Topic : Usage

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Word Routes

Exploring the pathways of our lexicon

At the Movies: Plumbing the Depths of "The Hurt Locker"
March 5, 2010
By Ben Zimmer

One of the frontrunners for Best Picture in Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony is Kathryn Bigelow's tense depiction of a U.S. bomb squad unit in Iraq, The Hurt Locker. The movie's official website says of the title, "In Iraq, it is soldier vernacular to speak of explosions as sending you to 'the hurt locker.'" In fact, like so much American military slang, hurt locker (along with related hurt expressions) dates back to the Vietnam War.  Continue reading...
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Behind the Dictionary

Lexicographers Talk About Language

Do's and Don'ts for Singular "They"
March 4, 2010
By Neal Whitman

For National Grammar Day, linguist Neal Whitman takes a look at a long-standing source of contention among grammar enthusiasts: singular they. (Grammar purists, prepare yourselves for some unconventional rules!)  Continue reading...
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Evasive Maneuvers

Euphemisms old and new

A Bad Case of the Peedoodles
March 3, 2010
By Mark Peters

When you obsess about words as much as I do, it's hard to pick a favorite. It's like Batman picking his favorite criminal lowlife. How do you choose between the Joker, Two Face, the Penguin, and the scum who killed your parents? It's just too painful.

But what the heck, here's a good candidate, and it's also exhibit Q in the case of why I love the Dictionary of American Regional English: peedoodle.  Continue reading...

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Candlepower

Ad and marketing creatives

The You Decade
February 24, 2010
By Nancy Friedman

I've been seeing a lot of You lately. Not specifically you, dear reader, but You, the second-person advertorial. Yes, after years of talking about us, marketers have taken a shine to You. And they're eager to tell You just how important you are to their business.  Continue reading...
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Blog Excerpts

Language War is Over (If You Want It)
February 18, 2010

Earlier this month on Blog Excerpts we featured Alexandra D'Arcy's OUPblog post, "Ode to a Prescriptivist," which drew a sharp dichotomy between linguistic descriptivism and prescriptivism (personified by D'Arcy and her stern grandmother, respectively). D'Arcy's post inspired Stan Carey, a professional editor from Ireland, to write a typically thoughtful post on his blog, Sentence First.  Continue reading...
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Word Count

Writers Talk About Writing

Grammar Bite: "Compose" vs. "Comprise"
February 16, 2010
By Erin Brenner

Erin Brenner of Right Touch Editing provides "bite-sized lessons to improve your writing" on her engaging blog The Writing Resource. Here Erin tackles the tricky distinction between compose and comprise.  Continue reading...
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