Category Archives: in the news

Fools and apostrophes

Posted on April 1, 2013 by

Wondering where the apostrophe goes in the name of a certain April day marked by fools? It looks like this: April Fool’s day This is how Merriam-Webster has it and is the placement most agreed upon. To me, though, it … Continue reading →

Posted in copy editing, in the news | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

2012 Words of the Year

Posted on December 31, 2012 by

It’s New Year’s Eve, a time for making reflections, resolutions, hot midnight smooches—and a pretty vicious New Year’s Day hangover. But for word nerds, it’s also a time to discuss the words of the year. 2011’s selections reflected upheaval. There … Continue reading →

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Acute mix-up

Posted on December 12, 2012 by

I hate to say it, but—sigh—I’m not perfect. I have yet to memorize every meaning for every word in the dictionary. And it wasn’t until last week with the Kate Middleton baby news/media takeover that I finally learned one of … Continue reading →

Posted in grammar, in the news, semantics, story time | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Why is Black Friday called Black Friday?

Posted on November 23, 2012 by

It is thought that the mega-shopping day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday because shops go from being in the red (having a net loss) to in the black (having profits). However, that’s not the origin of the term. Linguist … Continue reading →

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Severe weather etymology

Posted on October 30, 2012 by

I have previously written about the etymology of tsunami. Today we are delving into the history of words for other serious weather systems. Note: I received all my information from the Online Etymology Dictionary—an amazing, exhaustive resource that I strongly … Continue reading →

Posted in etymology, foreign language, in the news | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments