonymous

Here’s a post you may have missed last January. They say that people judge us by the words we use.  It is equally true that we show our own judgments by the words we choose.  Words can carry more baggage than … Continue reading

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Give or Take

The English language is complicated.  And the American slang version of it is just plain weird. Take the way we refer to going to the bathroom.  In the colloquial, this is referred to as “taking a dump”.  What taking?  There is no … Continue reading

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Will PAC-Man Gobble Up The King’s English?

On the one-year anniversary of the Punctuation And Capitalization Tax, commonly called the PAC, reviews have been mixed as to its impact on America. Gwen Prosody, a retired English professor, has been an outspoken critic of the PAC tax.   Ms. Prosody … Continue reading

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The Tell-Tale Heart of the Matter: Some Little Habits Can Drive You To Murder

I have this friend.  A really good friend; someone whose company I enjoy, whose friendship I cherish.  She is a delightful, bubbly person and I am about this close to smothering her, hacking up the body and burying the pieces under … Continue reading

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“Sexy” Has Taken Over From “The” As The Most Used Word In The English Language

Americans now use “sexy” more often than any other word in the English language. OK, I made that up, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Sex is a staple of reality TV, even in shows where you wouldn’t expect … Continue reading

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