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Articles by Merrill Perlman | Email the Author

 

1. Language Corner

   Beggars Can Be Choosers

   March 19, 2012 03:03 PM

   Every so often it’s important to revisit an issue, to clarify or modify it, depending on the circumstances. It “begs the question” whether revisiting something is needed. After all, revisiting is important, because it allows revisiting, which is important. And... Continue reading

2. Language Corner

   Jibe Talking

   March 12, 2012 11:59 AM

   “Alas, poore Yorick,” Shakespeare wrote. “Where be your gibes now?” Or, depending on your edition of Hamlet, perhaps he wrote “Where be your jibes now?” But he most certainly did not write “Where be your jives now?” Come with... Continue reading

3. Language Corner

   @#?

   March 5, 2012 01:04 PM

   BREAKING: Palm Beach Sheriffs Office tells @SusanCandiotti that the bomb squad is investigating a suspicious pkg near #Rush #Limbaugh home How would you quote that tweet, sent last week? As it was tweeted? Or would you write “The Palm Beach... Continue reading

4. Language Corner

   Media Rare

   February 27, 2012 12:07 PM

   Last week, a post at the Poynter Institute took a strong stand: “It’s time for copy editors to loosen the cardigan when it comes to ‘media,’” Andrew Beaujon wrote. He said he felt “like a tool writing ‘The... Continue reading

5. Language Corner

   Cardinal Sins

   February 21, 2012 02:50 PM

   In ceremonies filled with pomp, twenty-two men were named cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church, including two from the United States: Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York and Edwin O’Brien, emeritus archbishop of Baltimore and now the Grand... Continue reading

6. Language Corner

   Silent Knight

   February 13, 2012 03:14 PM

   For The Electric Company, Tom Lehrer wrote a song to which all writers should listen: Who can turn a can into a cane? / Who can turn a pan into a pane? / It’s not too hard to... Continue reading

7. Language Corner

   Addressee Unknown

   February 6, 2012 05:52 PM

   The Super Bowl is over, thank heavens, so all those incorrectly punctuated signs rooting for one team or another can come down. You know the ones: They say “Go Giants” or “Go Patriots.” In telling the Giants (or Patriots—no partisanship... Continue reading

8. Language Corner

   Houses of Straw

   January 30, 2012 12:20 PM

   Though we’re thick in the primary and caucus season, the testing of the political winds actually began months ago, with several “straw polls.” Thought to come from the farm practice of tossing a few shreds of straw into the air... Continue reading

9. Language Corner

   The Jury is in

   January 27, 2012 06:00 AM

   An article about a rundown neighborhood said that “most of the buildings are jerry-rigged structures of corrugated aluminum.” Another article said that a company had “jury-rigged the aircraft with a missile in a demonstration flight.” A third said that “the... Continue reading

10. Language Corner

    Confidence Trick

    January 24, 2012 11:51 AM

    In an episode of Dragnet from the late nineteen-sixties, Joe Friday is assigned to the “bunco squad,” where he and his partner, Bill Gannon, bust a woman running a “Ponzi scheme.” We’re all too familiar with what a “Ponzi... Continue reading

11. Language Corner

    Intoxicating

    January 17, 2012 12:37 PM

    No one needs to be told that the present tense of the verb “to drink” is “drink.” But what about the past tense? Is it “yesterday I drunk two martinis” or “yesterday I drank two martinis”? If you said “drank,”... Continue reading

12. Language Corner

    And the Word of the Year Is…

    January 9, 2012 04:49 PM

    Lots of people and organizations have issued their “words of the year” lists. Whether some of the words they chose are “of the year” is a matter of style, not substance. Truth be told, because each list is compiled for... Continue reading

13. Language Corner

    Language, Free

    December 19, 2011 12:22 PM

    In Miracle on 34th Street, Kris Kringle makes lots of friends—and money for Macy’s—by sending customers elsewhere when Macy’s did not have something. In the same spirit, this week Language Corner is sending you to lots of other language blogs... Continue reading

14. Language Corner

    Yule Love This

    December 12, 2011 02:40 PM

    A couple of years ago we discussed some of abuse that poor, misused apostrophes suffer this time of year, in expressions like “seasons’ greetings,” “’tis the season,” and “be good for goodness’ sake.” This year, your holiday gift... Continue reading

15. Language Corner

    Homegrown

    December 7, 2011 10:00 AM

    To look back at the early years of the Columbia Journalism Review is to look at how we used not just words, but the concepts around them as well. Language, of course, evolves, often as a mirror... Continue reading

16. Language Corner

    On, Dasher!

    December 5, 2011 01:05 PM

    Many punctuation marks have different uses—think of the comma—but only a few leap off the page to a reader’s eye—as you can tell from this sentence. That punctuation mark—a dash—known as the em-dash—not to be confused with a <a... Continue reading

17. Language Corner

    Friendly Fire

    November 28, 2011 02:12 PM

    As language and society evolve, words that were once considered merely slang sometimes take on an offensive odor. In the past twenty years, for example, many municipalities have renamed localities with “squaw” in their names after the belated realization that... Continue reading

18. Language Corner

    Separation Anxiety

    November 21, 2011 03:44 PM

    Black Friday is coming! And this one will be as big as, if not more hyped and crowded than, Cyber Monday was last year. Actually, this column has nothing to do with Black Friday, or with shopping. It has to... Continue reading

19. Language Corner

    Taking the Fifth

    November 14, 2011 01:52 PM

    The Fifth Edition of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language is out, cause for celebration for some and anguish for others. As Ben Zimmer wrote in the Boston Globe, the dictionary had its genesis in the... Continue reading

20. Language Corner

    Conjunction-itis

    November 7, 2011 03:45 PM

    Many generations of students have had certain grammar “truths” drilled into their little heads. One is the “myth” that infinitives can’t be split. But today we’re going to discuss the myth that sentences can’t start with conjunctions. (Actually, whether teachers... Continue reading

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