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Articles by Merrill Perlman | Email the Author
Media Rare
Revisiting singular versus plural
By Merrill Perlman Feb 27, 2012 at 12:07 PM
Last week, a post at the Poynter Institute took a strong stand: “It’s time for copy editors to loosen the... More
Cardinal Sins
First or middle name?
By Merrill Perlman Feb 21, 2012 at 02:50 PM
In ceremonies filled with pomp, twenty-two men were named cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church, including two from the United... More
Silent Knight
What a difference a letter makes
By Merrill Perlman Feb 13, 2012 at 03:14 PM
For The Electric Company, Tom Lehrer wrote a song to which all writers should listen: Who can turn a can... More
Addressee Unknown
Another comma goes AWOL
By Merrill Perlman Feb 6, 2012 at 05:52 PM
The Super Bowl is over, thank heavens, so all those incorrectly punctuated signs rooting for one team or another can... More
Houses of Straw
Flimsy votes and arguments
By Merrill Perlman Jan 30, 2012 at 12:20 PM
Though we’re thick in the primary and caucus season, the testing of the political winds actually began months ago, with... More
The Jury is in
On “jury-rigged” and “jerry-built” confusion
By Merrill Perlman Jan 27, 2012 at 06:00 AM
An article about a rundown neighborhood said that “most of the buildings are jerry-rigged structures of corrugated aluminum.” Another article... More
Confidence Trick
Scams ‘R’ Us
By Merrill Perlman Jan 24, 2012 at 11:51 AM
In an episode of Dragnet from the late nineteen-sixties, Joe Friday is assigned to the “bunco squad,” where he and... More
Intoxicating
Deriving ‘drink’
By Merrill Perlman Jan 17, 2012 at 12:37 PM
No one needs to be told that the present tense of the verb “to drink” is “drink.” But what about... More
And the Word of the Year Is…
Words that topped the lists
By Merrill Perlman Jan 9, 2012 at 04:49 PM
Lots of people and organizations have issued their “words of the year” lists. Whether some of the words they chose... More
Language, Free
Blogs for grammar geeks
By Merrill Perlman Dec 19, 2011 at 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... More
Yule Love This
Making a list of holiday expressions
By Merrill Perlman Dec 12, 2011 at 02:40 PM
A couple of years ago we discussed some of abuse that poor, misused apostrophes suffer this time of year, in... More
Homegrown
The living language
By Merrill Perlman Dec 7, 2011 at 10:00 AM
To look back at the early years of the Columbia Journalism Review is to look at how we used... More
On, Dasher!
A punctuation mark loved too much—or not enough
By Merrill Perlman Dec 5, 2011 at 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... More
Friendly Fire
Insulting without meaning to
By Merrill Perlman Nov 28, 2011 at 02:12 PM
As language and society evolve, words that were once considered merely slang sometimes take on an offensive odor. In the... More
Separation Anxiety
Smoothing comparative phrases
By Merrill Perlman Nov 21, 2011 at 03:44 PM
Black Friday is coming! And this one will be as big as, if not more hyped and crowded than, Cyber... More
Taking the Fifth
A dictionary, updated, adds and subtracts
By Merrill Perlman Nov 14, 2011 at 01:52 PM
The Fifth Edition of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language is out, cause for celebration for some and... More
Conjunction-itis
What about ifs, ands, or buts?
By Merrill Perlman Nov 7, 2011 at 03:45 PM
Many generations of students have had certain grammar “truths” drilled into their little heads. One is the “myth” that infinitives... More
Taking Names in Vain
Why we care, for Pete’s sake
By Merrill Perlman Oct 31, 2011 at 01:08 PM
You’re with your five-year-old at the ice cream shop, and she can’t decide which of the dozens of flavors to... More
Fermenting Revolution
Some terms associated with beer
By Merrill Perlman Oct 26, 2011 at 02:27 PM
With “Oktoberfests” popping up all over, it seems a good time to grab a “growler” and get “krausened.” The first... More
Making Introductions
Putting the cart before the tumbrel
By Merrill Perlman Oct 17, 2011 at 02:14 PM
Writers frequently introduce a topic or unfamiliar phrase, then define it, as in “The condemned rode to the gallows in... 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.
