The incidence of incidents
There’s not much to say about incidence and incident except that temptation (also read auto brain) to misuse the two words is quite common. It’s one of those cases in…
Church bells
Tintinnabulation: Origin of words and #belltolls4JZ
Tintinnabulation. This delightful six-syllable tongue-twister made its debut in 1831 according to some sources, even earlier according to others. Online Etymology Dictionary states its origin in usage as "the ringing…
Take out the rubbish: When nouns become verbs
I am the first to admit, I am not always original but I do try to be topical and even then, perhaps decades out of touch. Bear with me. The…
Diving in to the truth about ‘dove’
To me the word ‘dove’ brings to mind the soap brand and the birds referred to in one of Prince’s better known songs, When Doves Cry. So I was a…
Fewer words, but less data: Know the difference between fewer and less
English is a complex language and there is often confusion between words that seemingly have the same meaning but are particular in their usage. Such is the case with the…
Write better English: the difference between license and licence
Writing good English requires a depth of knowledge of the language. English is full of tricks: words that sound the same and are spelled differently and words that are spelled…
Is said dead? How to use attributions correctly and creatively
In my work as a sub-editor, the only word allowed for an attribution is 'said'. No, 'revealed', no 'pointed out', no 'suggested', no 'argued' - just plain 'said'. But for…
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