Author Archive
Articles by Merrill Perlman | Email the Author
Wait Lifted
Do you wait for, on, or upon someone?
By Merrill Perlman Mar 11, 2009 at 01:44 PM
For hundreds of years, linguists, grammarians, and others have argued over what word should follow “wait,” as in “I am... More
Persuasive Convincing
On the vanishing distinctions between “persuade” and “convince”
By Merrill Perlman Mar 2, 2009 at 03:42 PM
Back when English grammar was rigorously taught in schools, certain rules were hammered into students’ heads: Never split an infinitive;... More
A Noisome Joy
Another word that doesn’t mean what it looks like it means
By Merrill Perlman Feb 23, 2009 at 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... More
Presidents Setting
Attempting to punctuate President(s)(s’)(’s) Day
By Merrill Perlman Feb 16, 2009 at 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... More
Cultured Plurals
Plurals, singulars, and the de-Latinization of English
By Merrill Perlman Feb 9, 2009 at 03:20 PM
When baseball season starts in just a few short weeks, the New York Yankees will have a new “stadium.” The... More
A Frayed Knot of Words
The difference between “homonym” and “homophone”
By Merrill Perlman Feb 2, 2009 at 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... More
Pedal Pushers
“Soft-peddling” a faulty homonym
By Merrill Perlman Jan 26, 2009 at 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... More
Able Action
When the audience isn’t in on the definition
By Merrill Perlman Jan 19, 2009 at 05:00 PM
English has no grammar police to prevent someone from taking a word and putting it to work with another meaning,... More
Not So Impeachy
“Impeachment”: a clarification
By Merrill Perlman Jan 13, 2009 at 10:59 AM
When the Illinois House of Representatives voted to “impeach” Governor Rod Blagojevich, a number of blogs carried public comments like... More
Our Tense Past
Sneaking a dive into a swim
By Merrill Perlman Jan 5, 2009 at 05:15 PM
When you tell your friends that you took a swim yesterday, did you say you “swam” yesterday or that you... More
Kicking the Can
Congress describes its take on an auto bailout
By Merrill Perlman Dec 22, 2008 at 03:53 PM
In late November, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told the Big Three automakers that they needed to devise a better financial... More
Missed Step
Using “set foot in” is a step in the right direction
By Merrill Perlman Dec 15, 2008 at 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... More
The Britishisms Are Coming!
Gobsmacked by the recent British slang invasion
By Merrill Perlman Dec 8, 2008 at 04:35 PM
“I am gobsmacked by these appointments, most of which could easily have come from a President McCain,” Max Boot, a... More
Healthy Usage
Here’s hoping that your Thanksgiving was a healthful one
By Merrill Perlman Dec 1, 2008 at 01:48 PM
Here’s hoping everyone ate only “healthy” foods at Thanksgiving. Many people, including those watching calories or wanting to be “healthy,”... More
Poisonous Coinage
Tracing the evolution of the term “toxic loan”
By Merrill Perlman Nov 24, 2008 at 04:36 PM
As the country tries to escape its economic doldrums, there’s been a lot of talk about how banks made “toxic... More
When Opposites Detract
Is “sanction” a contradictanym?
By Merrill Perlman Nov 17, 2008 at 01:38 PM
A country ignores the wishes of the United Nations and continues its human rights abuses. Its behavior is “sanctioned.” Meanwhile,... More
Our Historical Past
The presidential election was both “historical” and “historic”
By Merrill Perlman Nov 11, 2008 at 02:03 PM
Last week’s election was “historical.” It was also “historic.” As my predecessor Evan Jenkins explained here in 2004, “By hoary... More
Damning With Excessive Praise
“Fulsome” doesn’t mean what you think it means
By Merrill Perlman Nov 3, 2008 at 03:04 PM
Language is communication, but it works only if the communicators understand one other. If you think a word means one... More
When A Plus Is A Minus
The real meaning of the word “nonplussed”
By Merrill Perlman Oct 27, 2008 at 03:13 PM
Last week, some people who read here that “bemused” doesn’t mean “wryly amused” may have been “nonplussed.” “Nonplussed” is another... More
Bemusement Park
It’s not amusing when writers misuse “bemused”
By Merrill Perlman Oct 20, 2008 at 03:59 PM
Here’s the lede on one article about the final presidential candidates’ debate: “Calmly swatting away John McCain’s aggression in their... More
Woman’s work - The twisted reality of an Italian freelancer in Syria
Sourcing Trayvon Martin ‘photos’ from stormfront - Not a good idea, Business Insider
Elizabeth Warren, the antidote to CNBC - The senator schools the talking heads on bank regulation
Art Laffer + PR blitz = press failure - The media types up the retail lobby’s propaganda
Reuters’s global warming about-face - A survey shows the newswire ran 50 percent fewer stories on climate change after hiring a “skeptic”
Barack Obama: ‘those old times aren’t coming back’
“It used to be there were local newspapers everywhere. If you wanted to be a journalist, you could really make a good living working for your hometown paper”
The Guardian’s editor opens up on Reddit
Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, answered questions in an Ask Me Anything
The (almost) lost speech of Justice Anthony Kennedy
How his insightful remarks about the Constitution inadvertently make the case for a Supreme Court “media pool”
Fox News sues TVEyes for copyright infringement
Says subscription service sells access to its content without permission nor compensation
CJR's Guide to Online News Startups
ACEsTooHigh.com – Reporting on the science, education, and policy surrounding childhood trauma
Who Owns What
The Business of Digital Journalism
A report from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Questions and exercises for journalism students.
