Rescuing the Bailout

Which word best describes the government’s response to the financial crisis?

By Merrill Perlman   Oct 13, 2008 at 03:13 PM

Politics, especially in the few weeks before an election, is full of semantics, but this year seems particularly fraught. Take... More

Mass Appeal

Or, rather, “hoi polloi” appeal

By Merrill Perlman   Oct 6, 2008 at 03:41 PM

In most of her speeches, and in her debate last week with Joe Biden, Sarah Palin seems to be speaking... More

Getting To The Top

A proper use for “crescendo”

By Merrill Perlman   Sep 30, 2008 at 08:04 AM

“Daring project reaches a crescendo,” read a headline in the Albany Times-Union the other day. It struck a chord. Anyone... More

Where Have All The Commas Gone?

The joys of the parenthetical comma

By Merrill Perlman   Sep 23, 2008 at 04:44 PM

(Voice of police dispatcher): “Calling all cars! Calling all cars! Be on the lookout for escaped commas. Last seen after... More

Not Without Regard

Is “irregardless” a word?

By Merrill Perlman   Sep 15, 2008 at 03:23 PM

One problem with having so many dictionaries available is that they often don’t agree—on definitions, spellings or even whether something... More

Judgment Day

Are the Gitmo trials more of a star chamber or a kangaroo court?

By Merrill Perlman   Sep 8, 2008 at 02:39 PM

The military trials planned for prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have been referred to as occurring in “a star chamber”... More

But It’s Alright

Alright may not be all wrong

By Merrill Perlman   Sep 1, 2008 at 12:20 PM

It’s never all right to use “alright,” right? Let’s discuss, already. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English says it... More

Comma Suture

A little punctuation mark can hold things together, or rend them asunder

By Merrill Perlman   Aug 25, 2008 at 01:31 PM

The selection of Senator Joe Biden to be Barack Obama’s running mate has revived the debate over a statement Biden... More

It’s Your Cull

Two different meanings for one little word

By Merrill Perlman   Aug 18, 2008 at 02:49 PM

If you’re a poker player, when you “cull” the cards you have selected a bunch of good cards and arranged... More

When Loosing Is Winning

“Loosing” vs. “losing”

By Merrill Perlman   Aug 11, 2008 at 02:03 PM

A lot of people seem to be loosing their minds lately, or at least their grips on their dictionaries. “Loosing... More

Richter Mortis

The decline and fall of the Richter scale

By Merrill Perlman   Aug 4, 2008 at 02:56 PM

The recent earthquake in Southern California unearthed a reason to celebrate. Not because it wasn't the Big One, or even... More

Check Your Herring

“Mondegreen”? Did I hear you right?

By Merrill Perlman   Jul 28, 2008 at 08:42 AM

Many language lovers’ favorite time is when a dictionary is updated, because they can see what new words make the... More

Absent Without Leave

Is it OK to use “absent” as a preposition?

By Merrill Perlman   Jul 21, 2008 at 12:39 PM

John Cochran, a writer-editor for the federal government, writes: Here’s a construction I don’t like: ‘Absent some better way …... More

And Another Think

By Merrill Perlman   Jul 17, 2008 at 09:00 AM

If you think you've heard all of the linguistic twists and turns, you've got another thing coming. Well, actually you've... More