I'm jealous.

That's my 2-word review of How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times by Roy Peter Clark, who I assume will appreciate the brevity.  Continue reading...

Writing for The Boston Globe, NYU doctoral candidate Rachael Scarborough King reported on recent studies that cast doubt on the commonly held assumption that William Shakespeare invented many of the words we use today.  Continue reading...

With endless drama swirling around disgraced baseball players like Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez, the word doping has been firmly ensconced in American sports headlines, just as it has been in international coverage of cycling and track and field. How doping came to refer to taking drugs to improve one's athletic performance, however, is a complicated story.  Continue reading...

This week there has been a raging language debate about the inclusion of the non-literal meaning of "literally" in various dictionaries. But is the whole controversy overblown? Here is a roundup of online reactions.  Continue reading...

From classic rock to Turner Classic Movies, from Classic Roast coffee to MapQuest Classic, we're living in a new Classic Era. What do all those classics signify, and what are "classic" brands trying to sell us?  Continue reading...

The editors were discussing a story about the health benefits of a particular type of cactus, and maybe others. The story was called "Cacti." "Is it cactuses or cacti?" one asked. "The plural of cactus is cactuses," another said, adding wryly: "Is the plural of circus circi?"  Continue reading...

Michele Dunaway, who teaches English and journalism at Francis Howell High School in St. Charles, Missouri, has been frustrated by the welter of acronyms for writing strategies that teachers are expected to focus on as part of the Common Core curriculum standards.  Continue reading...