Language Corner
Madison Square Gardening
Time to plant some “seeds”
By Merrill Perlman Mar 26, 2012 at 01:13 PM
It’s spring, and a young man’s fancy turns to … seeds. “Seeding” is a way of creating a tournament “draw”... More
Beggars Can Be Choosers
Questioning the questions
By Merrill Perlman Mar 19, 2012 at 03:03 PM
Every so often it’s important to revisit an issue, to clarify or modify it, depending on the circumstances. It “begs... More
Jibe Talking
Confusion over jibe, jive, gibe, and gybe
By Merrill Perlman Mar 12, 2012 at 11:59 AM
“Alas, poore Yorick,” Shakespeare wrote. “Where be your gibes now?” Or, depending on your edition of Hamlet, perhaps he wrote... More
@#?
How to quote e-mail, tweets, and such
By Merrill Perlman Mar 5, 2012 at 01:04 PM
BREAKING: Palm Beach Sheriffs Office tells @SusanCandiotti that the bomb squad is investigating a suspicious pkg near #Rush #Limbaugh home... More
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
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.
