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Two-Faced Words Prompt Double Takes Feb. 09, 2022
"Flores Drops Bombshell Lawsuit" "Gov. Newsom Pitches Plan To Reopen Public Schools" "Red Tape Holds... Read More
Life Reimagined Feb. 04, 2022
Wouldn't it be nice to think of getting older as exhilarating rather than terrifying? Learning to ac... Read More
Midnight Cowboy Shows Up at High Noon Feb. 02, 2022
Q: What's the proper use of "a.m." or "p.m." for 12 noon and 12 midnight? — Bertha Williams, S... Read More
Have Tour Guides 'Taut' Us a Big Lie? Jan. 26, 2022
Insidious invaders have infested the homestead museums and historic houses across our great land. No... Read More
Origin of 'Dumbbell' Rings True Jan. 19, 2022
Q: Why are hand weights called "dumbbells"? — J. H., West Hartford, Connecticut A: It's hard t... Read More
How "We" Obscure the Truth About Policy Jan. 13, 2022
"The most dangerous pronoun discourse has nothing to do with gender identity. It's the undefined 'we... Read More
'Historic' or Jan. 12, 2022
Q: We have seen signs that read "Historical Site" as well as "Historic Site." Which is correct? R... Read More
Looking Further Into 'Farther' Jan. 05, 2022
Q: When is it correct to use the word "farther" as opposed to "further"? Both words seem to fit gram... Read More
Coming Clean on Word Origins Dec. 29, 2021
"It's as clean as a whistle," my father would often say after washing the family car. I always thoug... Read More
'Gazebo Effect' Is Bitter Pill To Swallow Dec. 22, 2021
The ever-vigilant members of the Word Guy Blooper Patrol have sent me these errors from newspapers a... Read More
Prep Perps, Potboilers Make Me Want To 'Flea' Dec. 15, 2021
Today, some random dispatches from the Word Front ... — Prep School — A while back, I sc... Read More
A Native American Woman Retires the Word 'Squaw' Nov. 24, 2021
It has been 400 years since Native Americans took part in the first Thanksgiving, hosted by the Euro... Read More
Put Some 'Clause' in Your Santa! Nov. 17, 2021
Your holidays will be jolly days if you give — or get — one of these nifty new books abo... Read More
Classic Ann Landers Nov. 14, 2021
Editor's Note: Hundreds of Ann Landers' loyal readers have requested that newspapers continue to pub... Read More
Earn Your Chops and You'll Get Props Nov. 10, 2021
A reader writes, "In the newspaper I keep seeing sentences like 'So-and-so showed his acting chops i... Read More
Complexities Troll 'Comptroller,' 'Controller' Oct. 06, 2021
What's the deal with "comptroller" and "controller"? Peter Van Winkle of Boston asked me that questi... Read More
Ladling Out Some Alphabet Soup Sep. 29, 2021
Loyal readers have just scooped up the latest batch of errors in newspapers and other publications. ... Read More
The Shot Heard Round the World of Words Sep. 22, 2021
Seventy years ago, on Oct. 3, 1951, New York Giants outfielder and second-baseman Bobby Thomson blas... Read More
I Know There's a 'Rifle' in There Somewhere! Sep. 15, 2021
I was riffling through my mailbox the other day, when I came across this letter from John Daigle of ... Read More
Bank 'Bail Outs' Reflect Every Sense of the Term Sep. 08, 2021
Q: When we talk about bailouts of banks, does "bail" refer to bailing out a boat with a bucket or to... Read More
