Take the log out of your eye and other idioms
I was recently at an Editing for Inclusivity workshop which aimed to address racial, gender and all other kinds of stereotyping that fills our communication to an embarrassing extent. This…
Top 10 gender / age appropriate words of 2017
Have you noticed how your language changes to fit trends that begin to invade your life? Twitterati is a word in use since the advent of Twitter, Google is a…
How calendar days differ from others
I have always wondered about the difference between a calendar day and just a regular day. The same applies to a calendar month. What I learnt is that a calendar…
Deliciously sedulous : increase your word power
I am catching up with the past, voraciously reading through the pages of William Styron’s Sophie’s Choice with a copyright date of 1979. A literary marvel, the author provides delightful…
Veracity and verocity: why these words get confused
Today we are going to have some fun exploring the difference between veracity and voracity. These words if not heard correctly can be interchanged to disastrous effect. The one has…
How to keep your powder dry in the 21st century. Idioms from the military
Keeping one’s options open, is an overused phrase in today’s demanding lifestyle. But its non-committal tone, sounds like its primary use would be by people suffering from FOMO - Fear…
A synchronous sound
No damn synchronicity: Synonyms and antonyms
Ever had such a day where things start out great and then you’re confronted with the unexpected and things just unravel? Such was my day. I arrived for a press…
Through the eye of the needle: biblical idioms
The English language is so rich and diverse that one lifetime is just not enough to master all of it. But I have discovered that as much as English owes…
Sucking the hind tit : related idioms
Last Sunday, our six-year-old female Staffordshire Bull Terrier gave birth to six beautiful and healthy puppies. One was distinctly smaller than his four black brothers and sister and I feared…
Verbs must do the hard work in a sentence
Less is more in the writing discipline
I am reading a book in which the author has swamped the pages with an oversupply of adjectives. Of course, this is just my opinion, but I find the need…
