How big is your appetite for words?
Browsing through the Huffington Post, I happened upon a blog about strange and wonderful words. When I reached the end of the text, I realised with horror that I have…
Conniption over court appearance: A modern day hissy fit
Last month I received a self-sealing letter in the post. These are usually some or other form of traffic infringement notice. Indeed, it was. But it was red. This was…
Why is surgery an operation?
Why is surgery an operation? When asking this question, it brings to mind a scenario in a sitcom. For example, in The Nanny, Fran could be devastated when she learns…
Very, very, completely: Keep language crisp and clean
I was alerted to my default descriptive style about two weeks ago. It happened when I ran my own document through spell check prior to a more serious edit and…
What’s missing from the language?
Have you ever paid attention to the ampersand? Did you know that it and similarly formed words are called mondegreens? Newspaper style prefers the use of a full “and” only…
Ernest Hemingway
How to develop your writing style
Usually I write about grammar, but what about style? Grammar, if you know the rules, can with effort and dedication be learnt. Style, however, is unique to the individual. Writing…
No comma sense: Three common uses for this little grammar tool
I once punned in a headline “No comma sense”. This referred to a number quoted by a government department which did not know where to put the comma between noughts…
English idioms: how they get distorted
The other day, a friend asked, “How do you spell towing the line as in the sense of complying? Is it toing or towing? This is just one of many…
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…
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…
