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This weekend marks the one hundredth anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, so let's commemorate the occasion by looking back on some words and phrases that were particularly associated with the maritime disaster. Continue reading...
Last month, a post at the Poynter Institute took a strong stand: "It's time for copy editors to loosen the cardigan when it comes to 'media,'" Andrew Beaujon wrote. He said he felt "like a tool writing 'The media are.'" Continue reading...

Blog Excerpts

"Nerd": A Seuss Day Special

Today is Dr. Seuss's birthday, celebrated in the United States as Read Across America Day. Seuss contributed many linguistic inventions, but was "nerd" one of them? Ben Zimmer investigated whether we owe Dr. Seuss a debt of gratitude for this word in a column for the Boston Globe and a Word Routes followup. Check 'em out, word nerds.
Some words travel a winding path to their meanings, causing language users confusion over what they actually mean. A word whose definition or usage is so hotly contested that it never fails to draw attention to itself is called a skunked term. It may be that language users will resolve the problem over time, but until then, what's a writer to do? Today, the story behind fulsome and what to do with this stinky term. Continue reading...

In honor of Valentine's Day, let's revisit one of the most famous couples in the love-story canon: Romeo and Juliet. Remember how the prologue to Shakespeare's play introduces them? "From forth the fatal loins of these two foes / A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life."

Star-cross'd! Isn't it romantic?
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We'd like to welcome Merrill Perlman, who writes the "Language Corner" column for Columbia Journalism Review, as our newest regular contributor! In this column, she's grabbing at "straws": straw polls, straw men, and straw bashers. Continue reading...

Tasty MorselsGood stuff from Vocabulary.com

Confused about "Censor" vs. "Censure"?

Confused about "Censor" vs. "Censure"?

If you’ve been following the story of Twitter agreeing to block users’ tweets in countries where the tweets are deemed illegal, you might have encountered the words censor/censure. And, like many among us, you might hesitate when you see them. Is it right to say, “Last month, Twitter exposed itself to public censor by agreeing to block government-censured posts?” Or is it, “Last month, Twitter exposed itself to public censure by agreeing to block government-censored posts?”

Learn more about the censor/censure distinction here.

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