Author Archive
Articles by Merrill Perlman | Email the Author
What are the odds?
Dealing with percentages
By Merrill Perlman Nov 5, 2012 at 01:00 PM
Take this quiz: If one candidate has 46 percent of the likely voters, and the other has 48 percent, what’s... More
Language Corner
There, there
By Merrill Perlman Nov 1, 2012 at 12:00 AM
There are many ways to start articles and sentences. There is often a way to avoid beginning with the phrases... More
However you want
Who’s on first?
By Merrill Perlman Oct 22, 2012 at 03:16 PM
A Florida correspondent writes: My boss is obsessed with Strunk & White, and so tells me that I can never... More
Career advice
On the fast track to ‘careen’
By Merrill Perlman Oct 16, 2012 at 06:50 AM
Two accidents, two verbs: In New Jersey, “The car careened down the street and smashed into several parked cars before... More
Forward-looking
Ways of telling the future
By Merrill Perlman Oct 9, 2012 at 06:50 AM
We have weather “forecasts,” budget “projections,” attempts at earthquake “predictions.” Most dictionaries say those are all synonyms for one another.... More
‘They’ said so
Pronouns without sex
By Merrill Perlman Oct 1, 2012 at 03:02 PM
Whenever anyone who loves language wants to start a robust discussion, they have only to mention “gender-neutral pronouns,” such as... More
Apparently not
The trouble with the apparent heart attack
By Merrill Perlman Sep 25, 2012 at 10:49 AM
The American Heart Association says that heart attacks kill about 1,200 people in the United States every day. In many... More
Prepositions: the last word
Something to not put up with?
By Merrill Perlman Sep 24, 2012 at 03:00 PM
The purpose of last week’s posting was to warn against accepting supposedly famous quotations just because they’re repeated frequently. But... More
Put up or shut up
‘Famous’ quotes that aren’t
By Merrill Perlman Sep 17, 2012 at 03:00 PM
Your child’s grade school teacher has asked her to come up with some “famous quotations,” so, naturally, she goes right... More
Swap mete
One word confused with another
By Merrill Perlman Sep 12, 2012 at 06:50 AM
Today, we’re going to list some words and phrases that are often used when another is meant. These are not... More
Language Corner
Few grudges
By Merrill Perlman Sep 4, 2012 at 12:24 AM
“Grudge,” from an old German word meaning “lament,” is a lot of fun to say. The noun “grudge” means “hostility... More
Multiples choice
Some singular help with plural possessives
By Merrill Perlman Aug 27, 2012 at 03:00 PM
Last week we dealt with some possessive questions when there were plural possessors. Now we’ll deal with other possessives, which... More
Pluralistic
Those pesky possessives
By Merrill Perlman Aug 20, 2012 at 03:00 PM
Two of the longest sections in most grammar and style guides concern how to form plurals and how to form... More
Lucky strike
Not all fortunes are good
By Merrill Perlman Aug 13, 2012 at 03:03 PM
As Evan Jenkins wrote here in 1997, “fortuitous,” strictly speaking, does not mean “lucky”; it means “by chance.” So when... More
Language Corner
Author! Author!
By Merrill Perlman Aug 9, 2012 at 11:18 AM
People who write are “writers,” though many call themselves “authors,” especially if their products are books, or legislation. More and... More
Shhh! It doesn’t matter
A “moot” discussion
By Merrill Perlman Aug 6, 2012 at 04:28 PM
The silence is deafening. All over the Internet and printed publications, people are making “mute points”: • A press release... More
Bell curves
Lots of “ring” words
By Merrill Perlman Jul 30, 2012 at 03:00 PM
“You must be a ringer,” the journalism instructor told the student, who insisted that, though he had many years of... More
Memorializing
What to call those piles of flowers
By Merrill Perlman Jul 23, 2012 at 03:00 PM
Bob Kamman, a regular correspondent, writes: When unexpected deaths occur that are newsworthy, what often happens is that people leave... More
En-gendered
Terms for sexual identity
By Merrill Perlman Jul 17, 2012 at 03:00 PM
Dealing with gender identity these days is a tricky business. And while we prefer to use “sex” to describe biological... More
Sentimental journey
Evaluating a ‘journeyman’
By Merrill Perlman Jul 9, 2012 at 03:00 PM
The article’s headline promised a story “on the life of a journeyman musician.” It discussed a man who has been... 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.
