Author Archive

Articles by Merrill Perlman | Email the Author

 

1. Language Corner

   Firing Blanks

   March 31, 2009 03:54 PM

   The day Brenda Starr has been dreading has arrived. Her new boss, Mr. Bottomline, says she has become too expensive. “You ... you .. you’re firing me?” she says incredulously. “I’d never do that, Starr,” the cigar-chomping boss replies.... Continue reading

2. Language Corner

   Stop, Fief!

   March 24, 2009 01:25 PM

   Let us travel back to those thrilling days of feudalism, when lords were lords and everyone else paid high taxes to the lords. (OK, maybe not so long ago.) Back then, land was owned only by the very high up... Continue reading

3. Language Corner

   Waif Goodbye

   March 17, 2009 03:07 PM

   Let’s say you find a “waif” on the street and take it home. Should you call an orphanage, an animal shelter, an eating disorder specialist, or the local lost and found? The correct answer might surprise you. Webster’s New World... Continue reading

4. Language Corner

   Wait Lifted

   March 11, 2009 01:44 PM

   For hundreds of years, linguists, grammarians, and others have argued over what word should follow “wait,” as in “I am going to wait for you,” or “wait on you,” or perhaps “wait upon you.” Some made the distinction that... Continue reading

5. Language Corner

   Persuasive Convincing

   March 2, 2009 03:42 PM

   Back when English grammar was rigorously taught in schools, certain rules were hammered into students’ heads: Never split an infinitive; never end a sentence with a preposition; never use “convince” with an infinitive. Those teachers may also have sought to... Continue reading

6. Language Corner

   A Noisome Joy

   February 23, 2009 01:16 PM

   Think of all the words that don’t mean what their spellings seem to indicate they mean—among the ones already discussed here are “enormity,” which , in proper usage, doesn’t refer to something merely large, but to something large... Continue reading

7. Language Corner

   Presidents Setting

   February 16, 2009 04:39 PM

   We used to have two holidays in February: Lincoln’s Birthday and Washington’s Birthday. Now, we have three, though most of us usually get only one of them off: Lincoln’s Birthday, Washington’s Birthday and “Presidents Day.” Er, “President’s Day.” Um, “Presidents’... Continue reading

8. Language Corner

   Cultured Plurals

   February 9, 2009 03:20 PM

   When baseball season starts in just a few short weeks, the New York Yankees will have a new “stadium.” The New York Mets will have one, too. That’s two new “stadia” for the city. Is that the sound of... Continue reading

9. Language Corner

   A Frayed Knot of Words

   February 2, 2009 01:18 PM

   Last week’s posting discussed sound-alike words that are often mistaken for one another, despite their different meanings. That brought a comment from heisenberg76: It is ironic that the author of this ‘Language Corner’ column does not know the... Continue reading

10. Language Corner

    Pedal Pushers

    January 26, 2009 12:03 PM

    Now that Barack Obama is president, one columnist wanted to know, weren’t the late-night comedians, who had taken so many potshots at George Bush, “now soft-peddling ridicule of their golden boy?” That’s a hard sell, because the correct phrase is... Continue reading

11. Language Corner

    Able Action

    January 19, 2009 05:00 PM

    English has no grammar police to prevent someone from taking a word and putting it to work with another meaning, though teachers armed with rulers often act as auxiliary police officers. As a result, secondary meanings often creep into the... Continue reading

12. Language Corner

    Not So Impeachy

    January 13, 2009 10:59 AM

    When the Illinois House of Representatives voted to “impeach” Governor Rod Blagojevich, a number of blogs carried public comments like “thank heavens he’s gone!” Of course, he’s not gone, at least not unless he’s convicted by the Illinois Senate... Continue reading

13. Language Corner

    Our Tense Past

    January 5, 2009 05:15 PM

    When you tell your friends that you took a swim yesterday, did you say you “swam” yesterday or that you “swum” yesterday? Oh, come on. Everyone knows that the past tense of “swim” is “swam.” You’d use “swum” only as... Continue reading

14. Language Corner

    Kicking the Can

    December 22, 2008 03:53 PM

    In late November, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told the Big Three automakers that they needed to devise a better financial aid plan than the one they had presented to Congress, saying that any decision was going to be postponed until... Continue reading

15. Language Corner

    Missed Step

    December 15, 2008 04:51 PM

    Everyone has language pet peeves: those little things people say that aren’t quite right, and that we can’t help but correct. For reader Mark Freeman, it’s the phrase “step foot in,” as in “I wouldn’t step foot in (or into)... Continue reading

16. Language Corner

    The Britishisms Are Coming!

    December 8, 2008 04:35 PM

    “I am gobsmacked by these appointments, most of which could easily have come from a President McCain,” Max Boot, a journalist who served as a foreign policy adviser to John McCain, said recently of Barack Obama’s cabinet choices. Someone else,... Continue reading

17. Language Corner

    Healthy Usage

    December 1, 2008 01:48 PM

    Here’s hoping everyone ate only “healthy” foods at Thanksgiving. Many people, including those watching calories or wanting to be “healthy,” probably ate only “healthful” foods. Anyone who did not eat “healthy” foods probably spent the next day or so feeling... Continue reading

18. Language Corner

    Poisonous Coinage

    November 24, 2008 04:36 PM

    As the country tries to escape its economic doldrums, there’s been a lot of talk about how banks made “toxic loans” that exposed them and others to huge losses. It’s a very descriptive phrase that allows the biologic and economic... Continue reading

19. Language Corner

    When Opposites Detract

    November 17, 2008 01:38 PM

    A country ignores the wishes of the United Nations and continues its human rights abuses. Its behavior is “sanctioned.” Meanwhile, a league bowler rolls a 300, but there’s some question as to whether the game is “sanctioned.” Ah, the wonders... Continue reading

20. Language Corner

    Our Historical Past

    November 11, 2008 02:03 PM

    Last week’s election was “historical.” It was also “historic.” As my predecessor Evan Jenkins explained here in 2004, “By hoary consensus, ‘historic’ has been reserved for events of great moment, like the Battle of Yorktown or the... Continue reading

1. « Previous
2. 1
3. 2
4. 3
5. 4
6. 5
7. 6
8. 7
9. 8
10. 9
11. 10
12. 11
13. 12
14. Next »