Language Corner
Persuasive Convincing
On the vanishing distinctions between “persuade” and “convince”
By Merrill Perlman Mar 2, 2009 at 03:42 PM
Back when English grammar was rigorously taught in schools, certain rules were hammered into students’ heads: Never split an infinitive;... More
A Noisome Joy
Another word that doesn’t mean what it looks like it means
By Merrill Perlman Feb 23, 2009 at 01:16 PM
Think of all the words that don’t mean what their spellings seem to indicate they mean—among the ones already discussed... More
Presidents Setting
Attempting to punctuate President(s)(s’)(’s) Day
By Merrill Perlman Feb 16, 2009 at 04:39 PM
We used to have two holidays in February: Lincoln’s Birthday and Washington’s Birthday. Now, we have three, though most of... More
Cultured Plurals
Plurals, singulars, and the de-Latinization of English
By Merrill Perlman Feb 9, 2009 at 03:20 PM
When baseball season starts in just a few short weeks, the New York Yankees will have a new “stadium.” The... More
A Frayed Knot of Words
The difference between “homonym” and “homophone”
By Merrill Perlman Feb 2, 2009 at 01:18 PM
Last week’s posting discussed sound-alike words that are often mistaken for one another, despite their different meanings. That brought a... More
Pedal Pushers
“Soft-peddling” a faulty homonym
By Merrill Perlman Jan 26, 2009 at 12:03 PM
Now that Barack Obama is president, one columnist wanted to know, weren’t the late-night comedians, who had taken so many... More
Able Action
When the audience isn’t in on the definition
By Merrill Perlman Jan 19, 2009 at 05:00 PM
English has no grammar police to prevent someone from taking a word and putting it to work with another meaning,... More
Not So Impeachy
“Impeachment”: a clarification
By Merrill Perlman Jan 13, 2009 at 10:59 AM
When the Illinois House of Representatives voted to “impeach” Governor Rod Blagojevich, a number of blogs carried public comments like... More
Our Tense Past
Sneaking a dive into a swim
By Merrill Perlman Jan 5, 2009 at 05:15 PM
When you tell your friends that you took a swim yesterday, did you say you “swam” yesterday or that you... 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”
In one tweet
Luke Russert is the Golden Boy of DC
And it drives young journalists crazy
It’s official: We never need to worry about the future of journalism again!
The NYT shows us why
Why does Florida produce so much weird news? Experts explain
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.
