Topic : Usage
Los Angeles Times tech reporter Chris O'Brien has discovered that the favorite word among techie types is "delight": "A squishy, subjective, hard-to-pin-down term. So daringly unquantifiable, so proudly immeasurable. And now, suddenly, all the rage in data-driven Silicon Valley." Read O'Brien's delightful piece here.
Article Topics:Word CountWriters Talk About WritingWriting Tics: The Optics of Metrics  May 9, 2013
The mayor's op-ed piece urged action on a regional 911 system, which, among other things, would "provide consistent and transparent performance metrics countywide." Alas, the program has not been put into effect, "as a result of the political optics." Jargon and more jargon.
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We'd like to welcome Jonathon Owen, a copy editor and book designer with a master's degree in linguistics, as our newest regular contributor! Here Jonathon explains how he discovered that an oft-quoted example of George Orwell using singular "they" turned out not to be by Orwell after all.
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An Inside Higher Ed article recently quoted Duke University physics professor Steffen Bass as describing the foolish stance of some of his colleagues as "bologna." Prof. Bass surely said baloney, a spelling that represents an Americanized pronunciation of bologna sausage, and it also came to mean "nonsense" in the 1920s.
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Evasive ManeuversEuphemisms old and newGentleman Turkeys and Other High-Class Gobbledygook May 2, 2013
Do gentlemen exist anymore? The word feels old-fashioned and paleolithic in the era of dudes, bros, and creeps. However, the word gentleman has a long, vibrant history as a euphemism. That history is worth celebrating. In the spirit of a recent column on angels, here's a look at the critters and crimes gentleman has coddled and concealed.
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Word CountWriters Talk About WritingBlame Excuses: Where to Point the Finger April 30, 2013
"Deer Creek blames fire on science experiment," read one headline. "Arsonist blames fire on living conditions," said another. Some people would take umbrage with both of those sentences, asserting that the finger of blame was pointing in the wrong direction.
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Teachers at WorkA column about teachingAlways Never Something: Eliminating Five Overused Words April 29, 2013 By Shannon Reed
Having logged many years teaching English and theatre at New York City high schools, Shannon Reed now teaches freshman English Composition at the University of Pittsburgh. Here Shannon shows how teachers can work with students to improve their writing by focusing on five overused words.
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