Writing for the Huffington Post, Ryan Grim starts his article about the impending government shutdown this way: The United States government is on the verge of shutting down over a dispute about subsidized pap smears, according to sources familiar with the budget negotiations. He goes on to say that Senator Durbin (D-IL) paraphrases Boehner, who …
For something as set in its ways as the Catholic Church, the Mass I went to today was different in language from the ones I used to go to every Sunday until I was about 18. I grant you that when I first learned the Mass as an altar boy it was in Latin, and …
It’s shoo-in, not shoe-in. It’s sea change, not seed-change (thanks, Brian!). It’s toeing the line, not towing the line. This message brought to you by Funk & Wagnalls. Anyone remember the fun the Smothers Brothers had with that name? Tom would say “Look that up in your Funk & Wagnalls!” The joke was he’d slur …
Pedantry redux: I eagerly await my first sighting of the word “tort” on a menu, meant to describe a rich cake. Conversely, maybe I’ll see the word “torte” on the business pages of a newspaper, meant to describe “a wrongful act that results in injury to another’s person, property, reputation, or the like, and for …
Have publishers fired their copyeditors? In the latest Eve Dallas book from J. D. Robb, Dallas is discussing the victim of a murder and what was taken from her body: “It’s professional, but the jewelry’s amatuer hour. So why? Just because you can? Just because you want? Souveniers, mementos?” Amateur and souvenir are not even …
Ahem. To all the otherwise-talented writers in the blogosphere: People are unfazed by setbacks, not unphased (unless they’re characters on Star Trek). Likewise, the operator of a restaurant is a restaurateur, not a restauranteur. If you’re not winning and it’s not a tie, you’re losing, not loosing. I know I’m probably swimming against the tide …
Dear bloggers: If you plan to use a Spanish word for testicles as a euphemism for courage, please spell it properly. It’s cOjones, not cAjones. This has been another in a series of pointless educational posts.
Since I’m furious with our elected representatives, let’s have a little music to soothe the savage breast. Did you know that’s the correct quotation? According to this phrase site which has the poem from which it’s taken, there are more than twice as many hits for the incorrect phrase “soothe the savage beast.” Two of …
Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself. A Civil Campaign, by Lois McMaster Bujold
I just read a description of a character which included the word “tharn,” meaning stupefied; paralyzed by fear. The book properly attributed the word’s origin. Can you? Extra points if you can do it without Google.