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  1. Word Count

     Do This, Then Do That: Coordinating "Then" Usage
    Wed Mar 25 00:00:00 EDT 2015
    Recently in an online forum for editors, someone balked at then being used as a coordinating conjunction, as in: "I went to high school, then I went to college." Coordinating conjunctions, you'll recall, join two items of equal status: two words of the same parts of speech, two phrases of the same type, or two clauses.

  2. Word Count

     The Spooky History of "Nightmare"
    Tue Mar 24 00:00:00 EDT 2015
    People awakening from a "nightmare" often have the sensation that they can't breathe. Not surprising: That's where the word "nightmare" comes from.

  3. Word Count

     Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here!
    Fri Mar 20 00:00:00 EDT 2015
    References made by authors sometimes don't age very well. If these references are lost to history, or fall on deaf ears, it can be very frustrating for the reader. This can be especially true when the reference is part of the title. Many schoolchildren know that the Emma Lazarus poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty is called "The New Colossus," but the reference to the statue of Helios at Rhodes is probably obscure, and the relationship between the two statues themselves is not entirely clear.

  4. Candlepower

     The Cues and Clues of Sub-Branding, from Cabin Class to Apple Watch
    Tue Mar 17 00:00:00 EDT 2015
    Earlier this month, Apple pulled back the curtain on its new wrist-borne technology, the Apple Watch. Much of the subsequent chatter centered on pricing ($349 to $17,000), features (digital crown, sapphire crystal), and release date (April 24). Some of us, however, directed our curiosity elsewhere: to the device's three model names. Why "Watch," "Watch Sport," and "Watch Edition"? What do those spare yet evocative names tell us about Apple's objectives?

  5. Behind the Dictionary

     Of Snubs and Snobs
    Mon Mar 16 00:00:00 EDT 2015
    When the Academy Awards were given out last month, entertainment news was full of commentary about which movies, directors and performers should have been nominated but weren't—who got snubbed by those snobs in the Academy. That made me wonder if snub and snob were etymologically related.

  6. Word Count

     Our Favorite Writers
    Fri Mar 13 00:00:00 EDT 2015
    All readers have favorite writers, writers whom we know and love, writers whose company we enjoy though we may never meet, writers who, we feel sure, know and love us back, who understand what we think and feel.

  7. Word Count

     13 Ways to Improve Your Writing Productivity
    Wed Mar 11 00:00:00 EDT 2015
    Is your writing as productive as it needs to be? Here's a checklist that will help you do better... from "Do the most important job first" to "When overwhelmed, just write a little."

  8. Word Routes

     Celebrating an Etymological "Carnival"
    Mon Mar 09 00:00:00 EDT 2015
    On the latest installment of Slate's podcast Lexicon Valley, I look at the roots of the festive word carnival, associated with pre-Lenten celebrations around the Christian world. Some scholars speculate that the true origins of carnival actually lie in pagan rituals predating Christianity.

  9. Teachers at Work

     How Can English Teachers Nurture Young Writers?
    Fri Mar 06 00:00:00 EST 2015
    Lately, I've been talking about Stephen King while teaching Edgar Allan Poe. When King was in middle school, he wrote a "novel version" of Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum," based on the horror-movie adaptation. When his teacher, Miss Hisler, caught him selling mimeographed copies, she asked him why he was writing such "junk."

  10. Evasive Maneuvers

     Crude, Anatomical, Off-Broadway Euphemisms
    Wed Mar 04 00:00:00 EST 2015
    Today's column features a wide range of euphemisms that passed through the eyes and ears of my narrow little pinhead. No matter where I run, skip, or prance, I can't escape lexical evasions.
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