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Word Routes
Of Showdowns, Throwdowns, and Hoedowns
Mon Jul 28 00:00:00 EDT 2008
Last week we featured a debate over contemporary usage of whom, with Baltimore Sun copy editor John McIntyre squaring off against Stanford linguist Arnold Zwicky. To be honest, the exchange was a bit too civil and reasonable to live up to its billing as a "usage showdown" — at least based on the Visual Thesaurus definition of showdown as "a hostile disagreement face-to-face." I was amused to see that on his copy-editing blog, " You Don't Say," John McIntyre facetiously referred to the debate with an even more inappropriate term: smackdown, which most people (in the U.S. at least) would associate with professional wrestling. Other violent confrontations ending in -down include beatdown and throwdown. And where do hoedowns fit into all of this?
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Contest
The Visual Thesaurus Crossword Puzzle: July Edition
Fri Jul 25 00:00:00 EDT 2008
Beat the dog days of summer with this month's crossword puzzle. Solve it and you could win a Visual Thesaurus T-shirt!
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Behind the Dictionary
Usage Showdown: Who Are You Going to Listen to?
Thu Jul 24 00:00:00 EDT 2008
Yesterday we presented the first part in our usage showdown on "whom," from Baltimore Sun copy editor John E. McIntyre, a self-professed "moderate prescriptivist." Today we present the descriptivist side of the debate, from Arnold M. Zwicky, Professor of Linguistics at Stanford University, who frequently writes about matters of English usage on the group weblog Language Log. Let us know in the comments section which perspective you find more convincing, or sound off with your own opinion!
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Blog Excerpts
Getting Unstuck
Thu Jul 24 00:00:00 EDT 2008
Merlin Mann of the productivity blog "43 Folders" has five great tips for beating writer's block. Read them here.
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Behind the Dictionary
Usage Showdown: Who Cares About 'Whom'?
Wed Jul 23 00:00:00 EDT 2008
Last month on the VT, a commenter complained about the use of the word "who" in a sentence beginning, "Joshua Kendall, who we interview this week..." This wasn't the first time that one of our readers objected to the use of "who" instead of "whom." Since this is such a contentious point of English usage, we thought we'd offer two different perspectives on the great "whom" debate. Today we present the viewpoint of John E. McIntyre, assistant managing editor for the copy desk at The Baltimore Sun, who runs an entertaining blog on copyediting, You Don't Say. Tomorrow we'll hear from a descriptive linguist, Arnold Zwicky of Stanford University. Let the showdown begin!
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Dog Eared
Memoir Writing
Wed Jul 23 00:00:00 EDT 2008
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Word Routes
Pushing to the Cloud: Weird Wireless Words
Tue Jul 22 00:00:00 EDT 2008
It's hard to keep up with techie terms these days. Last week, Apple Inc. announced it would no longer use the word push to describe the way that its new online MobileMe service communicates to personal computers and electronic devices like the iPhone. Turns out the service wasn't always "pushing" data to "the cloud" as quickly as users were expecting. To which non-technophiles would probably say, "Huh?"
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Blog Du Jour
Screenwriter Blogs
Tue Jul 22 00:00:00 EDT 2008
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Word Count
Five Reasons Why You Must Murder Your Darlings
Mon Jul 21 00:00:00 EDT 2008
I have a close friend, whose work I have helped edit for more than 20 years. He likes to say that my job is to review his writing, find the very best parts and then remove them. He is half joking. But only half.
In my defense, I will say that I am simply following the advice of British journalist, critic, and novelist Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, who said: "Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it — wholeheartedly — and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings."
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Word Routes
Mailbag Friday: "Pipe Dream"
Fri Jul 18 00:00:00 EDT 2008
For today's installment of Mailbag Friday, our question comes from VT subscriber Barry Francolino in Romania. (One of our many far-flung correspondents!) Barry writes, "Just interested to know where the word/phrase/idea pipe dream comes from." The definition given by the Visual Thesaurus, "a fantastic but vain hope (from fantasies induced by the opium pipe)," gives a whiff of its origin.
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