Author Archive

Articles by Merrill Perlman | Email the Author

 

1. Language Corner

   Indescribable

   February 14, 2011 11:58 AM

   Bob Kamman of Arizona writes: “Am I the only one who has noticed the increasing use of the adjective ‘nondescript,’ even in publications (NYT, New Yorker) usually known for stories that describe things? I just did a Google News search... Continue reading

2. Language Corner

   Snow Job

   February 8, 2011 12:36 PM

   The snowstorm that hit much of the United States last week was one for the books. In Chicago, the 20.2 inches that fell was a “record.” It wasn’t the most snow Chicago had ever received in one storm; that honor... Continue reading

3. Language Corner

   Overnight Sensation

   January 31, 2011 04:03 PM

   The weather outside was frightful, and so was the advisory from the National Weather Service. Not known for their literary prose, these alerts are usually pretty staccato and full of shorthand. So it was a surprise to read this: “Travel... Continue reading

4. Language Corner

   The Fast Lain

   January 24, 2011 02:49 PM

   It’s no “lie”: Many people get “lay” and “lie” wrong a lot. So let’s “lay” down the rules. The best defense is just to memorize the tenses and figure out which word you want. But there are some shortcuts, and... Continue reading

5. Language Corner

   The Frugal Writer

   January 19, 2011 01:31 PM

   At some points in time, people engaged in the profession of journalism tend to learn to acquire the negatively associative behavior of bringing into use multiples of individual kinds of expressive compositional terms in the execution of their quotidian duties.... Continue reading

6. Language Corner

   Duty Double

   January 10, 2011 02:58 PM

   Headlines are supposed to grab a reader’s attention and provide a fast synopsis of an article for a busy reader. So what’s a reader to think happened when she reads this? “U.S. rules on tax adopted by state” Or this?... Continue reading

7. Language Corner

   Whoa, Nelly!

   January 8, 2011 07:16 PM

   "New Auditor Will Take Reigns in 2011" was the headline. Another article about money said that the "government refuses to seriously reign in spending." Cash may indeed be king, but in both cases--and dozens of others found in recent... Continue reading

8. Language Corner

   Two-Faced

   January 4, 2011 02:15 PM

   Welcome to January, the two-faced month. On the one hand, it’s the start of the new year, a time to make resolutions and look forward to fresh beginnings. On the other hand, it’s a time to look backward, when you... Continue reading

9. Language Corner

   Just One of Those Things

   December 20, 2010 01:29 PM

   Be the hit of your holiday party! Amaze your friends! Impress your family! Be one of those people who uses the correct verb in the phrasing of “one of those”! Of course, unless one of those people are really steeped... Continue reading

10. Language Corner

    Spellbound

    December 13, 2010 12:15 PM

    Much has been written about the dangers of using spelling checkers without brain in gear. Spelling checkers won’t tell you when you use “there” when you meant “their,” “then” when you meant “than,” or “window” when you meant “widow,” as... Continue reading

11. Language Corner

    Grainy Picture

    December 6, 2010 12:47 PM

    For a number of years, some attendees of jargon-heavy business meetings have played “Buzzword Bingo”: Someone prints out cards with terms used almost nowhere outside of corporate boardrooms—words like “reach out to,” “incentivize,” and “drill down.” As each... Continue reading

12. Language Corner

    A Matter of Taste

    December 1, 2010 04:17 PM

    When a word takes on unwanted connotations, people seeking a replacement often settle on something close, thinking, perhaps, that the words are synonyms. Sometimes, though, the new word comes with unwanted connotations, too. Take “gourmet.” From a noun... Continue reading

13. Language Corner

    Never the More

    November 29, 2010 02:40 PM

    What happens when a public official misspeaks? Should a news outlet edit the quotation, paraphrase it, or just leave it be? This happens every day, of course, and news outlets often edit quotations by inserting ellipses in them, or by... Continue reading

14. Language Corner

    Degrees of Rejection

    November 22, 2010 11:31 AM

    The “words of the year” lists are beginning to appear, and we’re generally going to ignore them, since those words so often disappear. But the selection of “refudiate” as the New Oxford American Dictionary’s word of the year... Continue reading

15. Language Corner

    Passing the Blame

    November 15, 2010 12:38 PM

    Antonio Pierce, on ESPN, was talking about how the Washington Redskins seemed to be blaming their quarterback for a lot of their troubles. “I think they’re using Donovan McNabb as an escape goat,” he said. Pierce probably meant “scapegoat,”... Continue reading

16. Language Corner

    Stock Answers

    November 8, 2010 02:42 PM

    If you’ve been reading too much “financial porn,” you might be tempted by the “skirt-length theory” and try to “buy the dips” of a “widow-and-orphan stock,” and then hope for a “dead cat bounce” so you can do some “naked... Continue reading

17. Language Corner

    Leading Questions

    November 1, 2010 01:52 PM

    The Associated Press recently said it would stop using some wire-service jargon as instructions on its stories. Among them were “sted,” for “instead of”; “graf” for “paragraph”; and “lede,” for the top of a story. Those had been around for... Continue reading

18. Language Corner

    Boo!

    October 25, 2010 03:00 PM

    Halloween is next week, and thousands of people are “scarifying” their houses in anticipation of the hordes of trick-or-treating children. Why people have taken to decorating houses as if it were Christmas is a subject for a column on marketing,... Continue reading

19. Language Corner

    Overly Possessive

    October 18, 2010 01:13 PM

    A student recently asked why she had been corrected when she wrote “The teacher’s union voted to strike.” That’s easy: A union of only one teacher would be a lonely place indeed. “Teacher” had to be “teachers.” But what puzzled... Continue reading

20. Language Corner

    Loan Ranger

    October 11, 2010 12:48 PM

    The reporter seemingly couldn’t make up his mind. In an article about a mayor’s financial problem, the reporter used a number of verbs to describe how the mayor had “borrowed” money from the campaign: The mayor’s “personal financial problems have... Continue reading

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