Language Corner
Meta Data
Self, meet yourself
By Merrill Perlman Feb 8, 2010 at 11:43 AM
Lady Gaga and Elton John, two of the music world’s most self-referential and self-aware performers, sang a duet at the... More
Natural Selection
The dilemma of choices
By Merrill Perlman Feb 1, 2010 at 04:00 PM
These are tough times, and politicians have to make hard choices about how to spend the smaller amounts of money... More
Sissy Talk
“Pantywaist” has survived for nearly 100 years
By Merrill Perlman Jan 25, 2010 at 03:15 PM
If you had children in the early part of the twentieth century, you probably clothed the babies in one-piece suits,... More
Sizing It Up
‘Downsize’ upgrades itself
By Merrill Perlman Jan 19, 2010 at 12:44 PM
In a letter to CJR, Jeffrey Kaye, a freelance journalist and author, objected to some usages in recent articles about... More
Compound Interest
When you’re not quite a suspect
By Merrill Perlman Jan 11, 2010 at 01:33 PM
In the wake of the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a commercial jet, we were introduced to a new term.... More
Word
When auld acquaintance be forgot
By Merrill Perlman Jan 4, 2010 at 11:49 AM
As the new year begins, we’re reeling from an overload of retrospective lists: top news stories; persons of the year;... More
Seizin’ Greetings
Tis the season for misplaced apostrophes
By Merrill Perlman Dec 21, 2009 at 03:20 PM
Pity the poor apostrophe. Even in this, the jolliest of seasons, its traditional role is misused, abused, and forgotten. As... More
Singulars Bar
Pronouns and nouns need to be monogamous—and non-sexist
By Merrill Perlman Dec 14, 2009 at 01:47 PM
Grammar is a strict matchmaker: singular subjects must be paired with singular verbs, and plural subjects can associate only with... More
Just Because
Let us count the reasons why
By Merrill Perlman Dec 7, 2009 at 01:35 PM
One reason why columns like this are written is because so many writers don’t realize when a tautology has them... More
Before the Beginning
Doing away with some pre-fixes
By Merrill Perlman Nov 30, 2009 at 11:01 AM
One of English’s favorite prefixes is “pre,” three little letters that mean “before.” It helps modify words like “nuptial,” “conception,”... More
Your Move
Chess terminology, imprecisely played
By Merrill Perlman Nov 23, 2009 at 02:08 PM
To practice politics, one must know something about strategy. Like a poker player, a politician needs to know when to... More
Foundering Flounders
When a fish is not a failure
By Merrill Perlman Nov 16, 2009 at 04:41 PM
Whenever the government announces the failure of another bank, a news outlet somewhere reports that the bank has “floundered.” Well... More
Playing Tricks
The expression ‘tricked out’ isn’t new
By Merrill Perlman Nov 9, 2009 at 01:53 PM
A review of the new “Lego Rock Band” video game mentioned one cool feature: “You can also trick out your... More
Early Bird Special
On turning the clocks back
By Merrill Perlman Nov 2, 2009 at 12:34 PM
Unless you live in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, most of Arizona, or off the grid with sundials, you turned your clocks... More
Plethora Galore
When does ‘many’ become ‘too many’?
By Merrill Perlman Oct 26, 2009 at 11:31 AM
The English language has many words for “many”: “abundance,” “multitude,” “profusion,” “a lot,” and so forth. With such a “myriad”... More
‘See you on the other side’ - Meet Jessica Lum, a terminally ill 25-year-old who chose to spend what little time she had practicing journalism
#Realtalk: This is the best moment to be in journalism - The old stuff isn’t coming back, but that’s okay
Streams of consciousness - Millennials expect a steady diet of quick-hit, social-media-mediated bits and bytes. What does that mean for journalism?
Sticking with the truth - How ‘balanced’ coverage helped sustain the bogus claim that childhood vaccines can cause autism
An ink-stained stretch - Can Aaron Kushner save the Orange County Register—and the newspaper industry?
What to do if you find a baby bird
Expert advice
Inside Google’s secret lab
We might deplore the practice, but posting pictures of our food online is a way to bring everyone to the table
How the ‘World’s 50 Best’ list changed the way elite restaurants do business
“Every time the restaurant switched up its format, it got plenty of accompanying media coverage that let judges know they needed to return to see what was going on”
CJR's Guide to Online News Startups
Uptown Messenger – Hyperlocal news for a neighborhood in New Orleans
Who Owns What
The Business of Digital Journalism
A report from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Questions and exercises for journalism students.
