Mim Harrison, author of Spoken Like a Pro: An Insider's Guide to the Language of Professions and Smart Words, has some simple advice in these tough economic times: "Talk like a pro and you could save some dough."  Continue reading...

The American Dialect Society wants to know what you think the Word of the Decade is. Which word best sums up the years from 2000 to 2009? Read the call for nominations below.  Continue reading...

On the occasion of Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday, Dennis Baron discovers that the Great Emancipator was also the Great Reviser. Baron is professor of English and linguistics at the University of Illinois and writes regularly on linguistic issues at The Web of Language.  Continue reading...

The short-form genre of Twitter (online messages of no more than 140 characters) has truly arrived: it now has its very own style guide. The New York Times Bits blog reports.

When authors come to Google to give informal talks, videos get posted for all the world to see. Here are some language-related talks you might enjoy.

Erin McKean

Tom Dalzell

Geoffrey Nunberg

Steven Pinker

Noam Chomsky

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the passing of Buddy Holly, who died in a plane crash along with Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. Rather than glumly mope about "The Day the Music Died," as Don McLean dubbed the tragedy in the well-worn song, "American Pie," I'd prefer to reflect on what a tremendously gifted singer/songwriter Holly was. He had a beautiful touch with the English language (sung in his signature hiccupy style), and in his lyrics he found ways to take familiar words and phrases and innovatively shape them into his own. Here are my brief thoughts on the language of four of his songs.  Continue reading...