Author Archive

Articles by Merrill Perlman | Email the Author

 

1. Language Corner

   Apostrophe Catastrophes

   August 10, 2009 01:19 PM

   We’ve all seen it and cringed: The sign advertising “Antique’s for Sale,” the one in the supermarket boasting about it’s “fresh cucumber’s,” or the sign on the neighbor’s house saying “Welcome to the Smith’s.” Few among us (or so we... Continue reading

2. Language Corner

   Silent Speaker

   August 3, 2009 12:10 PM

   In one recent news article, a buyer said he was “reticent” to participate in the “cash for clunkers” program because of all the paperwork involved. In another, children who have never heard of lacrosse were described as “reticent” to sign... Continue reading

3. Language Corner

   Vir-gin Version

   July 27, 2009 04:49 PM

   President Barack Obama apparently enjoys “ginning up.” While we’ve known that his wife, Michelle, enjoys a martini or two on their date nights, the news that the president himself likes to “gin up” might come as a shock. But the... Continue reading

4. Language Corner

   You Spell Potato, I Spell Potatoe

   July 20, 2009 04:16 PM

   If you read The New York Times, you’ve run across news of things happening in the Saudi Arabian city “Jidda.” If you get most of your news from the Associated Press, those same events happen in “Jiddah.” Should you subscribe... Continue reading

5. Language Corner

   Sacrilegious

   July 13, 2009 03:39 PM

   We’re living in a “secular” time. Well, duh. Of course it’s “secular”; America has no state religion, as in Israel or Iran. And doesn’t Webster’s New College World Dictionary define “secular” as “of or relating to worldly things as... Continue reading

6. Language Corner

   Uncoupling

   July 6, 2009 03:26 PM

   The coach was talking about his latest trade, which he said was “hopefully the first of several deals to come in the next couple weeks.” Quite a few of you are mentally supplying the “of” between “couple” and “weeks,”... Continue reading

7. Language Corner

   What’s All the Fuss?

   June 29, 2009 02:46 PM

   Journalists love words, and many will go out of their way to find “special” ways of using unusual words. Sometimes the words are obscure—using “palimpsest” in a movie review, for example—but more often the words are perfectly understandable, just rarely... Continue reading

8. Language Corner

   False Alarms

   June 22, 2009 03:09 PM

   The fire department was having a busy day. First it was the “two-alarm” fire and then came the “six-alarm” one. The reporter knew there was time and space for only one story, and chose to cover the “six-alarm” fire. After... Continue reading

9. Language Corner

   Jumping Off ‘Allege’

   June 15, 2009 03:17 PM

   It’s virtually impossible to pinpoint when the misuse of a word or phrase becomes so common that it’s no longer deemed a misuse. But if mere repetition were the main criterion, “alleged” would have lost its stigma a long time... Continue reading

10. Language Corner

    Compounded Interest

    June 8, 2009 05:12 PM

    You’ve gotten into a dispute with a merchant, who sold you what you think is defective merchandise. Because the merchant is a member of the Better Business Bureau, you agree to settle the dispute in front of a “disinterested” arbiter.... Continue reading

11. Language Corner

    As You Like It

    June 2, 2009 08:00 AM

    Journalists often have difficulty with highly focused grammatical concepts like subject-verb agreement, dangling participles, whether “none” is plural or singular, and whether to introduce this kind of list with “like” or “such as.” There are two schools of thought on... Continue reading

12. Language Corner

    Sick-Out

    May 19, 2009 10:54 AM

    You’re not feeling well. Maybe it’s the swine flu—or the Mexican flu or H1N1—but you don’t want to take any chances. So you phone your boss, reporting that you won’t be in that day. Did you just “call... Continue reading

13. Language Corner

    Freelance-A-Lot

    May 15, 2009 01:05 PM

    What happens to many journalists who are laid off? in many cases, they become “permalancers,” sometimes even for their previous employers. “Permalancer” (the noun) and “permalance” (the verb and adverb) are a conflation of “permanent” and “freelancer,” and that’s what... Continue reading

14. Language Corner

    I Want to Be Alone

    May 11, 2009 03:13 PM

    Journalists are pack animals. If someone does a story, others often follow. So it is, too, with words and phrases. One will spot a new, fresh-sounding word or phrase, and pretty soon there is a stampede to rival anything outside... Continue reading

15. Language Corner

    Caution! Merge Ahead

    May 4, 2009 03:50 PM

    Two-word expressions often cause trouble when they are combined with yet a third word, becoming compound modifiers. Most journalists have heard of the “small businessman” who is supposed to become the “small-business man” to avoid having readers think, even for... Continue reading

16. Language Corner

    Let’s Not Fight About It

    April 28, 2009 10:35 AM

    For unknown reasons, English speakers insist on making the language more difficult than it already is, by modifying words to use in different ways. Who was the genius, for example, who decided that “irregardless” was better than “regardless”? Those people... Continue reading

17. Language Corner

    The Golden Years

    April 20, 2009 03:54 PM

    April 16 was the fiftieth anniversary of the release of The Elements of Style, the “little book” that so many people remember from English classes. In reality, of course, The Elements of Style is much older than that, since it... Continue reading

18. Language Corner

    Serial Killer

    April 13, 2009 11:00 AM

    You know it, and you love it or hate it—it’s the last comma in a simple series, the one before “and,” “but,” or “or.” (Or, the one before “and,” but” or “or.”) It even has aliases: the Harvard comma, or... Continue reading

19. Language Corner

    Snark Hunt

    April 9, 2009 06:45 PM

    Sometimes, dictionaries just don’t get it. this one will define a word one way; that one will define the same word another way. C’mon, people! It’s not like anyone’s depending on you or anything! If that sounded “snarky,” you’d better... Continue reading

20. Language Corner

    Hopefully Yours

    April 6, 2009 01:36 PM

    “Hopefully,” Americans have been watching the first overseas visit of President Barack Obama. Those Americans who were taught English and grammar between the 1960s and 1980s have probably been watching “in a hopeful manner.” Those who were taught at other... Continue reading

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