Month: March 2016
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Tall Oaks From Tiny Eggcorns
Do you use eggcorns in your speech and writing? Don’t answer too quickly! Most of us do use eggcorns, at least occasionally. But by their nature, they’re something we do without being aware of it. Although eggcorns are common, the word isn’t. Not yet, anyway. An eggcorn is an expression in which we unknowinglyreplace one…
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Whatever Happened to the First Robin?
The first robin of spring! How long has it been since we’ve heard about that “first robin”? Or seen one? When I was a kid, we took the first robin seriously. Birds had the good sense to fly south for the winter. That was back when we had real winters. At least we did in…
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A Musical Saint Patrick’s Day
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day, dear reader! In lieu of shamrocks and leprechauns, here’s Irish nightingale Louise Morrissey with a song that’s deeply meaningful to me: Everybody’s Reaching Out for Someone. Enjoy!
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One Word: Convey
The real challenge is to convey what we mean. It’s tough enough to say what we mean. But it’s more difficult – and far more important – to convey it. Those two are not the same. To say something well, we put it into precise words that capture, and perfectly express, our meaning. But what…
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One Word: Auto-antonym
An auto-antonym is any word that functions as its own opposite. The very idea seemed bonkers when I first heard about it. But English has quite a few such words. Normal antonyms are words with opposing meanings – up and down, in and out, good and bad. What’s different in the case of an “auto”…
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One Word: The Elephant in the Room
Want to write and speak with lasting impact? Want to convey thoughts that touch, that move, that heal? Don’t worry too much about the right words. Focus first on finding the right topic. (The words come later.) There’s one right topic, and it’s always the same: It’s the elephant in the room. No, not the…
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One Word: Next
We’re hurtling down the freeway in my friend’s car. He’s driving. I’m riding shotgun, giving directions. I tell him: “Get off at the next exit.” He says: “Okay.” A few minutes later, as we approach the exit, he puts pedal to the metal and roars past it. “Hey!” I exclaim. “You were supposed to turn…
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One Word: Beg
My white-haired physicist friend assured me he could prove there is no life after death. That certainly caught my attention. He knew it would. That’s because I do believe in human immortality. I think, God willing, that being dead will be a lot of fun. My friend’s bold challenge left me no choice but to hear…
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One Word: Mild!
Cheri and I were with a group of fellow Peace Corps volunteers in Grenada. The year was 1989. With us (because we were guests in his office) was an American career diplomat. This gathering happened (coincidentally) at a time when most of the volunteers were dismayed by news of a recent political appointment in Washington.…
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The Toughest Choice You’ll Ever Face
Sooner or later, your journey will force you to decide: “Am I completely crazy – or is everybody else?” When that day comes – and believe me, it will – you will face a choice. You can postpone it. Maybe for a long time. But not forever. Either you’re right, and everyone else, inexplicably, is…
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One More Word: To Casually Split Your Infinitive With
I like to occasionally split an infinitive. Not always – just now and then. Neither too often, nor too seldom. There’s a fine line. Quick review: An infinitive is the basic form of a verb, usually preceded by “to”. If I say “to sleep, perchance to dream”, then “to sleep” and “to dream” are infinitives.…
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And Another Word: The Conjunction You Start Your Sentence With
There’s this idea that it’s wrong to open a sentence with a conjunction. Conjunctions are words like “and”, “or”, “nor”, “but”, “because”, “so”, and so forth. They connect other words, phrases, or sentences. In other words, their function is to conjoin. That’s why they’re called conjunctions. The whole topic can get very complicated: There are…