Tag Archives: English language

words at play

Posted on April 24, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

MIT Press Bookstore bookseller Barry Duncan stumbled onto the book “An Almanac of Words at Play” four decades ago and it changed his life. Duncan discovered that words could go backwards. The realization set him on a course he would … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Bookstore Tourism, USA, Writing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

English can be tricky

Posted on March 29, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

 

Posted in Art, Writing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Does English Need New Punctuation

Posted on March 8, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find that written English communication lacks the exact punction marks to clearly express tone, meaning, or emotion. Well, I was glad to discover that the Progressive Punctuation movement is addressing the problem. According to … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Enough with the GOATs

Posted on January 5, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

It’s that time of the year when the faculty of Lake Superior State University releases an annual list of words that they say deserve to be “banished” from our vocabularies over “misuse, overuse and uselessness.” “Our nominators insisted, and our … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, USA, Writing | Tagged | Leave a comment

What’s the Word

Posted on November 29, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Merriam-Webster  dictionary reports that its word of the year is the manipulative, misdirecting term that causes the target to question the surety of their own sanity, is taken from the title of the George Cukor 1944 classic film Gaslight. Although in … Continue reading →

Posted in USA, Writing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Naked Truth and More

Posted on July 21, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

I have to admit that I was a poor student of William Shakespeare’s work while I was in secondary school. Over the years, I have come to appreciate the brilliance of his writings, but I was not aware of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Film, Writing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Compounding Your Pejoratives

Posted on July 9, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

I have recently found myself reaching for both colorful and acceptable pejoratives when commenting on social media sites. This is partly due to the necessity of avoiding Twitter jail, but also to liven the mood. The terrific chart above was … Continue reading →

Posted in USA, Writing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

English Is Hard

Posted on May 30, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

 

Posted in Writing | Tagged | Leave a comment

Why Fall Into Autumn

Posted on October 5, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

Yesterday’s post got me thinking about why we English speaking folks in North America use both Fall and Autumn to describe the season between Summer and Winter. Why does it have two acceptable and apparantly interchangable names? And why do British speakers of English … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, History, USA, Writing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Most of Us Are Guilty

Posted on September 21, 2014 by Brian D. Butler
Posted in USA, Writing | Tagged , | Leave a comment