Monthly Archives: July 2014

Can you correct someone without being a language bully?

Posted on July 31, 2014 by Robin Straaijer

Over the past two weeks, the linguistic blogosphere has exploded over ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic’s latest musical parody Word Crimes. Linguists, editors and others were blogging at break-neck speed to discuss the judgements expressed in the song. On this blog, Viktorija … Continue reading →

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Bennett’s Wordfinder

Posted on July 31, 2014 by Ingrid Tieken

This is an index to the second edition of Fowler’s Modern English Usage, based on the version revised by Sir Ernest Gowers (1965). Paul Bennett has written elsewhere on this blog, about Fowler’s humour. Why need an index to a work that … Continue reading →

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The New Usage Guide … Television!

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Ingrid Tieken

All the students in my MA course Testing Prescriptivism had to write two blogposts. So here is Jasper Spierenburg’s second one: With statistics showing that the average American watches over five hours of television a day, it is hard for … Continue reading →

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When Literally means Literally…

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Ingrid Tieken

Jasper Spierenburg is another of my MA students working on prescriptivism. Here is his first blogpost: Literally is an adverb that leaves a lot of listeners in an absolute state of disbelief. Paralyzed and shell-shocked they try to recover from … Continue reading →

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A parody within a parody?

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Viktorija Kostadinova

The latest prescriptive lesson on correct grammar doesn’t come from a usage guide or a grammar blog. It comes from “Weird Al” Yankovic’s latest album called “Mandatory Fun” in the form of a parody of Robin Thicke’s popular song “Blurred Lines”. … Continue reading →

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Want to write like a spy?

Posted on July 10, 2014 by Ingrid Tieken

It appears that even the CIA has a style guide. A secret one no less, one that got leaked moreover, according to The Guardian Online yesterday. The Guardian article tells us that the style guide includes well-known “old chestnuts”  like uninterested/disinterested, … Continue reading →

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The Fourth of July and 500 Mistakes of Daily Occurrence

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Ingrid Tieken

Since it is the fourth of July today, I might perhaps draw on the possibility that many people will be Googling for “Independence Day” or indeed “the fourth of July” to invoke their help in identifying a reference. I’ve already … Continue reading →

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